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Abstract An interest in and perspective on lifespan development is essential for anyone working with older adults. How people have adapted through the phases of their lives and in the context of their cultural history often makes assessment and intervention with older people a rewarding experience. Inevitably the clinical psychologist is also faced with issues of personal reflection and development as they lead their own lives towards their own old age, and so need to be mindful of how this contributes to the work they do. They also need to be aware of their own preconceptions. The principles and practices of therapeutic work with adults certainly apply, and can be adapted for an older client group quite easily. However, ageist attitudes have continued to abound in society, many of which go unnoticed or are taken as fact. Samuel Johnson noted in the eighteenth century that there is a wicked inclination in most people to suppose an old man decayed in his intellect. If a young or middle-aged man, when leaving a company, does not recollect where he laid his hat, it is nothing: but if the same inattention is discovered in an old man, people will shrug their shoulders and say ‘his memory is going ‘. The broad impact of similar attitudes is evidenced today in The Times newspaper, which has invented an anti-ageist column ‘ Not Dead Yet ‘ to challenge in a humorous way the many negative remarks made about people as they age in our society.
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