
The Lethality of Loneliness: How it can ravage our body and brain (2013) - prostoalex
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/113176/science-loneliness-how-isolation-can-kill-you?src=longreads
======
jokoon
I'm quite skeptical about it.

Maybe it's because I don't really have any hope, at all, of succeeding in life
since being introverted and having feelings of rejections are the biggest
obstacles in my life.

I do believe that highly capitalistic societies, where each individual has a
bank account and property, seems to be exclusive societies. The age of life in
communities has really ended. People used to live in tight communities, never
excluding family members, always using available arms for something. Now
corporate jobs are nearly mandatory.

I think even vagrants and wanderers were friendly enough to either live
together or to speak to people.

Since my problems at school and in family, my conscience has entirely refuse
to socialize or to be part of a group. Now the consequence of this are quite
dire, but I doubt society can really realize exclusion is a problem, or really
do anything about it just because psychology shows it.

~~~
ams6110
It sounds to me like you're making excuses for giving up and sitting on the
couch because you're introverted and have had some bad relationship or social
encounters.

Everyone other than lifelong hermits has experienced social or romantic
rejection. There are plenty of introverts who are successful in capitalistic
societies.

You don't say where you live but I assume it's in the USA or some other
western capitalistic country. Get out of the house, get some therapy if
necessary, but don't give up. There are too many oppoortunities at your
fingertips even if you're not a type "A" extrovert.

~~~
jokoon
I hate when people write to strangers on the internet like they know better.

I've stopped anti depressants. I live in france. No degree, no job experience.
Got programming skills. Got many interviews, not one hire. I see a
psychiatrist every month. I managed to get help from government funded job
programs to get a degree, it was a 8 month procedure, I'll get an answer the
incoming month, but I'm not very optimistic. I'm in the most unemployment
plagued region/city.

I do feel like I'm a miserable individual, but in my country I don't sense
there is an honest economic opportunity. My parents gave up trying to help me
and cheer me up. They're now both broke.

> It sounds to me like you're making excuses for giving up and sitting on the
> couch because you're introverted and have had some bad relationship or
> social encounters.

It's not just "bad social encounters" why do you just assume you know what my
life was? I got hit by my mother in law when my father was not there, while I
was getting bullied at school. This lasted for more than 6 years, and I grew
up knowing this woman for 20 years.

Maybe people with depression or social phobia also make up excuse, is that
what you think ? Why are people always assuming unemployed people can't have
mental illnesses or crappy personality without being told they're making
excuses ? Do you really think I made excuse my whole life ?

If there was a real exit to my life, some opportunity to pick up garbage, I
would do it, but france is entirely anti liberal, it's nearly soviet minded
here.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
Sometimes people make these remarks because they mean to be encouraging. There
is a lot that is in your control. Resisting these well-meaning comments is a
symptom of the issue: depression. It makes everything seem impossible, and
every relationship not worth the effort.

~~~
jokoon
I managed to be in a love relationship. Getting into a work relationship is a
totally different story.

------
alecdbrooks
The last time this appeared on HN
([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5700562](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5700562)),
I tracked down some of the citations:

>The social experience that most reliably predicted whether an HIV-positive
gay man would die quickly, Cole found, was whether or not he was in the
closet.

Cole, Steve W., et al. "Elevated physical health risk among gay men who
conceal their homosexual identity." Health Psychology 15.4 (1996): 243.
[http://cancer-
network.org/media/pdf/cancer_gay_men_disclosur...](http://cancer-
network.org/media/pdf/cancer_gay_men_disclosure_1996.pdf)

>While Cole discovered that loneliness could hasten death in sick people,
Cacioppo showed that it could make well people sick—and through the same
method: by putting the body in fight-or-flight mode.

Cacioppo, John T., et al. "Loneliness and Health: Potential Mechanisms."
Psychosomatic Medicine 64 (2002): 407-417.
[http://ccutrona.public.iastate.edu/psych592a/articles/Caciop...](http://ccutrona.public.iastate.edu/psych592a/articles/Cacioppo_et_al_2002.pdf)

>A longitudinal study of more than 8,000 identical Dutch twins found that, if
one twin reported feeling lonely and unloved, the other twin would report the
same thing 48 percent of the time.

Boomsma, Dorret I., et al. "Longitudinal genetic analysis for loneliness in
Dutch twins." Twin Research and Human Genetics 10.2 (2007): 267-274.
[http://psychology.uchicago.edu/people/faculty/cacioppo/jtcre...](http://psychology.uchicago.edu/people/faculty/cacioppo/jtcreprints/longitudinalgenetic2007.pdf)

Finally, you may be interested in tokenadult's comment on twin studies:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5701565](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5701565).
An excerpt:

>The article's explanation of "heritability" of human behavioral traits is
poor. For four years now, I've had regular in-person interaction with a
"journal club" of researchers and graduate students who are deeply involved in
the Minnesota Twin Study...Your attribution of causes for human differences
(e.g., human differences in IQ) is also heritable. Your opinion about
regulation of the Internet is heritable. Everything about human behavior is
heritable, including the tendency to loneliness mentioned in the interesting
article submitted here.

------
jlt
If you enjoyed this, I'd really think you'd enjoy the first episode of 'The
Twilight Zone', called 'Where is Everybody?'

It's on YouTube! Enjoy! :)

