Friendship in the age of COVID-19

Professor RIM Dunbar of the Oxford Department of Experimental Psychology made a startling and important statement in 2018 based on studies of the brain1: ‘Friendship is the single most important factor influencing our health, well being, and happiness.’ Friendship can be added to a range or spectrum of much discussed emotions: sympathy, empathy, compassion, the provision of dignity, kindness and bringing cheer/joy. These are outputs of the mind dependent on the brain, but they differ in exactly what they express. Some, like compassion, have been discussed in this journal2 and of course in many others,3–5 and is especially a concern of caring. ‘Caring for life’ was a major theme of a conference held in Oxford in 2019 in the home of the father of modern medicine, Sir William Osler (1849–1919). The topics discussed included the benefits as well as...
Source: Postgraduate Medical Journal - Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: COVID-19 Editorials Source Type: research