depression
…and anxiety: 1. Disconnection from meaningful work 2. Disconnection from other people ([[loneliness]]) 3. Disconnection from meaningful values ([[consumerism]]) 4. Disconnection from childhood trauma 5. Disconnection…
Contents
The absence of relationships.
People must belong to a tribe. (E.O. Wilson)
Loneliness Hurts Us
According to Lost Connections by Johann Hari:
- research by John Cacioppo showed that feeling lonely led to a rise in cortisol (the stress hormone) on par with being physically attacked.
- research by Sheldon Cohen demonstrated that loneliness (perhaps more specifically, the stress that comes with loneliness) harms our immune systems: people who are lonely were 3 times more likely to get sick when exposed to the cold virus when compared with people who were socially connected.
- a 9-year study by Lisa Berkman found that isolated individuals were 2-3 times more likely than socially connected people to die from cancer, heart disease, and respiratory problems.
- Research by Martha McClintock separated out lab rats. Some were raised in a cage, alone. Others were raised in groups. The isolated rats developed eighty-four times the number of breast cancer tumors as the rats who had a community.
- The U.S. surgeon general cited research showing that being socially disconnected has the same negative affect on mortality as having 6 drinks or smoking 15 cigarettes a day (source)
We know that long-term exposure to Stress harms the body in myriad ways. It seems that loneliness can cause such stress, perhaps because for most of humans’ evolutionary history being isolated from other humans was a truly life-threatening predicament.
Loneliness has been growing in the U.S. since the 1930s, accelerating in the latter half of the 20th century
Harvard Researcher Robert Putnam’s 1995 paper “Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital” and the resulting book documents this as well.
When they started doing the study several decades ago, the average number of close friends an American had was three. By 2004, the most common answer was none. (John Cacioppo, Loneliness)
Ending Loneliness
According to Lost Connections by Johann Hari:
To end loneliness, you need other people—plus something else. You also need, he explained to me, to feel you are sharing something with the other person, or the group, that is meaningful to both of you. You have to be in it together—and “it” can be anything that you both think has meaning and value.