Our social structure needs to change, but so do we.
Lonely people must remember that while they are not necessarily responsible for the conditions that plunged them into loneliness, they can take steps to pull themselves out of it |
 | | Yann Kebbi |
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By Eleanor Cummins and Andrew Zaleski |
According to Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, the United States is in the throes of what he recently labeled a loneliness "epidemic": Nearly one in four Americans over 18 say they often or always feel lonely. There are 1,001 theories about why we are struggling to connect, and just as many proposed solutions. The discourse, however, tends to focus on societal interventions to foster connection, often to the exclusion of more individual ones. |
We certainly agree that policy changes and community-based solutions will be essential for healing. But since we're a couple of science reporters, we wondered: What role do the brain and body play in making and keeping people lonely? |
In our new guest essay, we report on the latest findings in neuroscience and psychology that suggest feelings of loneliness are a biological signal, rooted deep in the body, designed to remind us that we need other people. Unfortunately, when we don't — or can't — respond to these alarm bells, loneliness can reshape areas of the brain and, in turn, make us even more lonely. That's because of neuroplasticity, or the brain's ability to change. The lonely mind is transformed. While social programs can help reduce isolation by putting people in physical contact with one another, if deeper brain changes aren't accounted for, they may end up feeling even worse in the company of others. |
But the brain can learn to reconnect. We talked with researchers and clinicians who are investigating ways to retrain the lonely mind to find social pleasure once again. Many of these strategies are uncontroversial — cognitive interventions, time in nature, physical exercise — though we know this individualistic approach is bound to attract criticism. Mind you, this isn't a call for lonely individuals to bootstrap their way back to health. Rather, it's our intent to show that for a problem of this immense scale, we don't need to choose between a personal or a collective approach. We urgently need both. |
| READ ELEANOR AND ANDREW'S FULL ESSAY HERE | | |
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