The Pandemic of Loneliness

One of the most significant challenges facing modern society is the epidemic of loneliness plaguing today's egocentric society. However, to preserve the survival of our species as a whole, it is imperative that we cultivate and maintain meaningful connections with one another. The loss of social relationships may be stressful and worrying, just as our generation is jeopardized if our physiological needs are unmet.

A person's subjective experience of disparity between actual and desired levels of social relationships is defined as loneliness. Therefore, loneliness is not synonymous with objective social isolation but with perceived social isolation. The subjectivity of loneliness and the complexity of the factors influencing this subjectivity may be mirrored in how others interpret a person's experience of loneliness. A great number of individuals live relatively alone but do not suffer loneliness, and there are also a great number of people who, at first appearance, seem to have a large number of companions but experience loneliness. Consequently, the subjective feeling that one's social needs are not being met, followed by a sense of isolation and despair, is referred to as loneliness.

Loneliness may affect people of all ages, but research indicates that those between the ages of 18 and 29 and 65 and 79 are at the most risk of experiencing loneliness. Even more intriguing is that urban inhabitants report feeling greater loneliness than rural ones while surrounded by many more people.

Loneliness is triggered by a significant life event or life transition, such as being away from home, financial difficulties, divorce, sickness, losing a spouse, friend, or family, or becoming a parent. Multiple loneliness triggers may exist concurrently; these triggers may not necessarily come abruptly and develop over time; for example, poor health over time might exacerbate loneliness. Triggers do not directly produce loneliness since everyone is susceptible to pathological loneliness.

The effect of triggers turns into an experience of loneliness due to various factors. A variety of factors may lead to feelings of loneliness, including demographic characteristics (age, gender, education, socioeconomic position, migration, and so on), health difficulties (physical, cognitive, and so on), and socio-environmental variables (family, workplace, technology, and so on). Older adults who are female, live alone, have low educational attainment, have poor health, and are retired tend to report greater loneliness than their counterparts.

On the other hand, some sources play a protective role against the experience of loneliness. With respect to environmental factors, family functioning, social networks and support, sense of community, and location all appear to be important protective factors against loneliness in older adults.

Isolation has severe adverse health effects. Loneliness may predispose persons to psychological disorders such as depression, and reducing loneliness may significantly impact the treatment of these disorders. Empirical evidence has shown that loneliness is related to poor cognitive and health outcomes among older adults, including cognitive impairment, mistreatment, physical fitness, perceived stress, and depression. Inadequate social connections, as a combination of loneliness and social isolation, increase the risk of coronary heart disease by 29% and stroke by 32%.

Loneliness is characterized by an exaggerated perception of social threat and associated cognitive biases; as these characteristics are unlikely to be significantly addressed by adopting the suggestions and solutions offered by well-meaning friends and family, it is clear that professional help is necessary.

Individuals are able to deal with loneliness and isolation via interventions that expand their social access possibilities, develop their social support networks, and provide them with social skills and assertiveness abilities. In addition to these psychotherapy objectives, cognitive behavioral therapy that processes maladaptive social cognitions (identifying automatic negative beliefs and obtaining disapproving evidence, lowering biased cognitions, and reframing views) will provide positive outcomes.