October 27, 2027- Biographical Pain is a term used by British Professor and gerontologist, Malcolm Johnson, to describe the psychological and spiritual suffering that older persons can experience when they reflect back on the experiences and personal interactions they had in their lives and they do not
have closure. This causes psychological distress. They recognize they have a limited time on
earth and before they die they fear they will not be able to have the closure they desire on many
things. These include such things as not having said goodbye to persons, behaving contrary to
spiritual or moral beliefs, wondering if a parent or someone else really loved them, why did they
philander, why did they treat persons poorly, broken promises that cannot be resolved, why was
a parent or someone close to them so mean or cruel to them, general regrets about life, wanting
answers from persons who long ago died and never can be answered, unfulfilled dreams that
never were appropriately sought, and wanting to say they are sorry to persons no longer alive.
These and other situations can result in true urgency to close things out in their lives on a
positive note. Biographical Pain can occur in persons regardless of any successes they may
have experienced. Causes for this Biographical Pain would include feeling guilty, needing
answers that cannot be answered, negative self evaluation that cannot be changed, long-term
guilt, long-term grief, believing their life has been wasted, they can no longer make decisions to
make their life meaningful and bad relationships with family and friends that cannot be resolved.
Persons who are relatively young and living their lives day to day in an active way are clearly
not thinking about the end of life when they may have so many questions and concerns that
need to be answered that have not been answered and cannot be answered. Good advice to
not have this situation happen to you is to try to resolve questions that you have in the present.
Try to get them answered as best you can. If you did not do this and you find yourself in the
twilight of your life and having many concerns that you would like to have resolved, it can be
helpful to find a trusting person or more that you can discuss your feelings and try to get them
all out and resolved as best you can at this time. It also could be helpful to meet with an
experienced therapist to discuss these concerns and try to reduce the emotional and spiritual
pain you may be experiencing. Many persons who have spiritual beliefs do not focus on them
much or enough during their lives. This often changes as the person nears the end of their time
on earth. When this occurs, meeting with a pastor or priest could also be helpful to resolve
spiritual concerns you feel need to be resolved.