Social Isolation in Modern Society
Social Isolation in Modern Society

Author: Roelof Hortulanus

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2006-06-28

Total Pages: 313

ISBN-13: 1134209347

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Social isolation has serious repercussions for people and communities across the globe, yet knowledge about this phenomenon has remained rather limited – until now. The first multidisciplinary study to explore this issue, Social Isolation in Modern Society integrates relevant research traditions in the social sciences and brings together sociological theories of social networks and psychological theories of feelings of loneliness. Both traditions are embedded in research, with the results of a large-scale international study being used to describe the extent, nature and divergent manifestations of social isolation. With a new approach to social inequality, this empirically based study includes concrete policy recommendations, and presents a clear insight into personal, social and socio-economic causes and the consequences of social isolation.

Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults
Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2020-05-14

Total Pages: 317

ISBN-13: 0309671035

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Social isolation and loneliness are serious yet underappreciated public health risks that affect a significant portion of the older adult population. Approximately one-quarter of community-dwelling Americans aged 65 and older are considered to be socially isolated, and a significant proportion of adults in the United States report feeling lonely. People who are 50 years of age or older are more likely to experience many of the risk factors that can cause or exacerbate social isolation or loneliness, such as living alone, the loss of family or friends, chronic illness, and sensory impairments. Over a life course, social isolation and loneliness may be episodic or chronic, depending upon an individual's circumstances and perceptions. A substantial body of evidence demonstrates that social isolation presents a major risk for premature mortality, comparable to other risk factors such as high blood pressure, smoking, or obesity. As older adults are particularly high-volume and high-frequency users of the health care system, there is an opportunity for health care professionals to identify, prevent, and mitigate the adverse health impacts of social isolation and loneliness in older adults. Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults summarizes the evidence base and explores how social isolation and loneliness affect health and quality of life in adults aged 50 and older, particularly among low income, underserved, and vulnerable populations. This report makes recommendations specifically for clinical settings of health care to identify those who suffer the resultant negative health impacts of social isolation and loneliness and target interventions to improve their social conditions. Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults considers clinical tools and methodologies, better education and training for the health care workforce, and dissemination and implementation that will be important for translating research into practice, especially as the evidence base for effective interventions continues to flourish.

Loneliness
Loneliness

Author: John T Cacioppo

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2009-07-28

Total Pages: 377

ISBN-13: 0393335283

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A pioneering neuroscientist reveals the reasons for chronic loneliness--which he defines an unrecognized syndrome--and brings it out of the shadow of its cousin, depression. 12 illustrations.

The Lonely American
The Lonely American

Author: Jacqueline Olds, MD

Publisher: Beacon Press

Published: 2009-02-01

Total Pages: 239

ISBN-13: 0807095966

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In today's world, it is more acceptable to be depressed than to be lonely-yet loneliness appears to be the inevitable byproduct of our frenetic contemporary lifestyle. According to the 2004 General Social Survey, one out of four Americans talked to no one about something of importance to them during the last six months. Another remarkable fact emerged from the 2000 U.S. Census: more people are living alone today than at any point in the country's history—fully 25 percent of households consist of one person only. In this crucial look at one of America's few remaining taboo subjects—loneliness—Drs. Jacqueline Olds and Richard S. Schwartz set out to understand the cultural imperatives, psychological dynamics, and physical mechanisms underlying social isolation. In The Lonely American, cutting-edge research on the physiological and cognitive effects of social exclusion and emerging work in the neurobiology of attachment uncover startling, sobering ripple effects of loneliness in areas as varied as physical health, children's emotional problems, substance abuse, and even global warming. Surprising new studies tell a grim truth about social isolation: being disconnected diminishes happiness, health, and longevity; increases aggression; and correlates with increasing rates of violent crime. Loneliness doesn't apply simply to single people, either—today's busy parents "cocoon" themselves by devoting most of their non-work hours to children, leaving little time for friends, and other forms of social contact, and unhealthily relying on the marriage to fulfill all social needs. As a core population of socially isolated individuals and families continues to balloon in size, it is more important than ever to understand the effects of a culture that idealizes busyness and self-reliance. It's time to bring loneliness—a very real and little-discussed social epidemic with frightening consequences-out into the open, and find a way to navigate the tension between freedom and connection in our lives.

Loneliness
Loneliness

Author: Robert Weiss

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 1975-04-15

Total Pages: 261

ISBN-13: 0262730413

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Loneliness is among the most common distresses. In one survey, a quarter of Americans interviewed said that they had suffered from loneliness within the past few weeks. Yet for a condition so pervasive, loneliness has received little professional attention. Loneliness: The Experience of Emotional and Social Isolation brings together papers which attempt to capture the phenomena of loneliness with case materials that illuminate the descriptive and theoretical acccounts. It is organized into seven sections, covering: explanations for the neglect of loneliness, and an attept to describe the condition; mechanisms underlying some forms of loneliness; a discussion of situations in which loneliness is commonly found; loneliness among those suffering the loss of a loved one; the loneliness of social isolation; resources available to the lonely; and, finally, a look at issues yet to be dealt with and some suggestions for the management of loneliness. This book is a useful resource for social scientists, clinicians, and individuals who now or in the future may suffer from loneliness.

Social Isolation in Modern Society
Social Isolation in Modern Society

Author: Roelof Hortulanus

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2006-06-28

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 1134209339

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Social isolation has serious repercussions for people and communities across the globe, yet knowledge about this phenomenon has remained rather limited – until now. The first multidisciplinary study to explore this issue, Social Isolation in Modern Society integrates relevant research traditions in the social sciences and brings together sociological theories of social networks and psychological theories of feelings of loneliness. Both traditions are embedded in research, with the results of a large-scale international study being used to describe the extent, nature and divergent manifestations of social isolation. With a new approach to social inequality, this empirically based study includes concrete policy recommendations, and presents a clear insight into personal, social and socio-economic causes and the consequences of social isolation.

The Psychology of Groups
The Psychology of Groups

Author: Craig D. Parks

Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)

Published: 2020-07-14

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 9781433831805

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This book synthesizes research on groups from two separate but related fields--social psychology and clinical psychology--and encourages collaboration among researchers who are interested in different types of groups.

Loneliness as a Way of Life
Loneliness as a Way of Life

Author: Thomas Dumm

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2010-05-01

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 067403113X

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“What does it mean to be lonely?” Thomas Dumm asks. His inquiry, documented in this book, takes us beyond social circumstances and into the deeper forces that shape our very existence as modern individuals. The modern individual, Dumm suggests, is fundamentally a lonely self. Through reflections on philosophy, political theory, literature, and tragic drama, he proceeds to illuminate a hidden dimension of the human condition. His book shows how loneliness shapes the contemporary division between public and private, our inability to live with each other honestly and in comity, the estranged forms that our intimate relationships assume, and the weakness of our common bonds. A reading of the relationship between Cordelia and her father in Shakespeare’s King Lear points to the most basic dynamic of modern loneliness—how it is a response to the problem of the “missing mother.” Dumm goes on to explore the most important dimensions of lonely experience—Being, Having, Loving, and Grieving. As the book unfolds, he juxtaposes new interpretations of iconic cultural texts—Moby-Dick, Death of a Salesman, the film Paris, Texas, Emerson’s “Experience,” to name a few—with his own experiences of loneliness, as a son, as a father, and as a grieving husband and widower. Written with deceptive simplicity, Loneliness as a Way of Life is something rare—an intellectual study that is passionately personal. It challenges us, not to overcome our loneliness, but to learn how to re-inhabit it in a better way. To fail to do so, this book reveals, will only intensify the power that it holds over us.