From time to time, we all feel so lonely. Feelings of loneliness are personal, meaning that everyone’s experience will be different. You may prefer to be alone and live peacefully without any interaction with anyone, while others may consider it a lonely existence.
Is loneliness a mental health problem?
Experiencing loneliness is not, in itself, a mental health issue, but the two are closely related. Having a mental health issue can increase your risk of feeling lonely. Studies indicate that loneliness is associated with an elevated risk of certain mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, sleep difficulties, and excessive stress.
What causes loneliness?
Loneliness has several different factors that range from person to person. We don’t really understand what this is about an experience that makes one feel alone.
- Experiencing a relapse
- Moving through a relationship break-up
- Retiring and losing your social interaction at work
- Changing jobs and feeling disconnected from the colleagues
- Starting from university
- Moving to a new region or country without a family, friends, or cultural network.
Many people suffer intense and persistent feelings of isolation that emerge from inside and do not vanish, regardless of their social status or the number of friends they have.
There are many reasons people are feeling this kind of isolation. You may not sound like yourself or like others, or you may lose self-confidence.
The impact of loneliness on mental health can include:
Withdrawing and building a new sense of isolation. Lonely people spending time on their own will slowly lose their sense of being around people on a social basis so that they will disappear more, so their lives are smaller.
Loneliness goes hand in hand with depression. It’s hard to tell that depression triggers isolation or isolation induces depression, but the symptoms can seem very similar.
Experience with poor quality relationships. Often the worst kind of isolation can be in crowded places where you just don’t sense a connection with anyone.
Treatment
While loneliness may not be a diagnosable disease, you can still get help coping with feelings of loneliness. Knowing the right way to cope with loneliness always depends on what triggers it.
Speaking to a therapist will help you find opportunities to make improvements. If you’re struggling with emotional or physical health problems that separate or exacerbate feelings of depression, seeking assistance with these things will help by making it possible for you to reach out to others.
If you feel lonely without fully realizing why, you can find that therapy helps to narrow down potential triggers. This can be hard to cope with thoughts of depression because you’re not sure what’s going on. A therapist will help you evaluate any condition in your life that may give rise to these feelings.
Reference: https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/tips-for-everyday-living/loneliness/about-loneliness/
https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/chronic-loneliness#treatment
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