In recent years, a number of celebrities of have been open regarding their own mental health issues and this has been of great benefit in reducing the stigma. How often though do you hear of people admitting to feeling or having felt lonely? Loneliness continues to be a mental health taboo.
Last year the BBC surveyed 55,000 people in as part of their Loneliness Experiment in collaboration with Wellcome Collection.
The results of the survey may surprise some as loneliness was found to be at its greatest amongst young people, with 40% of 16-24 year olds replying that they often or very often felt lonely, compared to 27% of over 75s. In fact, the survey showed that loneliness can affect people of all ages and backgrounds and the majority of respondents did not link it to being alone, rather a feeling of being isolated or disconnected from those around us. In other words it is possible to “feel lonely in a crowd”.
There are a number of possible reasons why respondents aged 16-24 felt lonelier. It is certainly true that during this period of our lives we tend to feel emotions more intensely and perhaps it is also the case that we have had less experience of going through periods of loneliness and developing coping strategies for that. Of course, young people are often plunged into periods of major upheaval such as leaving family and friends to go to university or starting work for the first time, perhaps in a different part of the country. Expectations may also play a part; the cliché goes that being at university are the best years of your life and both the media and social media are replete with images of young people socialising and enjoying themselves.
It is possible to speculate as to whether societal changes such as the development of social media and lessening of community ties may also be a factor in loneliness amongst younger people and whether the 16-24 generation will continue to experience this throughout their lives. However, the survey also found that those reflecting back on their lives also found 16-24 the loneliest period, so perhaps it was ever thus.
Comments 10
Thanks on your marvelous posting! I genuinely enjoyed reading it, you could be a great author. Alfreda Jed Church
Great article. Really looking forward to read more. Great. Brittaney Elden Packston
I view something genuinely interesting about your web site so I saved to favorites . Page Padraic Reine
Looking forward to reading more. Great post. Much thanks again. Coralyn Gardiner Heida
Really informative article. Really thank you! Really Great. Odette Torrence Baumann
Amazing write up, never read such an informative blog and enjoyed it. Thankyou. Keep up the good work. Looking forward to read more. Lilyan Nappie Levon
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about przewozy polska niemcy. Ree Hercules Clough
Looking forward to reading more. Great blog post. Really looking forward to read more. Great. Gilberte Brigg Shina
It was great as always. Thank you for sharing your good content with us without expectation. Edwina Brit Wilber
Wow, fantastic blog layout! How long have you been blogging for? you made blogging look easy. The overall look of your site is great, as well as the content! Annalee Jdavie Malarkey