ABSTRACT
As we get older our bodies change and our health problems change. We also experience psychological and social changes. Health professionals work with many different age groups and some, of course, tend to specialize. Even if the client group is drawn from one particular age group, there will be other family members involved in their support and health. It is important to know something about psychological changes over the lifespan that may affect health. A child might be brought to a speech therapist for diagnosis, but the mother may be suffering from postnatal depression. A middle-aged woman with back problems may be caring for an increasingly dependent mother. Shakespeare described the seven ages of man as infancy, childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, middle age, old age, and senility (Box 7.1).
