At an age when many Americans his age were thinking about doing less, not more, Dr. Arnold Gilberg decided to become a rabbi. Gilberg was in his late 70s and already had a decades-long practice as a Beverly Hills psychiatrist. Yet he successfully managed the addition to his portfolio.

Now, at age 89, he still works at both jobs. And he’s added a third career as well: Author. Gilberg helps fellow Americans understand how to make the best of their golden years in a new book, “The Myth of Aging: A Prescription for Emotional and Physical Well-Being,” written with Jon Land and published this year by Post Hill Press.

What the title expresses, Gilberg told The Times of Israel, is “that you can age and you may not be perfect, but you still are able to be creative, useful, meaningful to people.”

Over 43 chapters, each one influenced by questions from various patients over the years, the book advises readers on how to make the best of aging. For the author, part of the answer comes from a long-ago mentor.

Gilberg believes he is the last living student of Franz Alexander, a Hungarian-American Jewish psychoanalyst who was himself a friend of Sigmund Freud. Studying under Alexander had a deep impact.

“Franz Alexander, over 60 years ago, was talking about the link [between] the mind and body,” Gilberg said, “really important things that contemporaries — even mental health specialists — did not understand or take into consideration.”

“He effectively also dispelled the myth that we are just dealing with your mental issues [in therapy], because your mind and body are connected. That’s what I practiced all my life, and I also live that way,” he said.

When Gilberg spoke with The Times of Israel on a Tuesday afternoon, he had recently finished 25 minutes of pedaling a recumbent bicycle at a gym in LA.

“I think that our mental state, especially as we age, is really critically involved with our bodies,” he said. “We need to try to find ways to treat our body well, no matter what the age. It allows for our mental stimulation, mental well-being.”

He added, “All the research suggests people who remain mentally alert not only see mental stimulation, but they have physical stimulation, either from exercise or doing something important for their physical well-being.”

This is how Gilberg........

© The Times of Israel