Loneliness among Elderly

This study focuses on the theories of developmental psychology by Daniel Levinson and Erik Erikson and their relation to the loneliness experienced by elderly individuals. It also provides recommendations for dealing with loneliness and emphasizes the importance of mental health in the elderly.

Running Head: LONELINESS AMONG ELDERLY
Loneliness among Elderly
Student’s NRIC/FIN
Name of University
Author Note

1LONELINESS AMONG ELDERLY
Introduction
Till the beginning of 20th, the major studies in the field of
developmental psychology focused on the experiences that an individual
goes through in their childhood and their adolescence. Psychological
developmental among the aged people were not studied till the later part
of the 20th century because most of the leading psychologist of that era
thought that the development that occurred in a human’s life occurred
during childhood and adolescence. Researchers have realized the
importance of studying the human psychology during old age and believe
that it would contribute to the study of developmental psychology.
Developmental psychology is the study that focuses on the change that
occurs in the life of human beings, they study the reason behind this
change and the way on which it occurs. This study would focus on the
two theories of developmental psychology by Daniel Levinson and Erik
Erikson and relate it to the loneliness that the elderly people go through
and it will also recommend certain ways that will help the elderly deal with
loneliness. It will also talk about the importance of mental health in the
elderly and the long term effect it has on life of the individual (Eysenck,
2019).

2LONELINESS AMONG ELDERLY
Discussion
The essay “On Old Age”, written by Cicero, who is an ancient
Roman philosopher, was one of the first writings that dealt with the
process of aging (Sulmasy, 2014). It talked about the opportunities and
challenges that are present in the aging process. After that theorist like
Jean Piaget, Sigmund Freud, Eric Erickson, Vygotzky have all made major
contributions in the field of developmental psychology.
ERICKSON’S MODEL OF ADULT PSYCHOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT
Erik Erikson is a German-American developmental psychologist
and psychoanalyst who propagated a theory of psychological
development in human beings. He is known for inventing the phrase
‘identity crises. The model that was developed by Erikson depicting the
psychological developmental in adults showed that if the elderly person is
successfully involved in some activity, or work and if they are involved in
the development of the community, they age on a healthy manner, which
means that not sitting idle is a great way to stay healthy in elderly people
(Malone et al., 2016). The challenges that come about in the later stage of
life, some major changes that occur when a person gets old, can be
reduced if the person who is going through these changes apply the things
that he learned during his early years of development. The problem with
old age is that they not only go through psychological changes but also
the elder people experience physical changes. There are some adults who
go through some kind of disability in their old age. Erikson mentioned that

3LONELINESS AMONG ELDERLY
in a human being personality develops through 8 stages: first is trust vs.
mistrust, second is autonomy vs. shame and doubt, third is initiative vs.
guilt, fourth is industry vs. inferiority, fifth is identity vs. role confusion, sixth
is intimacy vs. isolation, generativity vs. stagnation and eighth is ego
integrity vs. despair (Chung, 2018). During old age, the stage of
development that one has to go through is integrity vs. despair. Erikson
believed that to overcome this phase of integrity vs. despair is quite a
difficult task for the elderly, because of which they get frustrated with
everything. For example an older man in his 90s might have difficulty
locating his things especially glasses, this brings about an immense
amount of frustration in the adult (Perry et al., 2015). Despite such
frustrating occurrences, when an elder person goes through significant
physical and cognitive decline, they found a reinvigorated sense of
motivation in self-management (Chung, 2018). They put their effort and
energy in trying to remain as self-dependent as possible, they try not to
involve family and friends in the process of taking care of them. According
to Erikson, the psychological crises of ego integrity comes only when the
elderly thinks that the life that they have lives is filled with purpose and
integrity and they think that their life has been productive, for the crises of
despair, the elderly who go through this emotion are the ones that think
that their life has not been productive enough and they have been through
problems which they could not resolve (Cherry, 2017).. The constant
realization the life that has passed has been productive or not been the

4LONELINESS AMONG ELDERLY
way it was imagined, that is the feeling that makes a person lonely. The
constant realization of worthlessness is what leads the person to feel
isolated and lonely. Studies have shown that there is a relationship
between the post-retirement life of an individual and the life before that,
when the person was active, the contentment is the post-retirement life is
dependent on the activities of pre-retirement (Chan & Nakamura, 2015).
LEVINSON’S LIFE CYCLE
Daniel Levinson proposed that there is something called the
lifecycle, which means that there is an order that exists in the human life,
that being said every individual is unique and they go through a basic
sequence (www.apa.org, 2019). In order to understand a person’s life
structure, Levinson believed that the focus should be on the relationship
that the individual has with other and the way these relationships change
over a certain period of time. According to Levinson, a person’s life
consists of four of eras. First is the era of pre-adulthood secondly, the era
of early adulthood, third is era of middle adulthood and fourth is the era of
late adulthood (www.apa.org, 2019). The last era when the adult transition
begins and it moves on to a period where the individual in faced with
unavoidable adjustments such as retirement and the physical decline of
health. According to Levinson, this is the phase that requires the
maximum adjustment (www.apa.org, 2019). The most important thing at
this stage is the social support that they receive. Elderly people will little
social support develop depressive symptoms. Elder people with little or no

5LONELINESS AMONG ELDERLY
money go through depression. This theory of Levinson shows that old
people are more to develop the loneliness, because more often than not
they receive very less support and this gives birth to loneliness
(www.apa.org, 2019).
INTERVENTIONS THAT WILL HELP THE ELDERLY DEAL WITH
LONELINESS
There are certain ways in which the elderly can be helped when
they are dealing with dealing with loneliness. Offering support, sending to
a support group where they can to people dealing with the kind of issues
among others (Rowe, Fulmer & Fried, 2016). Women are more lonely than
men as they are the once who report about being lonely and without
companion (Ducharmi, 2019).Two major interventions that can help the
elderly are, firstly volunteering in groups and organizations that support
the old age people (www.nhs.uk, 2019). Everyone should take some time
out and volunteer for the organization that deals with taking care of elderly
people. These organizations often deal with schemes such as
‘befriending’; these are meant to help those people who feel isolated and
lonely and those who have no family to contact with. A weekly telephone
call could be arranged or a meeting with these people. Secondly, the
elderly member of the family can be taught to use technology so that they
can maintain a regular contact with their close ones (Rosonblatt, 2013). A
camera phone or a computer with camera can help them talk to anyone in
any part of the world.

6LONELINESS AMONG ELDERLY
Conclusion
The essay concludes that the problem of loneliness is common among
adults. When the time comes to lead the post-retirement life then the
elderly goes through some adjustments. They have to deal with the life
that they have lead. They also deal with isolation, not only from their family
but also from their work; on top of that some of the elderly faces physical
and cognitive deficits which make their life even more difficult than it
already it. The theories of Erik Erikson and Daniel Levinson show that old
age bring about certain kind of thoughts that make them either feel happy
with their life or they feel the pain that the life they have lived was not good
enough. There are many ways in which this loneliness can be dealt with,
one is volunteering for organizations that deal with elder care and
secondly teaching them the use of technology.

7LONELINESS AMONG ELDERLY
References
Chan, T. M., & Nakamura, J. (2015). A generativity track to life meaning in
retirement: ego-integrity returns on past academic mentoring
investments. Work, Aging and Retirement, 2(1), 24-37.
Cherry, K. (2017). Erik Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial
Development. Psychology. Psychosocial Theories. Päivitetty, 14, 2017.
Chung, D. (2018). The Eight Stages of Psychosocial Protective Development:
Developmental Psychology. Journal of Behavioral and Brain
Science, 8(06), 369.
Ducharmie, J. (2019). One in Three Seniors Is Lonely. Here's How It’s Hurting
Their Health. Time.
Eysenck, M. (2019). Adolescence, adulthood, and old age. Asutralia: Government
of Australia.
Malone, J. C., Liu, S. R., Vaillant, G. E., Rentz, D. M., & Waldinger, R. J. (2016).
Midlife Eriksonian psychosocial development: Setting the stage for late-
life cognitive and emotional health. Developmental psychology, 52(3),
496.
Perry, T. E., Ruggiano, N., Shtompel, N., & Hassevoort, L. (2015). Applying
Erikson’s wisdom to self-management practices of older adults: Findings
from two field studies. Research on aging, 37(3), 253-274.

8LONELINESS AMONG ELDERLY
Rosonblatt, C. (2013). 7 Tips to Help Beat Your Aging Parent's
Loneliness. Forbes.com.
Rowe, J. W., Fulmer, T., & Fried, L. (2016). Preparing for better health and health
care for an aging population. Jama, 316(16), 1643-1644.
Sulmasy, D. P., & Cicero, M. T. (2014). Theories of Aging and Later Life
Development. Counseling Older Adults, 1.
www.apa.org. (2019). Psychology and Aging Contents What Is Psychology? 2
What Is Geropsychology? 2 The Growing Need for Psychological
Services for Older Adults 2 The Interface Between Physical and Mental
Health Care 2 Policy Recommendations To Improve Mental Health Care
for Older Americans 3 How Psychologists Address the Needs of Older
Adults—Some Examples 4 For More Information About Psychology and
Aging 7 Psychologists Make a Significant Contribution Addressing
Mental Health Needs of Older Adults... Apa.org.
www.nhs.uk. (2019). Loneliness in the elderly: how to help. nhs.uk.