Real Loneliness Can Do Serious Damage

Tom Courtenay in The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner.
Photograph: Ronald Grant Archive

From The Guardian:

Neuroscientist John Cacioppo says social pain is akin to physical pain. So what can be done to make it better?

'Tis the season to be lonely. Half a million pensioners will spend Christmas Day alone, while nearly three in five people over 55 will be wishing they could see more of their family. This isn't just a seasonal or British phenomenon. At any given time, around one in five Americans – 60 million people – feel so isolated that it makes them seriously unhappy.

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