Learning from Resilient People by Morley D. Glicken

Author:Morley D. Glicken [Glicken, Morley D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Social Work, Human Services
ISBN: 9781544340388
Google: vmNaDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Published: 2006-05-03T05:36:57+00:00

Late Life Depression: The Case of Primo Levi

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Primo Levi was the remarkable author of books about the human spirit and the Holocaust, including the books The Periodic Table (1975/1995b) and If Not Now, When? (1982/1995a). As a young man, Levi was imprisoned for a year in the notorious Auschwitz concentration camp, a subject he wrote about with great humanity and sensitivity. Many think his books about the concentration camp experience are among the best examples of human beings’ ability to deal with incredible trauma. In his mid-60s, at the height of his recognition as a writer, Levi suffered a serious and unrelenting depression. He was ill with prostate problems and he was finding writing increasingly difficult.

Describing his depression, Angier (2002) writes, “The real pit of his depression had begun. It was so bad that he had lost interest in everything and didn’t want to see anyone” (p. 706). Elsewhere, she tells of a letter written to a friend in which Levi says, “I am going through the worst time of my life since Auschwitz, maybe the worst time in my life because I am older and less resilient. My wife is exhausted. Forgive me for this outburst” (p. 708). Later, he called his doctor and said, “I can’t go on” (p. 731). Moments after talking to his doctor, he walked outside the apartment where he had lived most of his life, stood at the railing of the staircase, perhaps paused for a moment, and then jumped five stories to his death. Trying to understand his decision to commit suicide, Angier (2002) writes,

He just needed to get out and really thought he might walk downstairs. He opened the door and found himself outside. It wasn’t the light and air he had dreamed of, but it was a deep void. I think he looked for [his wife] to stop him, then he leaned (over the railing of the staircase) and looked, but she wasn’t there; and he let go. (p. 731)

Angier (2002) believes that Levi’s suicide was a private decision. “Auschwitz caused him guilt and shame, and torment about human evil; but he contained these in decades of writing and talking, and with the knowledge that he had done everything he could to right them. What we suffer from most in the end is our own private condition. It was his own private condition that killed Primo Levi” (Angier, 2002, p. xx).

While we can never know Levi’s reason for committing suicide, his example might help us understand the complex nature of aging and the inability of even highly resilient people to cope with serious deteriorations in physical and emotional health. However, according to Waern, Runeson, Allebeck, and Beskow (2002), late life suicides are often explained by failing health, aloneness, changing cognitive abilities, family deterioration, and death of loved ones. The primary reason for elder suicide, however, is a severe late life depression that is unresponsive to treatment (Waern et al., 2002).

In studies of Holocaust survivors such as Primo Levi, researchers

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