Suicide among Elders
I personally had experienced a relative who committed suicide because of various reasons. He was around seventy five years of age that time. It was so hard to accept the fact that he committed such a thing. There were varieties of reasons that the family suspected why he committed the act. Some of the reasons were loneliness, being dependent on his wife, does not have social network, illnesses, and difficulties of accepting the death of his favourite grandson. It is said that “social isolation is an accepted factor for suicide. Living alone and loneliness may be the most highly correlated social variable in late life suicide” (Kennedy & Tanenbaum, 2000, p. 351). By that time I really did not understand why he did such thing and I felt really sorry for him. I consider this man very tough in terms of dealing with different kinds of struggles. He was well respected in their town in fact he and his wife were awarded as one of the most promising couple in their town, since they were able to raise eight children with academic degrees. Considering that they were belong to low income family during their days. I was only sixteen years old that time and his immediate family did not reveal to the people how he died. They said it was because of heart failure but the reality is he killed himself. It was a top secret among the relatives. Now having the knowledge regarding aging population, I realized that though elders are said to be tougher and wiser, they are also human beings who have struggles in life. I became aware that although suicide is a well known predicament among teenagers, it also happens among elders. Sad to say, because my relative’s needs were not well addressed, he committed suicide. He never told anybody, not even his wife. Now having some knowledge about how elders deal with great loss in terms of privacy, power, independence and so many more, I can understand how life would be if I was in their situation.
The elderly more often cite loneliness as the major reason to consider suicide...some other reasons are financial problems, poor health, depression, alcohol problems, not taking prescription drugs properly, feelings of worthlessness and isolation” (Kennedy & Tanenbaum, 2000, p. 354). Kanel (2007) also stated that “factors associated with a risk of suicide include unemployment, illness, impulsivity, rigid thinking, several stressful vents and release from hospitalization”(p.77).
Among biomedical and psychopathological explanations about suicides among older adults, physical illness which means that older adults kill themselves because they have the perception that there is no point in pursuing life as they are just suffering from chronic illness or some are terminally ill people. In my relative’s case this might be true but no one knows what the real reason. “Firearms are the most common method of suicide among older men and women. The usual household methods of suicide, death by hanging, suffocation, knifing and poisoning with non prescription medications vary by locale” (Kennedy & Tanenbaum, 2000, p. 351).
“Depression and bereavement are common in women but men suicide more frequently” (Kennedy & Tanenbaum, 2000, p. 358). Some older men have the tendency to commit suicide and it seems that older women are tougher in dealing with difficulties in their lives. It just makes me think that probably because women are in relationship and are more emotional that they can release their emotions with friends whereas, men on the other hand cannot be open in terms of their problems. “Explanations for the high rates of suicide in older males include divorce and loss of status are related to retirement”( Kennedy & Tanenbaum, 2000, p. 350). There are several facts about the social character of suicide “men commit suicide at all ages at rates from two to four times that of women culminating in twelve to one by age 85. Rates for both men and women increase with age rising precipitously at 75 years” (Kennedy & Tanenbaum, 2000, p. 349).
Although we have different kinds of services for elders there is a need to more crisis intervention units that basically deal mainly with elders. There is Klinic Community Health Centre but I think there should be more.
Reference:
Kanel, K. ( 2007). A guide to crisis intervention. Davis drive, Belmont, CA.
Kennedy, G. & Tanenbaum, S. (2000). Suicide and aging: International perspective. Psychiatric Quarterly. Retrieved March 18, 2011, from http://www.springerlink.com/content/k2g71214541wq178/
Thanks for the post Mary Anne.
ReplyDeleteI think that there is still a lot of mystery surrounding suicide, particularly when older people take their own lives. In my opinion one of the main things that needs to change is the way people talk about and address suicide. I believe that too often people don't know how to address this topic with their loved ones and they are quite often even afraid to say the word suicide. This becomes obvious if you ever take a look at an obituary for someone who has committed suicide. It rarely ever says the word "suicide" but quite often dances around the issue of suicide or says things like "died suddenly" I believe that the first step in preventing suicide is to start an open dialogue about suicide and to recognize that just because we avoid talking about suicide it doesn't meant that its not going to happen.
Kendall
Mary Anne, thank you for sharing such a personal story. I am very sorry to hear about your loss and in particular how it happened. Death and dying is a very hard topic to discuss with your loved ones but I believe it is something everyone should do because one day it will in your path (directly or indirectly) and you may be left with lots of questions, regrets, concerns,thoughts, etc. We are all aware that dying is inevitable however suicide on the other hand is not. I think that in itself makes suicide very hard to discuss.
ReplyDeleteI have recently been reading about death and dying among older adults and found a big proportion of the chapter on Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (Novak and Campbell, 2006). Until now I was not aware that a physician may overdose a patient with medications in order to make that person dead. I have just been made aware that their is euthanasia, passive euthanasia, active euthanasia, and assisted suicide.
This actually blows my mind because I personally, as a spiritual well-being do not believe that a physican or in fact the older person who wants to die... has no rights to decide whether or not to take their life. This is only my opinion but I stand strong with it.
Melissa.
Hi Mary Anne,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your blog post.
When I read your blog, I thought of how we can proactively work for older people who commit suicide. I felt sorry to see the public’s responses after such incidents occurred.
As Kendall pointed out, the public should be able to have a chance to discuss the issue seriously, and social workers should help them to be aware of a suicide ideation and overtly discuss it.As Kendall mentioned, the public should recognize concisely and understand situations by using clear words because I believe that euphemism can often lead the public to misunderstand and deal flippantly with such problems.
Eunkyeong
Hi Mary Anne,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing a very sensitive family issue. You're right, we need more supports for older adults to help them cope with the grief and losses that come with aging. In our Filipino culture, it is not just stigmatized when one commits suicide, it is also branded as “mortal sin” and some priests will choose not to hold a mass/service or bless the remains of the dead if s/he commits suicide. Many people in our country believe that a person's soul automatically goes to hell if s/he takes one's own life. I am finding it extremely difficult to accept this oppressive perception for the reason that we don't know what's going on the person's mind which made him/her decide to move on to the spirit world. In this way, we cannot judge and we are in no position to judge. I would like to believe that people who take their own lives have gone through so much pain and the pain became so unbearable that committing suicide was perhaps the only option that they thought of at that particular time. I struggle with this going to “heaven or hell” issue as I find many people who love to talk about this discourse. For those who believe in the Creator, I guess they have to know that we as human beings are in no position to say who's going to heaven or who's going to hell. I am very critical about religious people who present themselves to be very self-righteous, believing that they are going to be saved and others (including gay people like myself) are going to rot in hell. I think only God has the right to decide about that issue and human as we are, there's no way we can read the Creator's mind.
-Darnel