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Résumé Objectif Cet article se propose d’examiner les enjeux psychiques des fantasmes de maltraitance qui s’expriment parfois avec insistance dans le discours de certaines personnes âgées confrontées à une situation de dépendance. Méthode À partir d’une compréhension psychodynamique du fonctionnement psychique adossée à deux évocations cliniques, l’étude des représentations mettant en scène un « vieillard battu » permet de repérer les modalités singulières de traitement des problématiques de castration et de passivité réactualisées dans les relations d’aide et de soin. Résultats La prégnance du fantasme de fustigation « on bat un vieillard » apparaît ainsi comme une tentative de liaison de l’excitation suscitée par la difficile confrontation à la position passive, et montre que l’acuité de la question narcissique dans le grand vieillissement n’obère pas la conflictualité œdipienne et les problématiques d’identifications sexuelles, qui trouvent là un lieu de réactualisation majeure en même temps qu’une occasion de reprise élaborative. Discussion Ces considérations conduisent à envisager les spécificités psychopathologiques de la rencontre avec la dépendance dans le grand âge à la lumière des tensions entre la réalité interne et la réalité externe, au risque sinon de dissoudre l’écart entre le contenu manifeste de la dépendance, imputable notamment à l’actualité événementielle biologique et sociale, et le contexte psychique par lequel il est ressaisi. Conclusion Cette étude souhaite attirer l’attention, derrière l’évidence des rapports sociaux de domination, sur les aménagements masochistes et mélancoliques de la passivité susceptibles de s’exprimer à travers cette configuration fantasmatique. Aim In this paper, we analyze the psychic issues entailed in mistreatment fantasies that are expressed, sometimes insistently, in the discourse of some elderly people finding themselves in a situation of dependency. Method This study is based on a psychodynamic understanding of psychic functioning, and it also uses clinical vignettes. We explore the fantasy of “the elderly person being beaten” which casts light on a particular mode of processing of the issues of castration and passivity, re-contextualised in the care setting and care relationships. Results The pervasiveness of this fantasy appears as an attempt to bind the excitation caused by the difficulty in accepting a passive position. It also shows that the acute narcissistic issues of old extreme old age do not compromise Oedipal conflict and sexual identification issues. The re-emergence of these issues enables psychic work which can lead to new modes of elaboration. Discussion These considerations lead us to envisage the psychopathological characteristics of the encounter with dependency in old age in the light of the tensions between external reality and the internal world. Otherwise the risk is that the distinction between the manifest content of dependency – linked in particular to current biological and social parameters – and the psychic context in which this content is reshaped will be abolished. Conclusion Above and beyond the evident social relationships of domination, this study aims to draw attention to the masochistic and melancholic modes of passivity that can be mobilized in this fantasized configuration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Abstract: Aim: The aim of this paper is to review our scientific knowledge of the age-related effect on the neuromuscular system and its adaptation capacity to strength training. Current: In addition to the loss of muscle strength and mass, senescence is associated with a reduced number of motoneurones and profound motor unit remodelling. These changes have functional implications on the neural control of muscle contraction. Consequently, part of the decrease in maximal force and loss of movement accuracy that occurs with ageing can be due to an inadequate activation of the muscles by the nervous system. Fortunately, the deleterious effects of ageing on the neuromuscular system can be partly reversed by training. Conclusion: These training adaptations seem to have a positive impact on the quality of life and physical independence of the elderly population. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]