Bereavement challenges for older adults
August 11, 2022 at 3:02 p.m.
Bereavement challenges for older adults
- Loneliness and lack of purpose. Normal activities of sharing time together, maintaining a home, serving as caretaker, are ended, leaving the grieving to feel useless and lost.
- They become socially isolated, especially those who don’t drive, leaving them with no access to Mass, to visit others or attend parish support groups.
- Insensitive responses/suggestions to bereaved. Though usually well-intentioned, advice to let go of their home, their possessions, or their pets to reduce responsibilities, can leave the recently bereaved in tears at the suggestion of yet more loss.
- Adult children dismiss parent’s needs. Children are sometimes unable to deal with a parent’s sadness at the death of their spouse and often advise parents to just “get over it.”
- An inability to navigate essential programs. The work involved in handling Social Security, Medicare, pensions or dealing with the estate, can be overwhelming without support.
- Financial insecurity, brought about by the loss of a partner’s benefits or income, or increasing health care costs are a serious added concern for older adults.
- Second guessing health care choices for the deceased, especially those made at the recommendation of medical professionals, often leave the bereaved feeling responsible in some way for the death.
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- Loneliness and lack of purpose. Normal activities of sharing time together, maintaining a home, serving as caretaker, are ended, leaving the grieving to feel useless and lost.
- They become socially isolated, especially those who don’t drive, leaving them with no access to Mass, to visit others or attend parish support groups.
- Insensitive responses/suggestions to bereaved. Though usually well-intentioned, advice to let go of their home, their possessions, or their pets to reduce responsibilities, can leave the recently bereaved in tears at the suggestion of yet more loss.
- Adult children dismiss parent’s needs. Children are sometimes unable to deal with a parent’s sadness at the death of their spouse and often advise parents to just “get over it.”
- An inability to navigate essential programs. The work involved in handling Social Security, Medicare, pensions or dealing with the estate, can be overwhelming without support.
- Financial insecurity, brought about by the loss of a partner’s benefits or income, or increasing health care costs are a serious added concern for older adults.
- Second guessing health care choices for the deceased, especially those made at the recommendation of medical professionals, often leave the bereaved feeling responsible in some way for the death.
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