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Ready to give up on life: The lived experience of elderly people who feel life is completed and no longer worth living

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  • van Wijngaarden, Els
  • Leget, Carlo
  • Goossensen, Anne

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • van Wijngaarden, Els & Leget, Carlo & Goossensen, Anne, 2015. "Ready to give up on life: The lived experience of elderly people who feel life is completed and no longer worth living," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 257-264.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:138:y:2015:i:c:p:257-264
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.05.015
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Chabot, Boudewijn E. & Goedhart, Arnold, 2009. "A survey of self-directed dying attended by proxies in the Dutch population," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(10), pages 1745-1751, May.
    2. Seale, Clive & Addington-Hall, Julia & McCarthy, Mark, 1997. "Awareness of dying: Prevalence, causes and consequences," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 477-484, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Fitzpatrick, Scott J. & Read, Donna & Brew, Bronwyn K. & Perkins, David, 2021. "A sociological autopsy lens on older adult suicide in rural Australia: Addressing health, psychosocial factors and care practices at the intersection of policies and institutions," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 284(C).
    2. Stefano Poli, 2018. "Attitudes Toward Active Voluntary Euthanasia Among Community-Dwelling Older Subjects," SAGE Open, , vol. 8(1), pages 21582440177, January.
    3. Małgorzata Obara-Gołębiowska & Hanna Brycz & Małgorzata Lipowska & Mariusz Lipowski, 2018. "The Role of Motivation to Reduce Obesity among Elderly People: Response to Priming Temptation in Obese Individuals," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-13, February.
    4. van den Berg, Vera E & Zomers, Margot L & van Thiel, Ghislaine JMW & Leget, Carlo JW & van Delden, Johannes JM & van Wijngaarden, Els J, 2022. "Requests for euthanasia or assisted suicide of people without (severe) illness," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(8), pages 824-830.
    5. Mrozynski, Hannah & Kuhn, Eva, 2022. "Reasoning for autonomous suicide? A qualitative approach to pre-suicidal decision-making," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 296(C).
    6. van Wijngaarden, Els & Sanders, José, 2022. "‘I want to die on my own terms’: Dominant interpretative repertoires of ‘a good death’ in old age in Dutch newspapers," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 311(C).
    7. Shi Yin Chee, 2020. "COVID-19 Pandemic: The Lived Experiences of Older Adults in Aged Care Homes," Millennial Asia, , vol. 11(3), pages 299-317, December.
    8. Florijn, Barend W., 2018. "Extending’ euthanasia to those ‘tired of living’ in the Netherlands could jeopardize a well-functioning practice of physicians’ assessment of a patient's request for death," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(3), pages 315-319.
    9. van Wijngaarden, Els & Merzel, Michal & van den Berg, Vera & Zomers, Margot & Hartog, Iris & Leget, Carlo, 2021. "Still ready to give up on life? A longitudinal phenomenological study into wishes to die among older adults," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 284(C).

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