A Model Of Loneliness In Older Adults

Stephen Marche’s article, “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely” explores the complex issues regarding loneliness. “Loneliness and being alone are not the same thing…” (The Atlantic), Marche states. Loneliness is a physiological mantra and a projection of an individual’s feelings about life and their surroundings. Loneliness is by far one of the most detrimental epidemics because it is sly; many people do not identify loneliness to be an actual factor of bad health. Bad health can originate from a prolonged feeling of being alone therefore can affect the human body itself. In his article, Marche continues to discuss several scientists’ perspectives and references a myriad of social experiments composed around the issue of correlation or causation between

In “Living Alone is The New Norm”, loneliness shares no correlation with living alone due to the quality of social interactions. As Lucius Annaeus Seneca once said, “It is quality rather than quantity that matters”. According to the TIME article titled, “Living Alone is The New Norm”, “Reams of published research show that it’s the quality, not the quantity, of social interactions that best predicts loneliness,” (Klinenberg 1). Although there is no real or tangible definition of loneliness, researchers have concluded that loneliness revolves around social interactions.

For Participant 1 (P1), experience of loneliness followed by a loss of an attachment figure who he could trust and feel safe. This sense of safety is related to both his trust in others that they would be honest and stay with him. He values sharing and dialogue with trusting other(s) as he reflects on his life tasks and in developing a solid sense of self. His value in making a good decision for himself as well as people under his care is achieved through interactions with trusting others. A lack of those trusting others, it led him to feel alone despite of his acknowledgement of presence/availability of other people. His loneliness was compounded as he found himself needing cope with difficult situations alone. He places an emphasis on the

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.

Loneliness can stem from different places, yet the most harmful is that of social isolation. Humans are social creatures and require some sort of human interaction. Even the most introverted people will break under the deafening noise of silence. A 2018 Pew Research Center Survey “...found that 1 in 10 Americans feel lonely or isolated all or most of the time” (“Effects of Social Isolation on Mental Health”). Furthermore, the risks of being isolated socially “...are very similar in magnitude to that of obesity, smoking, [and] lack of access to care...”

Not only does it increase the risk for suicide, but he said it ties to hardening of the arteries, inflammation in the body, and problems with memory and learning. He also proved that loneliness results in an early death. He did an experiment with flies, and the ones that had contact with others lived longer than the ones that were isolated. This shows just how important communication with others is. Isolation isn’t just a problem in Of Mice and Men, but a big problem seen in older adults. A New York Time article showed a survey that Dr. Perissinotto did in 2012 about isolated older adults. He reported that 43% of 1,604 adults over 60 felt lonely, and the ones that admitted feeling lonely had significantly higher health issues, and even resulted in death the next 6

Throughout the entirety of the novella Of Mice and Men, the theme of loneliness can be seen in key points of the story, affecting many of the decisions and actions the characters make. In the book, solitude is the main fear of several individuals, yet, try as they might, none of them can escape what seems to be inevitable. Steinbeck sets out to show us this unavoidable isolation that seeks to pervade the world, through both direct and indirect means. He purposefully names the town Soledad, meaning “solitude” in Spanish, along with having George constantly playing solitaire, which is another play on words. However, he does have more outspoken ways of showing his opinions, simply by creating the characters of George, Lennie, Crooks, Old Candy,

Another effect is loneliness is not a matter of external conditions but rather more of a psychological state, which can cause neuroticism, or anxiety with due time. For example, John Cacioppo, the director of the center for cognitive and social neuroscience at the University of Chicago, says the epidemic of loneliness is affecting the basic functions of human physiology. And in one experiment, Cacioppo confirmed “The greater the proportion of online interactions, the lonelier you are.”

Many of the elderly find themselves living in isolation. There are many reasons why the elderly will find themselves living alone and in isolation. Many times caregivers have difficulty intervening. Social isolation can have many effects on the health status of the elderly. When alone the mental, physical and even the nutritional status of the older person can be affected. Trying to get the person to accept that they are being isolated can be difficult. There are a few resources that can have a positive impact on the elderly. This paper discusses issues of isolation and the elderly.

The purpose of the novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck is to make the reader aware of the thought-provoking idea loneliness through Crooks being black and Curley’s wife being the only women on the ranch. Crooks and Curley’s wife show the reader that lonely people are seen as outcasts in society which teaches us to accept people as you could be missing out on their qualities and friendship.

The social animal works and interacts with others and inserts itself into a web of social connections. These groups manifest out of strangers, neighbors, classmates, co-workers, friends, relatives and among other loved ones we may consider. As a result, the social group provides the information of being loved and belonging in which benefits the social animal (Cobb, 1976). These sensations of love and belonging are also referred to as social support. Nevertheless, research has heavily focused on the physical health benefits of social support but not much knowledge exists on the five psychological constructs such as, rumination, gratitude, preventive health, reappraisal, and the inclusion of other in the self. I should say that I do believe a relationship of perceived social support exists among these constructs like I said its talked about but not stressed enough. However, these studies that emphasize on depression, for example are not drawbacks but fruitful studies in regards to depression. On one hand, we discovered that depression is sometimes caused by loneliness, also to mention this usually leads to suicide, which is a product of loneliness (Wagner & Calhoun,

The impact of loneliness on physical health can also be better understood by the study conducted by Uchino and colleagues (1996). They found that social individuals have lower blood pressure, better immunity and lower levels of stress hormones than the socially isolated people. In contrast another study described by Arthur 2006 demonstrated that it is not yet clear that group therapy or socialization can improve the secondary prevention of Coronary heart Disease. After considering all the studies and arguments by different authors it can be conclude that it is necessary to do more research on the impact of socialization on physical health of individuals.

So yes, it appears Facebook may play a small role in loneliness, however, the author does not explicitly state that Facebook is the only culprit. He is eager to recite numerous facts about loneliness and its negative effects but, it is hard for me to agree that Facebook is the sole contributor, if

This study investigated the difference between emotional and social loneliness using structural equation modeling, evaluated whether a two-dimensional or unidimensional conception of loneliness provides a better fit to the data. Second, the extent to which positive and negative social exchanges are associated with older adults’ loneliness was examined. Third, they also investigated whether the structure and social-exchange correlates of loneliness differ for currently married versus formerly married older

There are many reasons to why elderly persons can fall at risk of social isolation and loneliness. These factors can range anywhere from