Dependency
One dynamic factor which may occur more commonly in later life is
dependency. This may occur, for example, in people emotionally deprived in early life, who coped well as adults but in older age fear being neglected
and unloved as they see their useful role slipping away. Goldfarb (1965)
described the frantic search for help from a strong parent figure, which
is frustrated because the demands are too clamorous.
In a colluding partnership, usually husband and wife but sometimes
child and parent, one is seen by the other as strong but each is, in fact,
dependent on the other. The ‘strong’ partner preserves an illusion of
mastery through the weaker’s reliance on them. A husband who finds a
raison d’être in retirement in caring for his sick wife, may be threatened
when she requires help from doctors. He may have a vested interest in
her invalidism.