I can speak to the stigma against retirement homes in East Asia; one of the things I've heard growing up was to "get a good job so that [I] can take care of my parents when they get old", but if I'm the one who ends up taking care of my parents, who are my parents going to take care of? One of the most commonly discussed causes of geriatric depression is, simply put in adolescent terms, "fomo", or the feeling of missing out, except that in this case the elderly might feel a loss of purpose. It's generally understandable, because I know that if I spent more than a decade or two of my life raising an individual and teaching them to be a good person in society, I'd definitely feel confused or puzzled after the job is done. From my perspective, the East Asian view of family is that we take care of each other: the parents and the adults are the breadwinners, and the children take over that role when they get older, but the elderly, although highly revered and respected, don't have much of a role other than to impart their wisdom on the youth. Caring for the family is a hard job, and the reward at the end of it all is to, in turn, be taken care of by the family. It's especially visible at the dinner table: my parents serve food to their parents, and when I reach "that age", I will be the one serving food to my parents, like in a pattern or a cycle. But suddenly being thrown into a relatively inactive life can be, disorienting or confusing, and might even seem less important. In some cases, this leads to geriatric depression. At this point in my life, I'm speaking from the purely theoretical point of view, but I'd like to hear what others have to say.