Sharing – Senior Citizens Struggle With Suicide As Loneliness And Isolation Set In

This is a sad read, but I do believe this is correct –

There are myriad reasons that elderly adults are more susceptible to the nation’s 10th leading cause of death.

One of the most prevalent is loneliness. Older adults often live in isolation and may be struggling with the death of a lifelong husband or wife, or with the grief of losing other close family or friends.

It’s not the only thing, but it’s a big one. The other issues mentioned are all basically the effects of aging. Dealing with chronic illness, losing the ability to do things they used to do before, etc. Those are difficult, but not so difficult if you have support and connections to other people who are also dealing with similar issues. Facing them alone, though? That’s tough.

And yet, I would also agree that much of our society would simply rather not deal with the elderly, which is a shame. Yes, they aren’t like you. They don’t have the same cultural references, they didn’t grow up with technology in their hands, they don’t know much about the stuff you do now. That’s kind of the point. If we only spend time connecting with people who are exactly like us, we’re going to miss out on a lot.

Who am I kidding? We already do miss out on a lot by only surrounding ourselves with our “tribe”, and shunning all outsiders. Elderly people are just another group of “others”, and because too many of us view them that way, they are lacking connections that would help them survive.

That’s no way to treat anyone, old or young.

https://www.npr.org/2019/07/27/745017374/isolated-and-struggling-many-seniors-are-turning-to-suicide