![]() ![]() Loneliness is defined as a distressing feeling that accompanies the perception that one’s social needs are not being met by the quantity or especially the quality of one’s social relationships. People can live relatively solitary lives and not feel lonely, and conversely, they can live an ostensibly rich social life and feel lonely nevertheless. Loneliness is synonymous with perceived social isolation, not with objective social isolation. Loneliness is a common experience as many as 80% of those under 18 years of age and 40% of adults over 65 years of age report being lonely at least sometimes, with levels of loneliness gradually diminishing through the middle adult years, and then increasing in old age (i.e., ≥70 years). Interventions to reduce loneliness and its health consequences may need to take into account its attentional, confirmatory, and memorial biases as well as its social and behavioral effects. Features of a loneliness regulatory loop are employed to explain cognitive, behavioral, and physiological consequences of loneliness and to discuss interventions to reduce loneliness. We review physical and mental health consequences of loneliness, mechanisms for its effects, and effectiveness of extant interventions. ![]() The purpose of this paper is to review the features and consequences of loneliness within a comprehensive theoretical framework that informs interventions to reduce loneliness. Implicit hypervigilance for social threat alters psychological processes that influence physiological functioning, diminish sleep quality, and increase morbidity and mortality. Perceptions of social isolation, or loneliness, increase vigilance for threat and heighten feelings of vulnerability while also raising the desire to reconnect. She says she and her family can now look back on her recovery with a sense of humour.As a social species, humans rely on a safe, secure social surround to survive and thrive. She works as an ambassador for the Stroke Association, and says meeting other young people through the charity who had been through a stroke made her feel less alone. Kiss, now 18, is currently studying for a diploma in art and design and is thinking of going on to an apprenticeship. She saw a counsellor during the depression, and says that going to a support group for people who needed to build their confidence helped her 'massively'. When she felt stressed or lonely, Kiss found that listening to music and walking her dogs helped her cope. "I just didn't want to get out of bed and refused to go to school, saying 'I don't want to be here'," says Kiss. She became depressed, and her confidence nose-dived. She also found that the stroke, and coping with the stroke, gave her mood swings. She recalls feeling that when she was with friends, it would 'bring the mood down', that people were 'looking after her'. "I would make hand signals - thumbs up, thumbs down - shake my head a lot. I used to not want to talk," she explains. Kiss lost movement on her left side and found she really disliked the way the stroke affected how she sounded. For those facing life after stroke, there is so much more investment needed. Some people may lose their ability to work or engage in their normal daily or social activities, isolating them from others.Ī Stroke Association report last year found that only 60% of survivors in the East Midlands, the South West and the East of England were satisfied with the support they got, and people in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales reported that support was even worse there.Ĭuts to local NHS and social care budgets have left many people struggling to access services and support after a stroke, and depleted health and social care workforces are at a loss to support them. Having a stroke often affects the way you move and speak, making you stand out not just from the way you were, but also in public. People who have a stroke aren't generally just about to go into their GCSEs, but for more than a million people who are dealing with the effects of stroke, isolation is an almost universal experience whatever your demographic. I lost quite a lot of friends in that time because I didn't know where I fit in because of what happened." "Everyone would either be super sympathetic, or not know how to treat me and not talk to me. But on her return, her social life changed dramatically. ![]() Kiss, who was 13 at the time, recovered over the summer holidays and went back to school part-time. ![]()
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