ABSTRACT

This book explores the multifaceted experience of suffering in old age. Older adults suffer from a variety of causes such as illness, loss, and life disappointment, to name a few. Suffering also occurs due to experiences related to one's gender, ethnic background, and religion. Although gerontological literature has equated suffering with depression, grief, pain and sadness, elders themselves distinguished suffering from these concepts and at the same time showed how they are linked. Narratives of suffering from community-dwelling elders are interpreted in this book, along with the personal meaning of suffering that lies within each narrative.

chapter Chapter 1|26 pages

The Topography of Suffering

chapter Chapter 2|22 pages

Voices of Suffering

chapter Chapter 3|20 pages

Suffering: A Gendered Phenomenon

chapter Chapter 4|18 pages

Pain and Bodily Suffering

chapter Chapter 5|19 pages

Social Suffering

chapter Chapter 6|20 pages

Coping with Suffering

chapter Chapter 7|18 pages

The Morality of Suffering

chapter Chapter 8|24 pages

Metaphors of Suffering

chapter Chapter 9|18 pages

The Activity of Suffering

chapter Chapter 10|4 pages

Who is the Self that Suffers?