A soft-voiced man with kind eyes and an impeccably trimmed white beard, Patrick Arbore is Director and Founder of the Center for Elderly Suicide Prevention & Grief Related Services, now housed within the Institute on Aging in San Francisco. Back in 1973, he also founded the Friendship Line, which now also operates out of the […]
Everyone feels lonely sometimes. But when the feeling persists as a chronic or acute state of being, it can easily morph into clinical depression and suicidal ideation—especially among older people. From poets to professors, many have tried to describe and define loneliness. Harry Stack Sullivan, a 20th century psychiatrist whose studies focused on interpersonal relationships, […]
Aging into our senior years can be a wonderful time of life. We have more time to spend on activities we enjoy with family and friends. However, there are many seniors that find loneliness is their only companion. Studies have found that lonely and isolated seniors have one of the highest rates for dying and […]
The Scenario Barbara is 78, in good health and a recent widow. For the last six years, her focus has been caring for her husband, who was seriously crippled by a combination of severe arthritis and stenosis, and then was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. After his death, her children worried that she could no […]