A Biography of Loneliness by Bound Alberti Fay;

Author:Bound Alberti, Fay;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2019-08-02T00:00:00+00:00

The Complexities of Loneliness Among the Elderly

The experience of loneliness in old age is not universal, or inevitable. It is dependent on the dominant ideologies of ageing and social care, as well as individual, familial, and societal qualities of experience. There can be no standardization of approach because the elderly and the lonely are not a homogenous mass—though they might share the psycho-social traits of the so-called Silent Generation (those born between 1925 and 1945, who were brought up to work hard and keep quiet). Elderly people are every bit as complex as other generational groups who experience loneliness differently according to their wealth, psychological experience, health, gender, ethnicity, mobility, family and friend networks, and much more besides. Some elderly people are Internet-savvy.35 Others have limited digital capacity through factors that include infirmity, economic access, and social capital, or knowing how to engage with online communities. These differences are overlooked if we focus on the elderly and lonely purely through an economic lens, or as part of a crisis in health and social care.

As with loneliness at any pinch-point, then, elderly loneliness intersects with a number of other variables. And it changes over the course of a person’s life, and old age. The fleeting moments of intense and terrifying loneliness experienced by my Grandma Rose in which she was aware of an unbridgeable gulf between herself and others would not have been the same as the chronic loneliness experienced by a person who is disabled, compos mentis, living in an isolated farmhouse and fearful of intruders.36 Loneliness among the aged depends, like loneliness in younger groups, on the relationships and health of the individuals concerned; on their quality of life and resilience. There is a significant body of work to be done on understanding loneliness as a life stage, which means that interventions will need to start earlier, if loneliness in adolescence and youth can be, as some studies suggest, a predictor or indicator of loneliness in old age.37

There have been few systematic, evidence-based attempts to find out what loneliness means for individual elderly people. Researchers have consistently shown that the presumption is that older people in industrialized societies are overwhelmingly in poor health, physically isolated, unable to work, and living in poverty. Yes, many people need support, and old age can be a period of intense isolation and loneliness. But we need to look at who is not lonely rather than who is, in order to prepare for old age as the ancient Greeks advised. Paying attention to the absence of loneliness in old age would enable us to develop appropriate health and social care interventions while taking account of individual difference. And global comparisons show that it is the context in which ageing occurs, the closing down of options available to the individual, that causes loneliness, even for the elderly infirm. It is not ageing itself, which can be an opportunity for reflection and growth.38

Clearly there are socio-economic factors at play, as well as environmental ones. The basics of wellbeing must include support for everyday activities and a safe and comfortable home.

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