Author(s): Susmita Anand, Deepti Bhadoriya and Dolly Rani

Abstract:
Population of aged people across the world is increasing rapidly due to advancement of medical facilities. The elderly population in India is ignoring population as they are known as nonproductive population. Further it is becoming more challenging for policy makers to manage these old age people and make them healthy and happy. Presently, the problem of loneliness and depression in the elderly is emerging as a social problem, which creates so many other mental health problems among elderly people. This article provides a theoretical framework for studying the relationship between feeling of loneliness and depression among the elderly people from the perspective of social problems. The Mental Health Perspective of the Elderly states that depression is closely related to feeling lonely. Therefore the present study aimed to investigate the relationship between feelings of loneliness and depression. In Kanpur district, data has been collected through standardized questionnaire from 300 men and women by random sampling method in urban and rural areas. Through this study, it was seen whether there is a positive and significant relationship between the feeling of loneliness and depression of the elderly people.