Senyvo amžiaus žmonių egzistencinė vienišumo perspektyva

LTStraipsnyje pristatomas senyvo amžiaus žmonių egzistencinis vienišumas, kaip reiškinys. Analizuojamas egzistencinio vienišumo konceptas filosofiniu, teologiniu, psichologiniu, sociologiniu aspektais. Senyvo amžiaus žmonių egzistencinis vienišumas traktuojamas kaip socialinė problema, kylanti sumažėjus socialinių gebėjimų, esant individualių skirtumų. Pristatomi egzistencinio vienišumo ženklai ir atpažinimo būdai. Pagrindiniai žodžiai: vienišumas, egzistencinis vienišumas, senyvo amžiaus žmonės, būsena. [Iš leidinio]

ENResearch by psychologists in the late 1990s showed that older people have significant needs that cannot be met by psychotherapy, social work, or other areas of help, as they face issues of meaning, dignity, religion, love and necessity, morality, death and other existential issues (Erichsen, Buessing, 2013). Professionals working with the elderly have noticed the problem of loneliness caused by self-alienation and self-rejection (Moustakas, 2008). These experiences illustrate clearly the phenomenon of existential loneliness in the lives of the elderly. If the problem of existential loneliness is not solved, it causes psycho-social problems that turn into existential anxiety and cause a sense of meaninglessness, which Yalom (1980) identifies as one of the four existential ‘gifts’, along with death, freedom and isolation. Studies focusing on the loneliness of older people in a European context are rare. However, the existential needs and existential loneliness of the elderly are discussed by Edberg and Bolmsjö (2019) and Sjöberg et al. The aim of this study is to reveal a multidisciplinary perspective on the existential loneliness of elderly people. A scientific analysis of the literature was performed. This method was chosen to reveal the phenomenon of existential unity from a multidisciplinary perspective, revealing the holistic and existential nature of loneliness. Existential loneliness is associated with a social problem, the origins of which lie in diminished social skills and individual differences between individuals. The loneliness of the elderly is closely linked to the value system of society and the spread of solidarity in society. From a sociological point of view, existential loneliness is treated as a multifaceted construct related to the historical and cultural contexts of society, and is therefore in a constant negative transformation within social groups.From the point of view of psychology, existential loneliness is related to the possibilities of a person’s development, deeper self-knowledge, and discovery of creativity, while on the other hand, existential loneliness has a negative connotation of sadness, helplessness, grief, meaninglessness and suffering. From a philosophical-theological perspective of the perception of existential loneliness, two aspects emerge relating to loneliness as an inevitable existential part of a person and isolation from oneself. From a Christian point of view, this is equated with the need for religious loneliness, whose task is to discover meaning in loneliness, while acknowledging its undeniable spiritual value. Keywords: loneliness, existential loneliness, elderly people, status. [From the publication]

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