An Epidemic of Loneliness

She lets out a forlorn noise that is neither laugh nor cry. “Doctor”, she asks, “can you give me a cure for loneliness?” Her courage takes my breath away.

I wish I could say yes. I wish I could prescribe her some antidepressants and be satisfied that I had done my best, but the truth is she's not clinically depressed. It's just that she has been left behind by a world that no longer revolves around her, not even the littlest bit of it.

There are probably thousands like her. Men and women who have lived a lot and loved a lot. Men and women who are not yet done with being ferocious and bright but for whom time now stands empty as they wait in homes full of silence; their only misunderstanding to have lived to an age when they are no longer coveted by a society addicted to youth.

“An Epidemic of Loneliness”

Dr Ishani Kar-Purkayastha 

Essay published by  “The Lancet”

British Medical Reports

The Lancet, Volume 376, Issue 9758, Pages 2114 - 2115, 18 December 2010

"Children love and want to be loved and they very much prefer the joy of accomplishment to the triumph of hateful failure. Do not mistake a child for his symptom. 

Erik Erikson 
American   Psychologist