Retirement as a threat to psychological well-being

The break in working and living habits occurring on reaching retirement age is one of the most critical points in a person's life. It is invariably a shock, in part brought about by the loss of human contact with people at work and by the permanently diminished income represented by the pension. The individual may experience difficulties in the redirection of interests and feel fear at his or her decreasing mental, physical and financial ability to cope with rapidly changing living conditions. Psychological consequences are often periods of gloom, nervous tension, unsociability, touchiness and a tendency to introversion. There is often a feeling of social uselessness, a fear of illness and obsession with death.