The thought of ending one’s life doesn’t come with age; it comes with the loss of hope. Whether it’s a man in his eighties or a teenager just beginning life, the feeling is the same: there’s nothing left to look forward to. That quiet moment when a person decides they can no longer bear life isn’t born out of weakness; it’s born out of despair.
It begins when faith in oneself fades. When there are no meaningful friendships, no family connections, and no belief in something greater — be it God, purpose, or love —life starts to lose its meaning. Social media deepens that emptiness. Every scroll reinforces what someone already believes: that the world is bleak, that everyone else is doing better, that nothing can change.
So the real question isn’t how to create “age-sensitive prevention strategies.” It’s how we arrived at a point, in one of the most comfortable and connected societies in history, where so many people, young and old, feel like there’s nothing left to live for.
“The pain becomes unbearable not because life is cruel, but because people stop seeing a reason to continue,” says V K Vinod Sreekumar, Founder & CEO, PracticeSuite. “When that happens, no system or policy can intervene in time. We have to rebuild meaning, not just manage the aftermath.”
The same misplaced expectation appears in the growing push to make mental wellness checks part of routine healthcare. On paper, it sounds right, just like checking blood pressure or cholesterol. But if that were implemented today, almost everyone would be diagnosed with some form of disorder. What follows is a referral, a prescription, and a pill meant to make things “better.”
Yet the patient rarely knows why they’re feeling better or worse. The symptoms are quieted, but the cause remains untouched. The problem isn’t the doctors; they’re already burdened with treating critical illnesses. The real issue is that society keeps handing over its emotional and spiritual crises to healthcare to solve.
The system was never designed to fix loneliness, restore hope, or rebuild purpose. And until we confront that truth, we’ll keep mistaking treatment for healing.