IS LONELINESS CENTRAL TO OUR PROBLEMS?

Nicholas Kristof had an opinion piece in the Sunday Review section of the New York Times on Nobember 10, 2019 entitled "Let's Wage War on Loneliness." He contends that lonliness is killing us at similar levels to alcohol and cigarettes and more than twice as much as obesity according to research published by Julianne Holt-Lunstad, et al. (2010) Social Relationships and Mortality Risk: A Meta-analytic Review. PLoS Med 7(7): e1000316. doi:10.1371 /journal. pmed.1000316. Dr. Holt-Lunstad and her colleagues reviewed 148 prospective studies with data on an individuals' mortality as a function of social relationships. They found that there is a greater risk of death associated with social isolation, with the results summarized above. Dr. Holt-Lunstad has continued her research in this area, further showing the impact of social isolation on health as well as mortality [death] risk. Dr. Holt-Lunstad and her colleagues believe that they have enough data from their research to support advancing social connection as a public health priority in the United States as this is the title of a paper published by J. Holt-Lunstad, et al. in The American Psychologist, 72(6), 517-530. d0i:10.1037/amp0000103. 

Mr. Kristof goes on to say that loneliness is a significant "silent killer" as it causes more morbidity than smoking or alcohol or obesity and that it is recognized as a problem in other countries with talk of there being a loneliness epidemic. Great Britain has even appointed a Minister for Loneliness who is encouraging communities to address this problem with programs that attempt to bring people who are isolated, together with each other.  

Of additional significance is the connection between addictions and loneliness as well as frequent intermittant stress [often leading to PTSD] also involving isolation and loneliness. This would then greatly expand the number of people who are affected by loneliness. I have seen chronic stress [really frequent intermittant stress] lead to isolation and loneliness as people who have been traumatized frequently have automatic coping that will cause them to isolate in order to protect themselves from the possibility of being overwhelmed by interacting with others, as they were in the past. When the brain responds to a perceived threat based on past experiences, the activation of the pattern of coping is instantaneous [in a nanosecond = a billionth of a second]. So our brain has responded before we are aware of it and this response to reduce our stress can also isolate us from others. Medications can help reduce stress about the past such as propranolol that can stop stress being connected to past memories, although it is often difficult to find a helpful dose. There are specific therapies that help reduce PTSD symptoms that involve developing a trusting relationship with a therapist and then choosing to think about past stresses without becoming stressed and doing this repeatedly.

There are many people in the world who are anxious and afraid related to PTSD symptoms and they cope in negative ways that isolate them from others. They don't need to do cope this way anymore and yet they don't have the confidence to start to change their patterns and are often manipulated by others into seeing the world as us against them. The world is not us against them and when they can realize this they will no longer be afraid or lonely.