216 Part II Psychodynamic Theories
Generalized Sensuality
The final psychosexual stage is generalized sensuality. Erikson had little to say
about this mode of psychosexual life, but one may infer that it means to take
pleasure in a variety of different physical sensations—sights, sounds, tastes, odors,
embraces, and perhaps genital stimulation. Generalized sensuality may also include
a greater appreciation for the traditional lifestyle of the opposite sex. Men become
more nurturant and more acceptant of the pleasures of nonsexual relationships,
including those with their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Women become
more interested and involved in politics, finance, and world affairs (Erikson,
Erikson, & Kivnick, 1986). A generalized sensual attitude, however, is dependent
on one’s ability to hold things together, that is, to maintain integrity in the face of
despair.Integrity Versus Despair
A person’s final identity crisis is integrity versus despair. At the end of life, the dystonic
quality of despair may prevail, but for people with a strong ego identity who have
learned intimacy and who have taken care of both people and things, the syntonic
quality of integrity will predominate. Integrity means a feeling of wholeness and coher-
ence, an ability to hold together one’s sense of “I-ness” despite diminishing physical
and intellectual powers.
Ego integrity is sometimes difficult to maintain when people see that they are
losing familiar aspects of their existence: for example, spouse, friends, physical
health, body strength, mental alertness, independence, and social usefulness. Under
such pressure, people often feel a pervading sense of despair, which they may
express as disgust, depression, contempt for others, or any other attitude that reveals
a nonacceptance of the finite boundaries of life.
Despair literally means to be without hope. A reexamination of Figure 7.2
reveals that despair, the last dystonic quality of the life cycle, is in the opposite
corner from hope, a person’s first basic strength. From infancy to old age,
hope can exist. Once hope is lost, despair follows and life ceases to have meaning.Wisdom: The Basic Strength of Old Age
Some amount of despair is natural and necessary for psychological maturity.
The inevitable struggle between integrity and despair produces wisdom, the
basic strength of old age. Erikson (1982) defined wisdom as “informed and
detached concern with life itself in the face of death itself” (p. 61). People with
detached concern do not lack concern; rather, they exhibit an active but dis-
passionate interest. With mature wisdom, they maintain their integrity in spite
of declining physical and mental abilities. Wisdom draws from and contributes
to the traditional knowledge passed from generation to generation. In old age,
people are concerned with ultimate issues, including nonexistence (Erikson,
Erikson, & Kivnick, 1986).
The antithesis of wisdom and the core pathology of old age is disdain, which
Erikson (1982, p. 61) defined as “a reaction to feeling (and seeing others) in an
increasing state of being finished, confused, helpless.” Disdain is a continuation of
rejectivity, the core pathology of adulthood.