Taken from
The Guardian:
Almost one in 14 people aged 16 or over in Great Britain say they are lonely, up 40% since last spring, according to the
Office for National Statistics.
Between April and May last year one in 20 people aged 16-plus surveyed said they felt lonely “often” or “always”, and that increased significantly between October and February this year to a proportion equating to 3.7 million people.
The deleterious effects of loneliness have increasingly been highlighted in recent years, with warnings that it can be as bad for someone’s health
as having a long-term illness such as diabetes or high blood pressure.
The ONS found that areas with a high proportion of younger people and those with higher rates of unemployment tended to have greater levels of loneliness, with the effects in both cases particularly strong in urban areas outside London.
Vivian Hill, the chair of the British Psychological Society Covid-19 isolation and confinement group, said: “The pandemic has just brought it [the loneliness epidemic] into really sharp focus, and it’s exacerbating the situation. My view is that maybe we’ve learned a few things as a society, that human beings do need to be connected, and maybe our day-to-day going out into the world, going into our jobs or to our places of learning, once that [is stripped] away, it’s revealed the hollowness, the life experience of many young people beneath that – that it’s either a question of being out and about with your friends or completely alone.”
The ONS said living in a single-person household, difficulties with relationships caused by the pandemic, and not having anyone to talk to had contributed to experiences of loneliness. Areas with strong local businesses and adult education tended to have lower rates of loneliness, with local authorities in London particularly benefiting.
In December last year the UK government
announced a £7.5m fund to tackle the epidemic of loneliness in England.
Hill said she would like to see a focus on “how do we structure and shape our society to be more supportive of more people’s mental health and wellbeing”, with an emphasis on bringing people together across age groups and those out of work, who may not have the same sense of identity and opportunities to meet others afforded by employment.
“Maybe give people a role and a purpose, a way of bringing them together and making them feel connected with other people,” she said. “Not in some kind of punitive way of you’ve got to go out [to] weed the park or sweep the streets, but just thinking about what offer might be made. Just to give people a chance to come together with other people and, on a voluntary basis, make those connections.”
Have you been feeling more lonely since the pandemic started? What do you think is the best way to combat loneliness? Do you think disabled people are more likely to feel lonely?
