Losing the will to live.Is there any scientific or medical proof that we can literally lose the will to live?

[MickyMacgraw]

I ask this question on the back of a story I heard from a friend that a mother lost her son to an overdose and a year later to the day she died of a broken heart. Have you heard any stories about a husband or wife dying and then soon after the other one does too? Is there a link or is it coincidence?

[boxtops]

Good thread, Micky - a really interesting topic, makes you think - many of us have heard stories such as those related here.

[society]

I do believe a broken heart could cause death, and illness and lose weight too.

[askyourgran]

Last week in our local newspaper obits column there was a double funeral arrangement. The husband died, he was in a nursing home 86 years old, his wife died at home 3 days later after being told of his death.

[Jemisa]

Where I used to live up the street to me a lady lost her husband after a heart attack he was 45 years old. They had one son of 15. He was traumatised when his father died and never got over it, 10 months later the son dropped dead (heart attack) poor lady, she lost her H and her son within a year. Sad.

jem

[boxtops]

Multiple deaths of loved ones are really hard to handle (to digress from the OP for a minute). We lost my mum and my BIL three weeks apart some years back - one very old and one very ill - a very hard time when we look back on it.

[joko]

i suppose it would affect your health because you would stop taking care of yourself prehaps, ignoring health affecting issues perhaps like say mould, or dog doo in your house which could shorten your life..an i suppose excessive weeping would wear you out a fair bit...

but i dont thing just feeling down can actually make you die...otherwise people would be fallin like flies

[boxtops]

IMO, it's more than that, joko - I had a friend who fell apart and completely stopped caring for herself for months when her mum died, but she did come through. The broken heart syndrome from couples who've lived together into their old age seems to be just that they can't imagine life without each other, when one goes.

[Barmaid]

I have no idea. But having spent 16 hours solid on the same piece of work, I reckon I'm there.

[Barmaid]

Sorry, I'll be serious. My g grandad died aged 94. He had been married to my g grandmother for over 70 years. She died 6 weeks later. It was widely said in the family that she had finished her life's work and lost the will to live.

[lilacben]

My gran died aged 73 and within a few months my granddad died. He was 63. The doctors said then, 1965, he had died of a broken heart.

[jaydah]

If you have responsibiities; people needing & depending on you, that tends to keep you living.

[woofgang]

I think the problem with such a thread ias this s that we all know cases where it has apparently happened but we don't know why the second person died (ie autopsy) and the stories when people apparently do die of a broken heart stick with us and the hundreds and thousands of times when people don't are ignored....not to say it couldn't ever happen but not sure that we have actual proof in this thread.

[ann_h]

Further to squs' post, I remember seeing a documentary some time ago about an investigation into extremely high rates of sudden death amongst apparently otherwise healthy young men - these were migrant workers whose employment was stressful and did not allow them family contact for years at a time. This was contrasted with no such increased death rate amongst the displaced when they continued to live within an extended family/community set up. This was concluded to be death by sort of spontaneous heart attack due to the action of the vagus nerve which extends from brain to heart to intestines and is, (I think) the system that also gives us butterflies or panic attacks.
I'm afraid I can't currently find a direct reference or link, so please excuse this post being slightly vague or expressed in rather layman's terms.

[Brinjal]

My mum died on the same day my dad died 10 years later.

My mother in law died on her ex husbands birthday. She hadnt been well but was quite cheerful and seemed to be getting better then she asked when was the first of May. when we told her it was the coming tuesday she thoughtnfor a minute then said I will be dead by then. That night she went to sleep (was the thursday) she didnt open her eyes again and lingered til the Monday and died in the early hours of the tuesday as she had said.

[lilacben]

My mum died and five years later, I was going on holidayand we stopped in to see him before we left. The last thing he said to me was I won't be here when you get back. We went away and had a message he had died three days later. And it was just five days after my mums birthday.

[lilacben]

As above post, sorry forgot to say it was my dad .

[Zeuhl]

There is actual research corresponding to this.

Research into cancer survivors where years after a terminal diagnosis they are found to be still around (more common than you might think) there is a high incidence of diagnosis dismissal ie didn't believe diagnosis, didn't understand diagnosis, what diagnosis?

The mind is a powerful factor in recovery or succumbing. As is belief in the authority of the 'white coat'. Many people if told they have 3 years will be fine then become mortally ill in 3 years.

Also there is strong stats evidence of people dying immediately after (hanging on for) key dates/events e.g. immediately after millenium
.