Social Isolation and Loneliness among elderly Howetta Queenborrows Introduction to Gerontology Professor: Alda Tee October 27th, 2014 As we get older, our social connections often gets smaller, only having things or people that are extremely important to us. In this paper we will be examining the social-psychological problems; social isolation and loneliness that are faced by elderly by facilitating the response to five main discussion topics. The following discussion will facilitate the understanding of social isolation and loneliness, the risk factors, explore the prevalence of social isolation and loneliness in long term care facilities and the role of occupational therapist assistants and physiotherapist assistants have this emerging issue of social isolation. What is social isolation and loneliness? Social Isolation can be defined as a continual lack of contact with other people. Social isolation and chronic loneliness is one of the indisputable signals of mental turmoil, including major depression. It is the withdrawal of self from social roles directly or indirectly among individuals. Loneliness is the feeling of emptiness and desolation. This issue can immensely negative consequences on older persons such as a wide variation of premature health issues. What are the risk factors associated with social isolation and Loneliness? There are many reasons to why elderly persons can fall at risk of social isolation and loneliness. These factors can range anywhere from
The social isolation risks rose up with development of social exclusion and hardship, such as addiction, divorce, disability, separation and illness. An also, people confront with predicament exacerbation by the
“Actually, feeling lonely has little to do with how many friends you have. It 's the way you feel inside. Some people who feel lonely may rarely interact with people and others who are surrounded by people but don 't feel connected” (Karyn Hall 2013). Truthfully, loneliness is something almost all people fear. It 's a deeper feeling then just being isolated. It 's feeling distant or disconnected from others. Loneliness is so much more than just feeling secluded, it 's feeling rejected by society, or even like an outcast. In Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck suggests that there is a deeper meaning to being lonely than just the superficial sense of
There are three core theories’ that have been established in age related studies. There is the active theory which states that a person should remain active and social. There is the Continuation Theory and states that people who age successfully continue habits that lead to a happy life. Then there is the disengagement theory and this theory will be the focus of the paper. Disengagement theory is the idea that as people age it is expected for them to withdraw from society and take a more limited social role in life. I believe that this theory ties into dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease because it is expected that older adults retire and move away from the workforce and society. When we think of Alzheimer’s disease it generally is a person who is older in life and withdrawn from the people around them because they lack the ability to recall memories. Through this paper I will talk more about what disengagement theory is and how it was developed and how I believe that it applies to Alzheimer’s disease. Finally, I will talk about a method of therapy that is used to combat this social withdrawal seen in the disengagement theory as well as how it is used to treat Alzheimer’s disease.
Social isolation is a social issue where people avoid contact with one society. They are commonly seen nowadays preventing people from interacting with another as well as creating reliable relations, abating any chances for one to realize their destiny. This negative spiral immensely affects the opportunity for people holding a feeling of love and community toward others.
Oftentimes, people confuse loneliness with the state of being alone. When looking at the overall big picture, it is easy to forget that loneliness is temporary. People are not alone because even back in primitive times, they bore a natural instinct to strive for companionship in order to survive. Human imagination creates companions in cases of extreme loneliness which contradicts the state of being alone. Due to societal and family standards, others in society make it practically impossible to be alone. Mankind often goes through life without realizing the overwhelming amount of human contact and support. People are never alone, they are just simply
There are a lot of books and studies which tell us that as a person grows older certain personality disorders develop. These Personality disorders are reflected in their interpersonal skills also that older people tend to give unexpected responses to clinical treatment. Patients with such personality disorders are often described in as "difficult." (Committee, 2005)
Loneliness is something that many people have to go through in their live. The people who have to go encounter this pain can feel depressed and isolated. In Of Mice and Men there are three main characters that exemplify this Curley’s wife, Candy, and Crooks. Curley’s wife because is a victim of this because no one wants to talk to her, Candy’s old so people keep away from him, and Crooks is a different skin color, which makes people discriminate against him.
121). Mrs Field lives alone and does not like strangers in her home, nor does she have a high level of social capital, creating additional barriers of care (College of Nursing & Health Sciences 2015). This complication may impact the delivery of care, if Mrs Field does not like strangers in her home, she may not like being visited by healthcare services such as social workers, OTs, nor like being supplied home-delivered meals. Applying the theory of Erikson’s developmental stages, Mrs Field is at the stage of integrity versus despair; this stage of development refers to an individual’s life and whether it was meaningful and what they were able to or were unable to accomplish in their life (Guerin & Guerin 2013a, pp. 55-6; 2013b, p. 39). In addition, this developmental theory shows that social context contributes to integrity versus despair, presenting the imperative role of the nurse to develop integrity rather than despair with Mrs Field through social interaction, communication and effective patient-centred planning (Guerin & Guerin 2013a, p. 56). Through the gathered information the nurse may start to plan Mrs Field’s care around her social isolation, however, an assumption of Mrs Field’s social isolation and lifestyle may impact the plan of care. The main consensus on social isolation in the elderly is that they are at risk of loneliness when isolated at home without much community interaction (Wethington & Pillemer 2014, p. 247). However, evidence shows that isolation and loneliness are subjective and unique to each individual (Aged and Community Services Australia 2015, pp. 5-6). While some elderly may become socially isolated, this can be a lifestyle preference and deliberate, therefore, planning social events in this case, would prove as a barrier to
Isolation is the absence of other people around someone. Studies show a repeating trend that suggests that isolation causes harm to those whom it affects and, although to a lesser extent, their family and friends as well. There are two types of isolation, self-induced isolation and forced isolation, such as exile.
Though isolating one’s self from others from time to time can be healthy, those who experience isolation will inevitably crave intimate connections with others, which, unfortunately, is something that not all can achieve. The short story, “Miss Brill” by Katherine Mansfield, shows the effects that loneliness and isolation can bring to those who struggle with it. “Miss Brill” deals with the elderly, solitary title protagonist, who spends her Sunday afternoons the exact same way, with the exception of one Sunday afternoon to which her reality finally catches up to her. While Miss Brill finds herself surrounded with an abundance of people and lively music, she still finds it difficult to engage with those around her. Through this text, Mansfield
To conclude, this essay in overall reviewed two journal articles on the topic loneliness in older people. It examined the
S., & Rook, K. S. (2013). Emotional and social loneliness in later life. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 30(6), 813-832.
I suppose I should call this social isolation: when your mind fails you too much to speak and when you do, it’s broken and hollowed. Someone I met so recently says it’s not unlike the way you can look at someone.
As people age they develop many special needs related to the later period of life. Many elderly people have specific physical needs where adaptations to their home are necessary or where they need specific equipment for self care. Old age also brings new emotional challenges for the elderly person when the family can be useful in helping to meet the persons mental health needs. Senior citizens experience needs in their social life; they also experience the need for activities with other seniors. Health needs also negatively affect the elderly and cause multiple physical problems. Every elderly person experiences needs that are related to each of these areas.
Concepts in the literature related to social isolation include isolation, social solitude, social seclusion, and loneliness. Isolation is defined as a state in which an individual experiences a reduction in the level of normal sensory and social input with possible involuntary limitations (Gilmartin, Grota, & Sousa, 2013). Loneliness is defined as a subjective feeling of distress, arising when social connections are perceived to be inadequate or unfulfilling (Matthews, et al., 2016).