Reflections on Aging and Wisdom.

The author experienced an unexpected finding over 30 years ago. Despite many losses, older primary care patients had less psychiatric symptomatology than younger patients. This has led to a long learning and teaching focus on the positive relationship between aging and wisdom. Some recent research challenges this relationship. To deal with this challenge the author reflects on two related but complex questions with which he has been struggling. Is there an adaptive value of aging? If wisdom is more likely with aging, why? He concludes that aging is culturally adaptive and that wisdom is aging's individual and societal adaptive strength.