Old Peoples Quality Of Life - 2254 Words

This essay will explore old peoples’ quality of life in the UK, how they have been neglected despite having mental illness. By looking at the ideas based on the theorist, Sociologist and their arguments, comparing and contrasting with different age group this can help bring different perspectives. According to the United Nations, old age is referred to as 60 years and above, while in many countries they have selected 60 or 65 years as the age when people retire (World Health Organisation 2011a). However in many developing countries, perception of old age is changing, in social role and functions and not just retirement. Moreover chronological ageing has different meaning in different countries, cultures and societies as a social†¦show more content†¦in UK they put them in home care under supervision. Historically such people, mostly old women they were condemned as witches more than old men, in Salem17th century (1692-1693) witches were burned. (Gendercide.org, 2014) But culturally, this was seen as a divine message sign, one chosen by gods. Moreover, according to Maslow (1970) mental health is an individual motivation experience, and to achieve self – actualization, an individual must progress through five levels and they can also regress to a previous level. Elderly people who have been living a normal life during young age and having gone through the levels, at some point, their health tends to deteriorate during old age. Mental illness is a social construction, only after having been classified as ill in the sense that a person is mentally ill (Scheff 1970). Therefore eating healthy, excises etc are relevant to long life, body healthy and productivity etc. However old people at this stage most of them have dementia and are lonely due to diminished cognition. Old people when they lose memory they may withdraw from others due to embarrassment or confusion resulting from their brain impairment on how they handle social situations (Szalavitz and Szalavitz, 2014). However Johada (1963) contrasts World Health Organisation by saying that mental health cannot be defined