A lot of mental illnesses like bipolar, anxiety and depression can all make people feel very lonely. Mental illness can make you anxious about seeing others, so you might spend more time indoors. Or it can lead to insomnia, which in turn can make you tired, irritable and lonely.
What causes loneliness? There is not one single cause of loneliness. Loneliness can often be a result of life changes or circumstances that include living alone, changing your living arrangements, having financial problems, or death of a loved one.
It's characterized by constant and unrelenting feelings of being alone, separated or divided from others, and an inability to connect on a deeper level. It can also be accompanied by deeply rooted feelings of self-doubt, low self-esteem, or social anxiety.
Is loneliness a mental health problem? Feeling lonely isn't in itself a mental health problem, but the two are strongly linked. Having a mental health problem can increase your chance of feeling lonely.
Research has linked social isolation and loneliness to higher risks for a variety of physical and mental conditions: high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, a weakened immune system, anxiety, depression, cognitive decline, Alzheimer's disease, and even death.
Highlights. Loneliness was associated with posttraumatic stress symptoms at both time points. Social loneliness was longitudinally associated with posttraumatic stress symptoms. Emotional loneliness was longitudinally associated with posttraumatic stress symptoms.
"Loneliness can change the neurochemistry of the brain, turning off the dopamine neurons, which trigger the reward response, and causing some degeneration in the brain when the reward response is not activated," says Katherine Peters, MD, PhD, FAAN, associate professor of neurology and neurosurgery at Duke University.
Older adults are at increased risk for loneliness and social isolation because they are more likely to face factors such as living alone, the loss of family or friends, chronic illness, and hearing loss.
Emotional loneliness is the absence of a significant other with whom a close attachment or meaningful relationship existed (a partner or close friend). Social loneliness is the lack of a wider social network of friends, neighbours or colleagues.
Most notably, researchers found that loneliness rates peak among people in their 20s, and reach their lowest point among those in their 60s. Many people also experience a spike in lonely feelings around their mid-40s. These findings are as confounding as they are surprising, at least initially.
Loneliness appeared to be more common among men. The survey found 63% of men to be lonely, compared with 58% of women.
On the general scale, women have reported having higher levels of loneliness than men. Except for one category: single men are the lonelier group compared to single women. Women are more socially minded and are therefore able to better maintain close relationships than men.
Depression symptoms can include feeling tired, lethargic, or having little interest in the activities you used to enjoy, like being around loved ones. In other words, living with depression could lead you to put yourself in some situations that may make you feel lonely over time.
Unfortunately loneliness perpetuates loneliness… once children start becoming lonely, having no friends, withdrawing from social interactions, lacking social skills, getting bullied, with no intervention to help them cope better, they struggle to feel good about themselves, start withdrawing more, trusting people less…
If you find yourself spending more and more time alone because you believe others don't understand you or that you will struggle to connect, you may be experiencing one of the more subtle symptoms of trauma.
When you're lonely, research shows that your brain can produce an excess of norepinephrine, a hormone that's a crucial “signal during the fight or flight response.” Loneliness can feel, to our social selves, like dire straits.
What happens to your body when you're lonely? “When you're experiencing loneliness, your levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, go up,” she says. “Cortisol can impair cognitive performance, compromise the immune system, and increase your risk for vascular problems, inflammation and heart disease.”
People most frequently experience peak loneliness at three key periods of their lives, according to new research published this week in the journal International Psychogeriatrics. Researchers found that people reported moderate or severe loneliness most often in their late 20s, their mid-50s, and their late 80s.