Loneliness: mental health and tips
- Blair Chen
- Dec 10, 2020
- 2 min read
This week's blog post is by Blair Chen, our lovely new social sec.
Everyone feels lonely sometimes, it is a human emotion that is personal and unique to each individual. Although loneliness is often understood as solitude (being alone), loneliness is more like a state of mind. For example, we can still feel lonely in a party with 40 people but we can also feel comfortable and chill when alone in our room.
There are many causes of loneliness, which vary from individuals. According to research, life-changing events such as bereavement or moving to a new place could lead to acute loneliness. Additionally, People without a good support network are more likely to feel lonely. Time is the factor which determine the level of harm loneliness can do. When loneliness continues long enough, it can create a persistent loop of negative thoughts and even behaviours. This is the long-term, chronic loneliness.
An online survey with a sample size of 2256 people was carried out in 2010 by the Mental Health Foundation commissioned Opinium Research LLP shows that: almost half of people (48%) strongly agree or agree that people are getting lonelier in general and a third of people (29%) say that they do not have enough time to spend with friends and family. Some more recent statistics from Office of National Statistics suggested that there were 5% of adults in England who reported feeling lonely “often” or “always” in 2016 to 2017.
Loneliness is not a mental health problem. However, they are strongly related. Chronic loneliness is suggested to be associated with an increased risk of depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, sleep problems, increased stress level and poor decision-making.
Tips to prevent and manage loneliness: •Recognize that you feel lonely •Take it slow for yourself when trying to change •Make new connections to try to meet more, or different people •Focus on developing quality relationship •Take good care of yourself •Talking therapies •Community services or social care e.g befriender service, Side by Side
Sources and related links:
https://www.ons.gov.uk/.../lonelinesswhatch.../2018-04-10... <https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcom.../wellbeing/a>
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