Isolation / Loneliness

It’s been said that a friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future and accepts you just the way you are. But for many of us, having or making a good friend as we get older seems almost beyond reach. Friends from the past may have fallen…

If you’ve been paying attention to the news, or are just a consumer of popular culture, you know that loneliness is now considered a major public health problem. In a bit of irony, it seems the more “connected” we are as a culture, the more many of us feel alone…

It may not come as a surprise, but the statistics are nonetheless distressing. In a new national poll of adults ages 50-80 from the University of Michigan, one in three respondents admitted they feel a lack of companionship and many also conveyed a feeling of social isolation. Women were especially prone…

For many of us, there’s nothing more pleasurable than grabbing a book and settling down for a spell of reading. As children, our parents may have instilled in us a love of books and as adults, we probably have more books than we can ever read or comfortably house. If…

While the holiday season conjures up images of festive gatherings and family reunions, it’s also a time that highlights the prevalence of loneliness and social isolation in our society. Estimates are that one in every 11 Americans over 50 has no spouse, partner or living child and that 8 million…

As a new report just out from the Kaiser Family Foundation makes clear, loneliness is a growing global public health epidemic. And, according to The Unlonely Project, older adults are especially susceptible to loneliness and social isolation, which can have a negative impact on health and well-being. Unsurprisingly, there are new…