A telephone hotline service has become an intimate friend of elderly people who don’t live with their children By ZHAO ZHIFEN
Passing-Love Hotline, a private workshop, occupies merely a few dozen square meters in Beijing. It has helped nearly 10,000 people nationwide over the last six years by providing psychological counseling over the telephone.
“Many widows or widowers will develop suicidal tendencies within a year and a half of losing a spouse,” said Xu Kun, founder of the hotline. “They are prone to depression,” Xu said.
In 2005, one of her colleagues felt gloomy and often mentioned suicide after his wife died. Xu called him many times to comfort him, leading her colleague to get rid of depression and suicidal ideas. This event prompted her to notice elderly people, and she learned that widows or widowers would have 18 months of psychological crises, when they would be emotionally fragile and prone to suicide. Continue reading
