Sober Synthesis

               

Surgeon General Vivek Murthy warned that Americans are “facing an epidemic of loneliness (disconnection) and social isolation.” 

Threat is considered so serious that England has created a “Campaign to End Loneliness” and has a Minister of Loneliness, established in 2016.

Why is it important for us?

Significant health risk. Lack of social connections can lead to inflammation and changes in the immune system, so lonely people are far more likely to die prematurely. Loneliness is more dangerous than obesity, and about as deadly as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

Research has linked loneliness to multiple chronic conditions, including: heart disease, lung disease, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, atherosclerosis, stroke; and metabolic disorders, such as obesity and metabolic disease. 

Major predictor of psychological problems, such as depression, psychological stress, anxiety, and dementia. 

Johann Hari:  “The opposite of addiction is not sobriety/recovery. The opposite of addiction is connection”.  You can live alone without being lonely, and you can be lonely without living alone, but the two are closely tied together. 

What is Loneliness/Disconnection?  

Loneliness is ‘a subjective, unwelcome feeling of lack or loss of companionship. It happens when there is a mismatch between the quantity and quality of the social relationships that we have, and those that we want”. Emphasizes significance of desired vs. actual social connections. Loneliness is an emotional experience, a feeling of disconnection, a perceived deficiency in the amount and/or quality of someone’s existing relationships. Living alone, being alone, and the size of your social network is only weakly related. 

Types of loneliness (Britain)

Emotional loneliness – ‘the absence of meaningful relationships’

Social loneliness – a ‘perceived deficit in the quality of social connections’

Existential loneliness – a ‘feeling of fundamental separateness from others and the wider world’

Hunger motivates you to go find food.

Loneliness motivates you to repair or replace connections that you feel are

threatened or lost.  You pay more attention to social information because

you’re motivated to reconnect. 

Neuroscience

People with few social connections experience brain changes that cause them to be more likely to view human faces as threatening, making it harder for them to bond with others. 

Neuroscientists identify loneliness as a state of hypervigilance whose origins lie among our primate ancestors and in our own hunter-gatherer past. It triggers the fight or flight response.

Dr. Loneliness: John Cacioppo – University of Chicago. 

Evolutionary theory of loneliness: Primates need to belong to an intimate social group, in order to survive;  this is especially true for humans.  The body understands being alone, or being with strangers, as an emergency. Being separated from the group triggers a fight-or-flight response.  With stress response activation: We act fearful, defensive, and self-involved, all of which drive away people who might actually want to help, and tend to stop lonely people from doing what would benefit them most: reaching out to others. 

Contributing cultural and environmental factors to increase in loneliness/diconnection:

Internet : Increased connection digitally

-if used as waystation – to make connections

– If  used as destination, can lead to more social withdrawal, (pain) 

– interacting digitally as a non-authentic self makes people feel more acceptance. 

– But no less lonely. If the only acceptance you can get of yourself is a fake representation on the web, it won’t  make you feel connected. 

Questions for Discussion: Was any of this information helpful to better understand your past and/or present sense of loneliness (disconnection)? How?

Next Week: Connection & Tools for Connection

Disclaimer:

This summary is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine or other professional health care services, including the giving of medical advice, and no doctor/patient relationship is formed.