This stage begins around age sixty-five and ends with death. The conflict in this stage battles with ego integrity versus despair with reflection on one's life. Erikson said this stage is the most difficult to go through. A detachment from society, a sense of usefulness, retirement from work, no longer having the duty to be parents and most find that their contribution is no longer necessary (Boeree, 2006). Ego integrity means coming to terms with life and realizing that your time in life is coming to an end. This should not be a depressive term. The purpose of this term is to look back, accept everything that happened, and be happy with your choices. Erikson points out that we will make mistakes throughout life and if you didn't make these mistakes you wouldn't be who you are (Boeree 2006). The key at this stage is to avoid the feeling of hopelessness. You can do this by staying active, staying close to your family, and participating in support groups with other individuals in the same age group. Success at this stage will lead to a virtue of wisdom. Wisdom allows a person to look back on their life with closeness and completeness (McLeod, 2008). In order for this stage to be completed, all previous stages must be obtained. This phase needs all other phases to succeed to prevent the individual from existing