Taking loneliness seriously.

In January 2018, British Prime Minister Theresa May appointed a Minister for Loneliness. In Britain, research has found that about 15% of the population, more than 9 million people, often or always feels lonely. One survey found that 360,000 socially isolated people over 65 had not had a conversation with friends or family for a week, while 200,000 hadn’t had one in more than a month. Data from North America are similar.

Chronic loneliness not only makes you sick; it can kill you.

Emotional isolation is ranked as high a risk factor for mortality as smoking. A partial list of the physical diseases thought to be caused or exacerbated by loneliness would include Alzheimer’s, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, neurodegenerative diseases, and even cancer—tumors can metastasize faster in lonely people. – Shulevitz (2013)

What helps?

According to Greenstein and Holland (2018), ‘The first step for a therapist—or for friends or family—is to listen’. They also recommend strategies for social reintegration, such as caring for a pet, volunteering, helping others, taking a class or starting a group, or connecting with others on the internet.

Yet before social reintegration can happen, Theeke et al (2016) recommend a new therapeutic intervention called LISTEN. Combining Narrative Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, LISTEN provides a series of five group sessions to target the stress mechanism of loneliness. Session topics include belonging, relationships, role in community, loneliness as health challenge, and meaning of loneliness. It encourages rethinking the experience of loneliness to enhance meaning and facilitate moving forward.

LISTEN is the first group intervention designed to bring lonely people together to offer their narrative of loneliness in a therapeutic environment and in a sequenced way, aiming to facilitate cognitive restructuring.

Through LISTEN, participants gained the opportunity to share their experience of loneliness and to hear about the experiences of others. This helped participants to cognitively process their experience of loneliness. Participants were then more willing and able to begin to take actions against loneliness and make positive changes in their lives.

https://listenforloneliness.com/

Greenstein, M. and Holland, J. (2018) Lighter as we go: Virtues, character strengths, and aging. New York: Oxford University Press.

Schulevitz, J. (2013) The lethality of loneliness. New Republic.

Theeke, L., Mallow, J., Moore, J., McBurney, A., Rellick, S., and VanGilder, R. (2016). Effectiveness of LISTEN on loneliness, neuroimmunological stress response, psychosocial functioning, quality of life, and physical health measures of chronic illness. International Journal of Nursing Sciences