{"id":2457576,"date":"2020-04-23T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-23T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=324745"},"modified":"2020-04-23T07:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-04-23T13:00:00","slug":"social-isolation-and-loneliness-a-talk-about-coronaviruss-effects-on-mental-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/social-isolation-and-loneliness-a-talk-about-coronaviruss-effects-on-mental-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Social isolation and loneliness: a talk about coronavirus\u2019s effects on mental health"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong><em>Editor\u2019s Note: Sponsored content brought to you by Renew Senior Communities<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"p402_hide\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/Mimi-Photo-Full-Res-1024x576.jpg\" alt class=\"wp-image-324747\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/Mimi-Photo-Full-Res-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/Mimi-Photo-Full-Res-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/Mimi-Photo-Full-Res-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/Mimi-Photo-Full-Res-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/Mimi-Photo-Full-Res-2048x1152.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"><figcaption><strong><em>Mimi McFaul, a clinical psychologist and the deputy director of the National Mental Health Innovation Center at University of Colorado.<\/em><\/strong><br \/><em>Courtesy Photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>As the global coronavirus pandemic upends our lives and forces us to stay in our homes, it also highlights and increases the experience that many adults were already facing before the pandemic: loneliness.<\/p>\n<p>A January 2020 Cigna survey of more than 10,000 working Americans revealed that 61 percent \u2014 or roughly three in five people \u2014 reported feeling lonely. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthyagingpoll.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">National Poll on Healthy Aging<\/a><i class=\"fas fa-external-link-alt\"><\/i> reports that about a third of seniors are lonely. And these statistics measured loneliness before a global pandemic mandated social isolation.<\/p>\n<p>An April 23 webinar hosted by Renew Senior Communities, in partnership with The Aspen Times, aims to explore the relationship between coronavirus isolation and mental health. Ami Rokach, the author of \u201cLoneliness, Love&nbsp; and All That\u2019s Between,\u201d is a clinical psychologist who has been researching and teaching about loneliness for more than 40 years, and Mimi McFaul, a clinical psychologist and the deputy director of the National Mental Health Innovation Center at University of Colorado, will discuss the pandemic\u2019s effects on mental health and the tools that can help people of all ages and backgrounds cope.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\">\n<div class=\"row at-donation at-donation-mobile p-0\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/at-banner-paypal.jpg)\" class=\"col-xl-8 p-3 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/donate\/?utm_source=article&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_campaign=donation&amp;utm_term=&amp;utm_content=mid-article\">Donate<\/a><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Alone vs. loneliness<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The state of being alone, or social isolation, is the physical separation from other people, while loneliness is a distressed feeling of being alone that can happen with or without social isolation. People talk about loneliness as if we\u2019re experiencing the same thing, but loneliness is actually a subjective experience which may differ from person to person, Rokach said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile subjective, it\u2019s always very painful, very distressing and something we don\u2019t choose to experience,\u201d he added. \u201cThere is a difference between loneliness and solitude. Loneliness may be experienced when we are, or are not, alone and is always painful and unwanted, while solitude is being alone because we chose to be alone to do what we can best do alone, such as reflect, take a walk in the woods, write, compose, etc. Solitude is very refreshing and a welcome experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The negative feelings associated with loneliness and isolation are what led Lee Tuchfarber, CEO of Renew Senior Communities, to want to explore this and similar topics in a series of online discussions. He hopes the events can lead to meaningful social impacts in the Roaring Fork Valley and beyond.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The loneliness stigma<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"p402_hide\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/Ami-1-Cropped.jpg\" alt class=\"wp-image-324746\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/Ami-1-Cropped.jpg 695w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/Ami-1-Cropped-300x262.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 695px) 100vw, 695px\"><figcaption><strong><em>Ami Rokach, the author of \u201cLoneliness, Love and All That\u2019s Between,\u201d is a clinical psychologist who has been researching and teaching about loneliness for more than 40 years<\/em><\/strong><br \/><em>Courtesy Photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Rokach has seen hundreds of patients who suffered from loneliness, yet only one patient in all those years initially reported feeling lonely, though later many admitted to feeling so.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat indicates that we don\u2019t admit, even to ourselves, when we\u2019re lonely,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I\u2019m lonely, it means nobody wants to be with me, and if that\u2019s the case, it must mean I\u2019m not good or I\u2019m inadequate, hence a \u2018loser.\u2019 There is a serious stigma about loneliness in our culture.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSometimes, loneliness and depression are seen as one and the same. We can differentiate between them by what they make us want. When people feel lonely, they\u2019re often yearning to get closer to others, yet those who are depressed often tell others to \u2018leave me alone,\u2019\u201d Rokach said.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s how psychologists know the experiences are not one in the same. In loneliness, people can slide into depression, but not all people experiencing depression are lonely.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLoneliness became now a \u2018hot\u2019 topic, due to COVID-19. The reason that people now openly discuss it is that we can \u2018blame\u2019 the virus for our loneliness, and that eliminates the stigma that is usually connected to loneliness,\u201d Rokach said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Loneliness and health<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In the last five or so years, loneliness has been linked to increased risks of serious health problems such as hypertension, sleep disturbances, enhanced dementia in seniors and even death. Chronic loneliness is as bad as smoking, obesity and diabetes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLoneliness can predict morbidity and mortality,\u201d Rokach said. \u201cThe less stress we have \u2014 and loneliness is stressful \u2014 the better our immune system behaves, and the stronger it is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Using technology to conquer feelings of loneliness<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s good news for social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic in that technology is helping us stay connected. It\u2019s also creating a petri dish of innovation, McFaul said.<\/p>\n<p>The use of telehealth \u2014 where patients can meet with providers virtually \u2014 has been surging during the pandemic after the healthcare industry as a whole has been working on making it more mainstream for more than a decade. Beyond telehealth, McFaul\u2019s work at the National Mental Health Innovation Center is looking into ways that technology such as virtual reality can be used in both physical and mental health care.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re already testing virtual reality with seniors,\u201d she said. \u201cWith any isolated community, virtual reality is about taking them into an immersive world, somewhere they couldn\u2019t go on their own.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Rethinking loneliness during COVID-19<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Loneliness is a concept that wasn\u2019t really legitimized until research has substantiated its risks on physical health<strong>, <\/strong>McFaul said. Loneliness was only talked about in traditionally isolated populations until about the last 10 years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd now with COVID, it has become a universal topic,\u201d she said. \u201cBut the cause and duration of it are different, which is interesting. I don\u2019t know how this will lead to differences in how we recover from loneliness because for those who weren\u2019t already experiencing loneliness, it is temporary in some ways.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rokach said the way we think about current circumstances can help us overcome the experience of loneliness. Even the term \u201csocial distancing\u201d should really be \u201cphysical distancing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you hear \u2018social distancing,\u2019 think of all things that can conjure up \u2014 \u2018I\u2019m alone, nobody is getting close to me, people prefer to stay away,\u2019\u201d Rokach said. \u201cWe can get wrapped into those thoughts and end up being depressed and experience loneliness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Instead of feeling as if something has been imposed on us and we have no control, Rokach suggests thinking of the current situation as a choice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBeing alone is just physical \u2014 much of the way we feel about it is influenced by how we look at it,\u201d he said. \u201cBy turning loneliness into solitude, we can understand that being alone doesn\u2019t mean being lonely. It will not feel lonely, but a period where we could do and experience things that we usually cannot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/social-isolation-and-loneliness-a-talk-about-coronaviruss-effects-on-mental-health-sponsored\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Editor\u2019s Note: Sponsored content brought to you by Renew Senior Communities Mimi McFaul, a clinical psychologist and the deputy director of the National Mental Health Innovation Center at University of Colorado.Courtesy Photo As the global coronavirus pandemic upends our lives and forces us to stay in our homes, it also highlights and increases the experience [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2457576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 00:46:37","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2457576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2457576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2457576\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2457576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2457576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2457576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}