[Loneliness in the elderly as a social and medical problem]

The proportion of elderly people in the Czech population is increasing. Old age is often associated with loneliness, which significantly leads to a medical institutionalization. In addition to that, depression, dementia, and alcohol abuse may occur as a result and cause of further deterioration. We describe a case of a woman who has spent substantial part of the last five years of her life being hospitalized at departments of psychiatry, neurology, and internal medicine respectively. Social factors played an important role in this development. The vicious circle of loneliness, depression, and institutionalization of elderly people may be overcome in several ways, e.g. by an adequate physical, mental, and social activity, self-education, psychotherapy, outpatients nursing care, and an early diagnostics and treatment of depression.