WHY ELDERLY PERSONS FEEL LONELY ? – By N.S.Venkataraman

WHY ELDERLY PERSONS FEEL LONELY ? – By N.S.Venkataraman

All over the world , the retirement age for employees in government departments and in  large and medium scale organized sector have been fixed as 60  in most cases.

In India , a few decades back,  the retirement age was fixed as 55 and later on,  it was raised to 58 and  now it is 60.  At present , there is a clamour that it would be more appropriate to raise the retirement age to 62.

Fixing such retirement age obviously imply that beyond this age, there is a perception  that  people are unlikely to be at the peak of physical and mental health and with possibilities of consequent fall in vision, hearing capability, mental alertness and so on.  However, in recent years, with the advancement of medical technology and better awareness amongst people about healthy style of living,  the longevity of  life has significantly increased , with people remaining active in most cases even up to the age of 70 and above. While the governments and organized sector continue to deem 60 years of age  as the   time for retirement, politicians and businessmen continue to hold positions and responsibilities even beyond the age of 75 , even  if they are not at the peak of physical and mental  health .

In any case, there is an ongoing debate as to what  should be the age of  individuals when they should be considered as elderly persons. .  The  emerging consensus view appears to be that 70 years should be the stage of life when a person should be categorized as elderly person or senior person..

Despite such ongoing debate, there is a view amongst governments as well as  in the society that the elderly  persons need support  to lead a comfortable life. Several schemes have been announced to support  the elderly persons  by extending monetary help , social security measures  and even issuing regulations in a few cases, that the sons and daughters failing to take care of the elderly persons can be punishable..  All said and done, the overall view appears to be that the elderly persons are vulnerable and deserve sympathy and support from the society  and the government.

 Even as such animated discussions take place in the media and in public sphere, there is evidence  of feelings of loneliness  amongst the elderly persons , particularly passing through the age of 70 and above.

Careful investigation about the thought process of elderly persons in the age group of 70 and above highlight the fact that such feelings of loneliness is inevitable ,  whatever may be the affection that they get from the younger generation or support due to the social security measures of the government . 

 The question is why such feelings of   loneliness? While interacting with senior citizens, it becomes clear that their feelings of loneliness is due to their  realization that they are at the fag end of life and the end  may happen  to them  at any time. The anxiety is particularly due to the fact that they do not know as to what would be their conditions after the end of life and where they would go from here  .

All religions have their own theory about the life after death and  advises everyone  not to be scared of death process , as it is natural and unavoidable. Nevertheless, such  advocacy of religions are not adequate  enough to erase the feelings of anxiety and loneliness . While elderly persons do listen to the advisory of religions carefully and with respect, still it does not make them less anxious about  the possible happenings  after the end of life.

The feeling of loneliness particularly arises since after such age , people generally realise that whatever they have achieved in life or not achieved in life are immaterial and have no consequence to them. In short, they become grimly aware that life has been a mere time passing exercise  and all events in the past life  have been in vacuum and they would go nowhere  after the end , unaccompanied and all alone.

This cause for loneliness amongst elderly citizens is such that it has no remedy or solution and one has to live with it and carry the thought of loneliness till the end.