psychosocial aspects facing the elderly veteran population in the 21stcentury-loneliness

Loneliness and its Effects on Older Veterans

Loneliness is one of the most common psychosocial issues confronting the older veteran community in the twenty-first century. While the issue has been disregarded in strategies to reduce the risk of old-age debilitation and the burdensome nature of chronic diseases, a rising body of studies has highlighted the pervasive effects of social isolation. Such is the case with Nummela, Seppänen, and Uutela (2011), who discovered that loneliness is the root cause of low quality of life in 44% of senior veterans. Kuwert, Knaevelsrud, and Pietrzak (2014) reinforces this viewpoint by attributing 40% of octogenarians’ poor self-rated health scores to loneliness. The burden is expected to keep growing as the proportion of the senior citizens who once served in the military keeps on growing.

The Relationship Between Social Isolation and Decline in Motor Functions

While Kuwert, Knaevelsrud, & Pietrzak (2014) suggest that social isolation contributes to the rapid decline in motor functions, baseline disability, and cognitive impairment, they note that the most grievous outcome is depressive episodes. The observation is founded on the premise that most veterans are disturbed by lifetime traumas of wars, an aspect that is exacerbated by common geriatric issues such as financial challenges, marital problems, and stress (Kuwert, Knaevelsrud, & Pietrzak, 2014). In the event of social isolation, the veterans experience clinical depression that is characterized by profound sadness, insomnia, eating challenges. Loneliness thus drives the elderly veterans to solitude and depression, with the manic and hypomanic episodes further pushing individuals to self-restraint. The constricted space of social relationships results in loss of self-worth, which is characterized by struggles in partaking activities of daily living. Loneliness is also underlying in dejection among elderly veterans, a symptom of depression that drives individuals to experience feelings of guilt, worthlessness, hopelessness, and losing interest in once pleasurable activities.

References

Kuwert, P., Knaevelsrud, C., & Pietrzak, R. (2014). Loneliness Among Older Veterans in the United States: Results from the National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study. The American Journal Of Geriatric Psychiatry, 22(6), 564-569. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jagp.2013.02.013

Nummela, O., Seppänen, M., & Uutela, A. (2011). The effect of loneliness and change in loneliness on self-rated health (SRH): A longitudinal study among aging people. Archives Of Gerontology And Geriatrics, 53(2), 163-167. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.archger.2010.10.023