Enhancing psychological resiliency in older men facing retirement with meaning-centered men's groups

Heisel

pp. 165-173

in: Alexander Batthyány (ed), Logotherapy and existential analysis, Berlin, Springer, 2016

Abstract

Older adults have high suicide rates, engage in violent means of self-injury with a high intent to die, and are more likely than younger adults to succumb to those injuries. Men account for over 80 % of the nearly 9400 North Americans over 60 who die by suicide every year, and older men have among the highest rates of suicide worldwide. Few intervention studies have investigated suicide risk reduction among older adults to date and nearly none have aimed explicitly to reduce risk among older men. This article describes one such evidence-based initiative, Meaning-Centered Men's Groups for men facing retirement, based, in part, on Frankl's logotherapy.