Loneliness happens when the social connections that people want don’t match their actual experience of relationships with others. Loneliness is a subjective and emotional response and we need to better understand its emotional impact on individuals.
People describe loneliness with words like anxiety, fear, shame and helplessness. These powerful emotions can influence how we act.
Loneliness can also affect how we anticipate and interpret our social experiences. This can mean we are more apprehensive or fearful of social situations or pick up on social rejection cues too readily.This can create a downward spiral where loneliness can cause someone to withdraw further from family and friends and become lonelier.
Our report is focussed on older people but has lessons for all adults. It gathers the current research and evidence available to us about what we can learn from psychology, as well as making policy recommendations for how this learning can be applied and help the millions of lonely people across the UK.
Find out more and download the report: www.campaignto...