Understanding Loneliness

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Loneliness has become a global public health concern.

Carrying mental and physical health consequences, loneliness can manifest itself in different ways.

Epistemic loneliness is a cognitive form of isolation that is just beginning to be studied.

Traditionally, loneliness has been defined in terms of lacking companionship or social isolation. In an eight-country study, Abdalla and colleagues (2026) found that nearly half of young persons aged 18 to 24 years responded “yes” to the question “Have you felt alone at any time during the past 12 months?” As loneliness was found to be strongly associated with depression and anxiety, studies such as this are the tip of the iceberg on a global public health concern, a pandemic that shows no signs of ebbing.

But researchers and helping professionals have begun to develop more nuanced understandings of the concept of loneliness. For instance, loneliness can be experienced by sociable folks even when they are surrounded by people at an event, and it can be experienced in the context of an intimate relationship, such as a marriage (just ask a couples........

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