ABSTRACT
Caring for elderly people brings with it particular stresses, insofar as ageing is the fate of all who live long enough. It inevitably stirs up anxieties about our own future physical and mental decay, and loss of independence. It also stirs up memories and fears about our relationships with older generations, especially parents, but also grandparents, teachers and others, towards whom we have felt and shown a mixture of caring and uncaring. This chapter discusses how these anxieties were dealt with in one geriatric hospital. However, the processes described exist to some extent in all caring work.
