Healthcare professionals are increasingly warning that loneliness has reached epidemic levels throughout the nation. And though we might be tempted to dismiss such pronouncements as hyperbole or underestimate the consequences, a closer examination reveals that loneliness is actually a serious health issue.
“We definitely have a significant problem with loneliness going on in society, both kids and their parents,” said Dr. Jerry Weichman a clinical psychologist and adolescent health specialist at Hoag Hospital’s Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute in Newport Beach.
Our social circles and socialization skills diminished during the COVID-19 pandemic, and they still haven’t recovered, Weichman noted. He has observed many people suffering what can loosely be described as a low-grade depression stemming from a chronic lack of connectedness.
But even without COVID in the mix, he said, the loneliness problem would still be significant, due to a host of other contributing factors, including less family time, greater political and social polarization and stress over existential issues such as climate change.