Depression in older persons leads to suicide more frequently than in any other age group. People over 65 account for more than 25% of all suicides and among white men over 85, the suicide rate is six time more than the general population. The majority of thee suicides shot themselves to death.

I can imagine why this happens. Older people lose their capacities. They can’t get around as well as they used to and it makes them crabby. Their spouse and friends get sick or die, their families don’t visit. They are lonely, become depressed and kill themselves.

Look at it this way. If your spouse is in a nursing home or dies, you rarely see your kids, and you know you will feel sick and in pain and lonely for the rest of your life, why go on?

Somebody somewhere needs to care to make life worthwhile again. It’s extremely difficult to get well by ourselves. We need help finding purpose and our blessings.