You don ’t have to be alone to experience loneliness – and more friends isn’t the answer | Gaynor Parkin and Erika Clarry

Recently described as a public health emergency, profound loneliness can affect anyone craving deeper connectionsIn the UK 25 million people report they are occasionally, sometimes, or often lonely, according to theCampaign to End Loneliness. In the US the surgeon general, Vivek Murthy, recently disclosed hisown experience of “profound loneliness” as he released his national strategy highlighting just how many people experience loneliness as well as potential solutions to alleviate it. Murthy emphasised that loneliness has escalated into a public health emergency, affecting one in two Americans, with health impacts a s serious as addiction and obesity, and warned it was as dangerous to health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.Murthy ’s candid account of his own loneliness was picked up by multiple media outlets and resonated deeply with my client Murray*. Like many people, Murray struggled to understand that loneliness doesn’t just affect people who are socially isolated or who live alone. Murray is professionally successfu l, earns a higher-than-average income and lives with a partner and teenage children. He plays sport, helps with his children’s sport clubs, and keeps a busy round of dinners and social events for work. Murray sought help for anxiety which he found scary and surprising. He’d begun experiencing ov erwhelming panic attacks that took hold of him at unpredictable times and seemingly without warning. Murray felt ashamed and helpless and just wanted the ...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Loneliness Psychology Source Type: news