AMERICAN AGEISM CAUSES LONELINESS, DEPRESSION AND SUICIDE

By Helen Borel, R.N.,Ph.D. 

I wrote this commentary in response to an online discussion lauding the fact that 
"loneliness is alleviated by animals, gadgets and spiritual beliefs, not 
just people".

The fact that "lonely" people find various ways to ameliorate their loneliness is 
not a startling fact. Why wouldn't they? 

A People-Saturated Society that Ostracizes Many
Also, the fact that "lonely" people tend to "anthropomorphize" nonhuman 
surrogates should not be so surprising either. Humans need connection 
to other humans. Lacking the latter, voices on the radio, music, television, 
reading, "socializing" on the internet, petting one's pet, working at one's 
hobbies, etc. and so forth all are healthy ways of coping with so-called 
"loneliness" in a people-saturated society that nevertheless ostracizes 
many groups. 

Most vulnerable to the "loneliness" of social isolation are single mothers, 
the de-institutionalized mentally ill, those who've been raised in foster care or 
orphanages, creative/artistic person-alities, and mature women and men
either never-married, divorced or widowed. 

A more interesting subject for research would be: Why is our society set up in 
such a way so that many people are isolated from valued human contact 
and, therefore, become lonely, depressed and suicidal? How does this happen? 

Related topics of interest in this regard are: How does AGEISM impact the lives 
of our valued elder Americans? How does AGEISM impact the capacity to 
"connect" with others?

I have a few ideas that are ripe for "research," 

or better yet, for common sense social policy: 

1) Since the general populace and the government neither have the funds 
nor the interest to support elder Americans, why is rampant ageism allowed to 
flourish so that folks older than their late fifties -- who are healthy and are searching 
for work -- cannot get jobs, even when highly skilled and well-educated in the 
America of today? 

2) Unable to find work to pay their bills, what do psychologists and 
psychiatrists expect the mental state of financially desperate 
people to be? 

3) How can one connect to others in a callous society that 
excludes you when you pass a certain age criterion? 
~ Excludes you from financial independence by refusing to hire you
~ Excludes you from meaningful work and the human contact that a 
challenging job would offer
~ Excludes you from social functions because 
a) there is no money to pay for these 
b) you're "too old" for x, y or z activity
c) your hair is grey
... and 
d) just who do you think you are trying to live your life fully at your age? 

Therefore, I believe a great deal of so-called "loneliness" is involuntary, 
affecting people excluded from inclusion in normal life activities due to no fault 
of their own. Abandoned by a complex societal network of institutionalized
discriminatory practices that, despite legislation against such practices,
are blatantly, openly allowed to proceed unchecked. 

Correct these insults to our elders -- 

on whose backs American progress and

individual successes are being achieved today 

-- and we'll have a much less "lonely" society. 

As a New York City psychotherapist, I am concerned that the true psychosocial 
needs of too many Americans fall "between the cracks" when it comes to the so-called 
"helping professions." For example, relative to elder citizens, bleak "senior centers" are 
set up to low-cost feed and congregate the relatively helpless, poorly educated and sick 
or disabled adult. They do not assist able-bodied, skilled, educated mature adults in job-
acquistion and in socializing with educated peers. This kind of inequity in social policy 
planning excludes an entire group of elders who, lacking individual resources, can be 
expected to descend into "loneliness," depression and ultimate despair.

© Copyright 2008-2015 Dr. Helen Borel. All rights reserved.

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