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Loneliness is a serious public-health problem:
Doctors and policymakers in the rich world are increasingly worried about loneliness. Campaigns to reduce it have been launched in Britain, Denmark and Australia. In Japan the government has surveyed hikikomori, or "people who shut themselves in their homes". Last year Vivek Murthy, a former surgeon-general of the United States, called loneliness an epidemic, likening its impact on health to obesity or smoking 15 cigarettes per day. In January Theresa May, the British prime minister, appointed a minister for loneliness.
That the problem exists is obvious; its nature and extent are not. Obesity can be measured on scales. But how to weigh an emotion? Researchers start by distinguishing several related conditions. Loneliness is not synonymous with social isolation (how often a person meets or speaks to friends and family) or with solitude (which implies a choice to be alone).
Instead researchers define loneliness as perceived social isolation, a feeling of not having the social contacts one would like. Of course, the objectively isolated are much more likely than the average person to feel lonely. But loneliness can also strike those with seemingly ample friends and family. Nor is loneliness always a bad thing. John Cacioppo, an American psychologist who died in March, called it a reflex honed by natural selection. Early humans would have been at a disadvantage if isolated from a group, he noted, so it makes sense for loneliness to stir a desire for company. Transient loneliness still serves that purpose today. The problem comes when it is prolonged.
[...] A study published in 2010 using this scale estimated that 35% of Americans over 45 were lonely. Of these 45% had felt this way for at least six years; a further 32% for one to five years. In 2013 Britain's Office for National Statistics (ONS), by dint of asking a simple question, classed 25% of people aged 52 or over as "sometimes lonely" with an extra 9% "often lonely".
Other evidence points to the extent of isolation. For 41% of Britons over 65, TV or a pet is their main source of company, according to Age UK, a charity. In Japan more than half a million people stay at home for at least six months at a time, making no contact with the outside world, according to a report by the government in 2016. Another government study reckons that 15% of Japanese regularly eat alone. A popular TV show is called "The Solitary Gourmet".
[...] The idea that loneliness is bad for your health is not new. One early job of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in the Yukon region was to keep tabs on the well-being of gold prospectors who might go months without human contact. Evidence points to the benign power of a social life. Suicides fall during football World Cups, for example, maybe because of the transient feeling of community.
But only recently has medicine studied the links between relationships and health. In 2015 a meta-analysis led by Julianne Holt-Lunstad of Brigham Young University, in Utah, synthesised 70 papers, through which 3.4m participants were followed over an average of seven years. She found that those classed as lonely had a 26% higher risk of dying, and those living alone a 32% higher chance, after accounting for differences in age and health status.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday September 10 2018, @04:10PM (14 children)
[Citation needed]
Some people are not lucky enough to have someone who cares for their well being.
If those don't work. Maybe see a doctor. There may be an actual physiological, measurable, chemical problem which is objectively detectable. It may be treatable to varying degrees.
Try living with someone who suffers a treatable mental health problem. It might be one of the best selfless things you can do. It can be frustrating at times. Sometimes you just have to let things go because it's the mental illness. Politely ask if they've taken their drugs. And yes -- somehow -- I don't know what they say in therapy -- but therapy DOES help.
They are not snowflakes and might be tougher than you are.
Finally, yes, there are some cases, but not all cases, and maybe not even most cases, where your suggestion is the correct therapy.
For some odd reason all scientific instruments searching for intelligent life are pointed away from Earth.
(Score: 2) by suburbanitemediocrity on Monday September 10 2018, @05:33PM (2 children)
It's very easy if you care about their well being also. Well, I guess that is the hard part if you're a sociopath.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DannyB on Monday September 10 2018, @06:12PM (1 child)
sociopaths are probably toxic enough to have very few if any people who care for their well being.
For some odd reason all scientific instruments searching for intelligent life are pointed away from Earth.
(Score: 2) by suburbanitemediocrity on Monday September 10 2018, @06:42PM
Just saying it goes booth ways
(Score: 3, Interesting) by suburbanitemediocrity on Monday September 10 2018, @05:38PM (2 children)
I think the best therapy for most people would be to move to some small African village for a year. You'll be surrounded by people who care and you can get some satisfaction from the feeling of helping.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 10 2018, @07:04PM (1 child)
Engineers Without Borders?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by suburbanitemediocrity on Monday September 10 2018, @08:28PM
https://www.ewb-usa.org/ [ewb-usa.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineers_Without_Borders [wikipedia.org]
It's a very serious suggestion/belief. I didn't do it, but have lived in Africa and know people who have and other similar. I would say it's impossible to have any perspective on so many different problems without. Go join the peace corp anr any of the hundreds, probably thousands of ngo's or religious groups.
I read an interview by Danny Elfman once and he said
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bradley13 on Monday September 10 2018, @05:40PM (6 children)
Just to clarify: TFA is about people claiming to be lonely, not people with mental health conditions. Yes, someone who is depressed may, as a result, be lonely - but that's not what TFA is talking about. TFA is looking at loneliness as a primary cause: "...loneliness may lead to ill health", and laying the foundation for turning it into a medical condition.
This is a classic "snowflake" problem. If you aren't actually ill (depression, dementia, etc.), then get off your duff and do something. But no: TFA wants to call loneliness a "public health problem", so that snowflakes get to blame someone else for their problems. I swear, in 10 or 20 years, the single largest profession is going to be therapists of various flavors.
A sound kick in the ass is the better prescription.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DannyB on Monday September 10 2018, @06:22PM (2 children)
I would tend to agree.
But loneliness may not be a primary cause. It may be a result. A symptom of something needing a different treatment.
If someone is lonely and depressed, which is the cause? Are you sure it is that way in all cases?
I think you are too focused on snowflakes who want to blame someone else for their problems. That is not the only problem. And its solution (which you propose) is not the solution for other problems.
Also, I wish there were a better term than snowflake for overly sensitive and entitled people. Snowflake is a loaded term partly because it has entered politics to describe someone that one disagrees with.
For some odd reason all scientific instruments searching for intelligent life are pointed away from Earth.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Aiwendil on Monday September 10 2018, @07:34PM (1 child)
Then make one up. I propose "SEP" (Sensitive, Entitled, People), plural "SEPs" and their influence "SEPsis" :)
A bit less tounge-in-cheek would be "self-entitiled"
(Score: 4, Funny) by acid andy on Monday September 10 2018, @08:41PM
"rancid randy has a dialogue with herself[...] Somebody help him!" -- Anonymous Coward.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by dry on Tuesday September 11 2018, @05:58AM (2 children)
You don't know many old people whose spouse has died and just have enough money to pay the bills and a bit of food. I've known enough to see that it can be a pretty lonely life. These people don't usually complain even if entitled people do think they're snowflakes. Especially for the introverts, getting of your duff and doing something when you're full of aches isn't the best advice.
Lots of younger people who aren't good at socializing, don't have much money after paying the bills who are stuck living a life of quiet desperation as well.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 11 2018, @08:41AM (1 child)
When I didn't have any money and recovering from cancer, I used to go hiking every day. I met many many other people in the same boat (so to speak).
Reaching the top of the mountain and standing on the geologic marker was a daily ritual. Validation you were alive and made it through another day.
Every city I've ever lived in has popular hiking trails.
(Score: 2) by dry on Tuesday September 11 2018, @11:11PM
Yes hiking or just getting outside is wonderful for mental health, I've even heard that Doctors around here are prescribing sitting in the forest for a couple of hours for depression. I've also spent lots of time hiking though to be honest, I've never really met anyone doing it, probably due to my being an introvert.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Gaaark on Tuesday September 11 2018, @03:43AM
"There may be an actual physiological, measurable, chemical problem"
I find when I drink dairy (I'm lactose intolerant) I get very grouchy and depressed...I can actually 'feel' my mood changing and any negative thing will get me down and depressed.
I think what happens in the gut affects people more than they realise.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. I have always been here. ---Gaaark 2.0 --