Nowadays, the concept of aging and growing older is largely surrounded by a negative stigma in the biopsychosocial domains. Instances of this stigmatization manifest as degenerations in the brain, leading to poorer cognitive functioning. Subsequently, society views old age as a state of being demented, incompetent, and frail, rather than being experienced and wise [cite]. This heralded the stereotype of ageism, where chronological age falls under discrimination, fuelled by negative conceptions of the elderly. Despite this, old age is subject to other social issues that include difficulty to cope with physical changes, boredom from retirement, financial stresses from the loss of regular income, feelings of inadequacy, and more. One prominent
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It is not, however, to be mixed with the notion of ‘social isolation’, which will be covered later shortly. Loneliness is considered to be a subjective and negative feeling, and, amongst other factors, is pathognomonic of depression, suicide attempts and social impairments (Green et al, 1992). On March 29th, 2009, New York Times defined loneliness as a determinant of “poor physical and mental health”, followed up by BBC News’ statement in 2011: loneliness is a “hidden killer” in the elderly. Despite this, it is a not a commonly held notion that loneliness is just “a state of solitude”. Many people believe that loneliness is merely a perception; a state of mind where one believes they are alone (Tiwari, SC. 2013). According to a research conducted the University of California, San Francisco, out of 1604 participants aged 60 and older, only 14% of the seniors lived alone, but 43% of them report feeling lonely on a regular basis. People who identified themselves as lonely had an adjusted risk ratio of 1.59 or a statistically significant 59 percent greater risk of decline. For death, the hazard ratio was 1.45 or 45 percent greater risk of death (Perissinotto CM, Cenzer IS, Covinsky KE. 2012). There are many causes to the issue of loneliness, and in order for an intervention to be developed, we must first categorize the causes of loneliness into three different types: situational, developmental, and internal. These bring out both the external and internal factors that seniors deal with as they grow older. Later, we will also emphasise the stress for interventions by explaining what loneliness can develop into if
It is not, however, to be mixed with the notion of ‘social isolation’, which will be covered later shortly. Loneliness is considered to be a subjective and negative feeling, and, amongst other factors, is pathognomonic of depression, suicide attempts and social impairments (Green et al, 1992). On March 29th, 2009, New York Times defined loneliness as a determinant of “poor physical and mental health”, followed up by BBC News’ statement in 2011: loneliness is a “hidden killer” in the elderly. Despite this, it is a not a commonly held notion that loneliness is just “a state of solitude”. Many people believe that loneliness is merely a perception; a state of mind where one believes they are alone (Tiwari, SC. 2013). According to a research conducted the University of California, San Francisco, out of 1604 participants aged 60 and older, only 14% of the seniors lived alone, but 43% of them report feeling lonely on a regular basis. People who identified themselves as lonely had an adjusted risk ratio of 1.59 or a statistically significant 59 percent greater risk of decline. For death, the hazard ratio was 1.45 or 45 percent greater risk of death (Perissinotto CM, Cenzer IS, Covinsky KE. 2012). There are many causes to the issue of loneliness, and in order for an intervention to be developed, we must first categorize the causes of loneliness into three different types: situational, developmental, and internal. These bring out both the external and internal factors that seniors deal with as they grow older. Later, we will also emphasise the stress for interventions by explaining what loneliness can develop into if