Why Are Old People Committing Suicide?

Life may have lost meaning

Friends give meaning and enjoyment to life at all ages.

The reasons that any person, young or old, commits suicide or attempts it can be varied and complex. Usually these are people who are suffering great pain without finding relief. They may feel lonely and desperate without hope for the future. They might think they have no friends and their family doesn’t care about them.

Death will come to everyone, but some people want to hurry it along. They think that death will bring relief from the suffering.

The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Protection) of the United States has put out statistics regarding suicide. They report that suicide is one of the leading causes of death in the USA.

In 2021, there were 48,183 people who died by suicide in the United States. That corresponds to one death every eleven minutes. There were reportedly 12.3 million adults who seriously thought about suicide and 3.5 million adults who made a plan for it with 1.7 million adults who attempted suicide.

The suicide rate among males was about four times higher than the rate among females.

People who are 85 years old and older have the highest rates of suicide. [CDC]

Why are more elderly people committing suicide and ending their lives? They may feel that their lives have little meaning. They may be lonely because their family does not visit often and they don’t have many friends. It may seem that their friends have all passed away. They may have both physical and mental health problems which make living difficult.

Guns are the main method of committing suicide at various ages, but older people may find that taking a handful of pills or poison might do the trick.

Many older people are living in nursing homes and care centers. They may feel like their lives are useless, and they might be waiting to die. Sometimes they will find a way to end their own life rather than letting nature take its course. Life may have become unbearable, and death may seem like a pleasant relief.

Those who are able to live full lives and feel happy into old age are fortunate. Life should be enjoyed until the very end.

Families and friends can help by spending time with the elderly so that they can have more enjoyment in life. It might possibly prevent a suicide.

[Website: https://www.cdc.gov/suicide/suicide-data-statistics.html]

Thank you for reading.