Social Isolation: The Facts
Social Isolation affects all of our lives. That being said, what exactly is social isolation? How do people become socially isolated? What can happen to someone who is socially isolated? How does it differ from loneliness? This page answers these questions.
What is Social Isolation?
Social Isolation can be described as a “State of being cut off from normal social networks” (McAndrew, 2016). It can involve staying at home for long periods of time, having no access to social involvement, and little to no communication with friends and acquaintances.
Factors Contributing to Social Isolation
There are a lot of factors that contribute to a person being socially isolated. No one is immune to social isolation, as everyone has dealt one of these scenarios:
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1. Unemployment: When a person is out of job, they lose a lot of contact they originally had in terms of coworkers or customers. Where a person was out in the public, they are instead at their house with less people to talk to.
2. Long-term illness (either the person experiencing the isolation or the person having to care for someone with a long-term illness: Having an illness, especially one that is contagious, means people have to stay away from others. This means having to be isolated in their home or in the hospital. When someone is taking care of another person with an illness, a good amount of time is spent being with the ill instead of with others. The illness might also be contagious, so the caretaker also has to stay away from people to avoid infecting others.
3. Someone dealing with domestic violence: A person in an abusive relationship is often isolated from the world. They might not see other people as they don't want others to see the violence or the abuser does not want the victim to leave the house. The abused might also feel that they have no one to turn to, so will isolate themselves further.
4. Someone with Social Adversity: People with social adversity have a harder time making friends, so they do not have a lot of people to talk to.
5. Government issued “Stay at Home” orders due to a pandemic: In these situations, there is no other choice. Businesses are closed, people can not see their friends, and people are working from home. A person is socially isolated as they are forced to stay in their home for weeks, sometimes months, at a time. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describes how a pandemic is stressful and different for everybody.
6. Loss of a loved-one or other traumas one experiences: Loss of a loved one can leave a person with less people to talk to. A person who lived with their spouse who passed away now has no one living in the house.
Common Things that Happen to People in Social Isolation
When people are in social isolation, they change in a lot of ways. Social Isolation has been found to wreak havoc on an individual’s physical, mental and cognitive health. The correlation between social isolation and depression are present in many of these traits. Here are just some examples of problems that may show up during Social Isolation:
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1. Can lead to poor sleeping habits: Social Isolation and loneliness contribute to spikes in cortisol. These higher levels of cortisol can mean trouble falling asleep, and a tendency to wake more frequently throughout the night (Breus, Michael. 2018). Social Isolation is also linked to depression which can often lead to oversleeping or not having the will to get out of bed.
2. People may begin to feel irritable or agitated: Ever feel so frustrated and pent up that even the slightest thing seems like it could set you off? Irritability is often a combination of anger, frustration, anxiety, and sadness all rolled into one. These feelings have been found in patients suffering from anxiety, depression, and loneliness.
3. People can experience a “sensed presence,” or the feeling that another person—or a supernatural being—is with them: A “sensed presence” can appear when individuals have become isolated and experience high levels of stress. Sometimes the unchanging sensory stimulation, might very well produce the same conditions that could trigger a “visit” from the recently departed. This happens to love-ones during their grieving process of self-isolation and mourning (McAndrew, 2016).
4. Inability to concentrate: Social Isolation and depression can actually “change your ability to think, impair attention and memory, as well as your information processing and decision-making skills. It can also lower your cognitive flexibility (the ability to adapt your goals and strategies to changing situations) and executive functioning (the ability to take all the steps to get something done)” (Cartriene, 2016).
How is Social Isolation Different from Loneliness?
