Loneliness During the Holidays: Physician's Prize-Winning Essay

年紀大了才深覺這個問題的嚴重性！ 「我很寂寞！」 誰能解決這些老年人最切身的問題？？

其實，從扶養無依孤兒、或慰藉孤獨老人所得到的滿足感，都不亞於贏得學術大獎。

 

Megan Brooks

December 20, 2010 — It's December — "the most wonderful time of the year" — as the famous Andy Williams song goes, filled with holiday parties, family, and friends. For most of us, there's too much to do, too many people to see, not enough time.

But for some, there's too little to do, no one to see, and too much time on our hands. That's when loneliness creeps in.

Loneliness is the subject of this year's Wakley Prize–winning essay published online December 16 in The Lancet.

The annual prize honors Thomas Wakley, who founded The Lancet in 1823. The prize “seeks to exemplify the spirit of a man who was passionately committed to reforming the practice of medicine and to improving the lives of patients,” the editors of the journal note. “The prize is given to the best essay on a topic of international health importance.”

Someone to Talk to

In the essay, An Epidemic of Loneliness, Ishani Kar-Purkayastha, MD, MRCP, of the Health Protection Agency in London, United Kingdom, tells the story of Doris, an elderly widow she encountered as a junior physician on a hospital ward around the holidays.

It's 2 days before Christmas, and most patients on the hospital ward are eager to get home for Christmas; Doris is not.

She came to the hospital with a flutter in her chest that turned out to be nothing. That was 3 weeks ago. Complaint after complaint followed; they all came to nothing.

Truth is, Doris is an incredibly healthy 82-year-old with only 1 problem. She's lonely and would rather spend Christmas in the hospital than isolated, alone, at home.

Doris tells the young physician about her husband; pointing to his picture, she says, "My George, he's been gone 20 years, but it feels like yesterday we were...you know...dancing slowly together in the backyard, a glass of wine, Venus twinkling away in the sky." Doris' grown children have their own lives now, living far away.

It's time to go home, the young physician tells Doris.

Doris hesitates, turns, a tear runs down her wrinkled face. "It's just that I'm all alone," she says, "and there are so many hours in the day."

"Doctor," she asks, "can you give me a cure for loneliness?"

Thousands Like Her

"We have on our hands," Dr. Kar-Purkayastha writes, "an epidemic of loneliness, insidiously affecting those among us who have seen the ebb and flow of countless seasons, seen the world grow smaller then grow too large again." There are probably thousands like Doris.

The most difficult part, she writes, is not knowing how to solve it. For now, the young physician simply insists that Doris spend this Christmas on the ward and watches as the old woman's mood lifts instantly. At least Doris will have company this Christmas.

An editorial comment published with the essay suggests, for those "who might have a little spare time on our hands over the holidays, a visit to an older neighbor who lives alone might be just what they need to make their holiday a merry one."

Lancet. Published online December 16, 2010.

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