Ready to give up on life

The lived experience of elderly people who feel life is completed and no longer worth living

Bibliographic Data

ID4595017
AuthorsEls Van Wijngaarden (0000-0002-2940-9163, University of Humanistic Studies), Carlo Leget (0000-0002-6647-8141, University of Humanistic Studies), Anne Goossensen (0000-0001-5447-2167, University of Humanistic Studies)
Year2015
Volume138
Pages257-264
Publication date2015-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Science & Medicine (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0277-9536 • E-ISSN: 1873-5347
PublisherElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.05.015
PMID25982088
OpenAlexW257701435
LanguageEN
Citations received59
References cited20

In the Netherlands, there has been much debate on the question whether elderly people over 70 who are tired of life and who consider their life to be completed, should have legal options to ask for assisted dying. So far there has been little research into the experiences of these elderly people. In order to develop deliberate policy and care that targets this group of elderly people, it is necessary to understand their lifeworld. The aim of this paper is to describe the phenomenon 'life is completed and no longer worth living' from a lifeworld perspective, as it is lived and experienced by elderly people. Between April to December 2013, we conducted 25 in-depth interviews. A reflective lifeworld research design, drawing on the phenomenological tradition, was used during the data gathering and data analysis. The essential meaning of the phenomenon is understood as 'a tangle of inability and unwillingness to connect to one's actual life', characterized by a permanently lived tension: daily experiences seem incompatible with people's expectations of life and their idea of whom they are. While feeling more and more disconnected to life, a yearning desire to end life is strengthened. The experience is further explicated in its five constituents: 1) a sense of aching loneliness; 2) the pain of not mattering; 3) the inability to express oneself; 4) multidimensional tiredness; and 5) a sense of aversion towards feared dependence. This article provides evocative and empathic lifeworld descriptions contributing to a deeper understanding of these elderly people and raises questions about a close association between death wishes and depression in this sample

Aesthetics · Epistemology · Feeling · Lifeworld · Loneliness · Meaning (existential · Perspective (graphical · Phenomenology (philosophy · Phenomenon · Psychotherapist · Social science · Sociology · Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health · Mental Health and Psychiatry · Palliative Care and End-of-Life Issues · Psychology · Social Psychology