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Abstract
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Loneliness is not a new phenomenon but in recent years, there has been a growing interest in understanding how feelings of 'perceived social isolation' can influence our health and wellbeing.
Objective indicators of social isolation--such as living alone and number of social connections--have well-demonstrated links with poorer health outcomes [1]. However, the latest evidence indicates that feeling lonely is also associated with a multitude of poorer health outcomes, ranging from an increased risk of depression and dementia [2], increased risk of heart disease and stroke [3] and higher levels of inflammatory responses [4] to name a few. Indeed, those who are socially isolated (odds ratio = 1.29; 95% CI 1.06, 1.56), living alone (odds ratio = 1.32; 95% CI 1.14, 1.53), or those who are lonely (odds ratio = 1.26, 95% CI 1.04, 1.53) are at increased risk of earlier mortality [5].
Current "hotspots" in loneliness research include studies examining how perceived social isolation influences mental health symptoms [6] and disorders [7,8,9], older [10] and younger adults [11], workplace productivity [12, 13], and social media use [14]. The contributions to this special issue illustrate some of the progress, possibilities, and problems in contemporary research on loneliness, including two systematic reviews [15, 16], one conceptual review [17], two pilot studies evaluating a novel approach to reduce loneliness in young people with psychosis [18, 19], and two studies exploring personalized approaches to reduce loneliness...
Language: en |