Social Isolation And The Elderly

In this article Noack explains that the effects of isolation and loneliness is what the Red Cross would call, “the hidden epidemic”. The issue that isolation and loneliness is an epidemic relates heavily on the world due to how humans have the need to socialise with others. For people to not know the damaging effects of isolation is for humanity to fall apart. Also, by the statistic taken in Britain stating that around ten percent of all Brits regularly feel isolated. This statistic was taken in mid-January and to expand on this the article also states “While isolation is especially widespread among older people in Britain and Germany- with the majority of those older than 75 living alone- other countries are facing slightly different problems.”

Isolation is common in the world today. Isolation is the process or fact of someone being alone. People find comfort in others that they have an idea of what they are going though. In the book Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, Ethan tries to escape isolation, However his father’s death forced him to give up college to help his ill mother. "Somebody had to stay and care for the folks. There warn't ever anybody but Ethan. Fust his father-then his mother-then his wife." (Wharton.11) The isolation made Ethan take care of the farm, millwork, and taking care of Zeena. When Zeena cousin Mattie came to live with

Not surprisingly, senior loneliness is all too common. Major life changes such as retiring, loss of family and friends, and giving up the keys when it’s no longer safe to drive often result in social isolation. The effects are more serious than you might think, ranging anywhere from faster progression of cancer to a heightened risk of suicide (Cascade Companion Care, April 13). There is a need for agencies such as Alpine Home Care for the purpose of creating an environment where the geriatric population has the control and ability to lead a meaningful, independent life. Homecare services differ from facility-based options, which include nursing homes, assisted living communities, and adult day cares. These elderly care options all have unique benefits, however, at home care is often the preferred choice for seniors who wish to age in place in their own home (Griswold Home Care, n.d.). Unfortunately, the effects of aging can not yet be reversed, but the ability to improve quality of life does exists.

Social isolation is a concept that can be utilized across multiple disciplines such as psychology, sociology, pharmacology, psychiatry, anthropology, and nursing. Social isolation is most seen in the disabled, those suffering with mental disorders and alcoholism, the divorced and the elderly. Social isolation is also one of the most frequently used nursing diagnosis. Social isolation is defined two ways as it relates to the psychology and sociology disciplines in an article titled Measuring Social Isolation among Older Adults Using Multiple Indicators from the NSHAP Study. Social psycholigical literature define social isolation as a cognitive discrepancy between the actual social relations an individual has and their desired

The events of Of Mice and Men occurred during the time of great depression in America. At that time there was economic crisis that resulted in loss of millions of jobs and people became homeless and very poor. This was reflected in the novel because George and Lennie were poor and had no place to go. Both of them were moving from ranch to ranch searching for a job to survive. This scenario demonstrated their feeling of isolation and loneliness when George mentioned to Lennie “Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place." (Page 13). The author described also that the feeling of poverty and loneliness made the men seem to return to their basic instinct and fight to survive.

There are three core theories’ that have been established in age related studies. There is the active theory which states that a person should remain active and social. There is the Continuation Theory and states that people who age successfully continue habits that lead to a happy life. Then there is the disengagement theory and this theory will be the focus of the paper. Disengagement theory is the idea that as people age it is expected for them to withdraw from society and take a more limited social role in life. I believe that this theory ties into dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease because it is expected that older adults retire and move away from the workforce and society. When we think of Alzheimer’s disease it generally is a person who is older in life and withdrawn from the people around them because they lack the ability to recall memories. Through this paper I will talk more about what disengagement theory is and how it was developed and how I believe that it applies to Alzheimer’s disease. Finally, I will talk about a method of therapy that is used to combat this social withdrawal seen in the disengagement theory as well as how it is used to treat Alzheimer’s disease.

In Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson, the author creatively develops the story of different individuals living in Ohio at the turn of the century. The wide multitude of characters developed throughout the twenty four stories in the complete piece, all have lives slightly deformed by the loneliness and isolation they feel. His unique characterization by uniting the seemingly different stories through a common theme create an intense impact as a whole that immerses the reader in the peculiar lives of the community’s inhabitants. The first story, The Book of the Grotesque, serves as a “prologue” to the story, even though it is not addressed as such. The main character, a nameless elderly writer, describes his visions of these different individuals in relation to his theory about

The central message in the movie “UP” is Friendship and Changes in the life of an Aging Adult. The movie created the following emotions: happiness in the life that Carl and Ellie Fredricksen had together, Carl’s adventures with Russell; Sadness when Carl and Ellie broke their savings jar a couple of times to fix the immediate problems they had and the eventual passing of Ellie; Anger when the construction workers failed to understand Carl’s attachment to his home which led to him hitting one of them in error, and when Charles Muntz tried to burn Carl’s house so that he could capture Kevin, the giant rainbow-colored bird.

Isolation has devastating effects on a person mentally and physically. But most senior citizens have children that have already moved out, and they are raising families of their own. So they don't have anyone to

Frequently we overlook history tie into our personal life; in fact, many fail to give it any attention. We are all so focused on what’s going on now and what next. Countless of people do not investigate into one’s own past, but rather the past of a whole country, nation, and civilization in general. Many of our experiences are not random but, rather, are shaped by social structure: the organized pattern of relationships and institutions that together form the basis of society. The general patterns in what might otherwise be considered simple random events, for example, family problems, divorce; unemployment, domestic violence, and child abuse are more than just personal troubles experienced in isolation by a few people. They are issues affecting

Social support constitutes the psychological and material resources provided by a social network to benefit an individual's ability to cope with stressful events. The perceived ability of social support may protect against the potential of stressful events to elicit psychological distress, depression, and anxiety. Cohen asserted that possible explanation for the buffering effect of being hugged is that hugs might be exchanged between individuals involved in a situation involving tension and conflict either as a means of resolving that conflict or as a counter to associated emotional aftereffects (138). Cohen summarized that these findings suggest that people who regularly receive hugs are more protected than those who do not (144). Several

Compared to the respondents that did not participate in all three considered waves of the Tromsø Study (Tromsø IV, Tromsø V, and Tromsø VI), the respondents in this study sample were likely to be female and older (p<0.05). Among the 4,530 individuals in this study sample, the majority were aged 55 years or older (56.2%) at baseline (Tromsø IV) and 59.2% were women. Mother’s history of psychiatric disorders was reported more frequently than father’s history of psychiatric disorders (5.8% and 2.0%, respectively). The majority (60.3%) of the study sample reported having good or very good financial conditions in childhood; 4.9% reported some (any type) childhood physical maltreatment, and 2.6% reported severe (both) childhood physical maltreatment (Table 1). A substantial proportion (16.1%) of respondents reported perceived social isolation in adulthood (Table 1).

Contrary cases are clear examples of what is not the concept (Gilmartin, Grota, & Sousa, 2013). An example of a contrary case of social isolation is the individual who loves to be to him or her self. She enjoys being along, she is a loner and only limits her social interactions to the necissities. She is not socially isolated becase she electively prefers to isolate herself for her own satisfaction and peace of mind. When hospitalized she does not want any guess and or visotrs. She enjoys being alone in her hospital room.

Some people would argue that bullying is wrong, but don’t kids have options and ways to prevent it from happening? They have people they can run to and help they can seek. Some people would say we need to stress the importance of world peace. How realistic is that? I’m not trying to be a prude, but I believe there are more important issues in today’s society that people aren’t aware of. Starting with the old man I met last weekend, who is a Vietnam Veteran, sitting in the emptiness of his hospital room, praying to die because his is miserable. He is lonely and ready to be in a better place. My first reaction was a little harsh, I was irritated with his mopiness and was just trying to get him to his rehab session. Then he began to tell me his story...about war..about how his family doesn’t visit, because they don’t live around here. His wife, she died. He was alone. There are very few predominant moments in your life, when you can say an incident CHANGED your life. However, this happened to be one of those moments. I thought about that man for the rest of the night, and cried myself to sleep. How can a man who married the woman of his dreams, worked hard his whole life, had kids, and served our country, be so miserable?

In “Maternal and Paternal Imprisonment and Children's Social Exclusion in Young Adulthood,” the authors portray the effect of parental imprisonment on young adolescent to adulthood. Foster and John both highlight the factors as result of this, they are: personal income, household income, perceived socioeconomic status, and feelings of powerlessness (Foster and Hagan 388). The authors state that, “Our findings indicate that both maternal and paternal incarceration significantly contribute to young adult social exclusion among offspring in their late twenties to early thirties (Foster and Hagan 388).” To elaborate, as a result of both parents in prison, their children are likely to suffer from social exclusion in their life. This usually happens in their late twenty to early thirties. Moreover, also research showed that parental incarceration affects children, and lead them to become antisocial (Foster and Hagan 392). To further explain the idea of social exclusion, according to the authors, that in adulthood it prevents full participation in the normatively prescribed activities of a given society and denies access to information, resources, sociability, recognition, and identity, eroding self respect and reducing capabilities to achieve personal goals (Foster and Hagan 392). Furthermore, according to the the Pew Center for Charitable Trusts proposed that, “as a new generation of children are touched by the incarceration of a parent, and especially as those children