The high rates of people feeling lonely in Brazil and around the world have already created what researches call “epidemic of loneliness“. The phenomenon threatens public health and highlights a serious social problem that has worsened with the covid-19 pandemic.
In Brazil alone, 50% of people feel lonely and 52% say that the feeling has increased in recent months. The data are from the Perceptions of the Impact of Covid-19 survey, carried out by Ipsos in 28 countries.
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In the same survey, Brazil was the country that ranked first in relation to people who feel the most lonely. The analysis discusses the Brazilian reality and the impacts of the pandemic for social interactions and well-being of Brazilians.
Furthermore, it points to the consequences of loneliness in people's lives, as she can develop disorders such as: anxiety, depression, panic attacks and feelings of isolation. Likewise, it increases the risk of stroke, heart attacks and excesses of alcohol and cigarettes.
Worrying data on loneliness in the world
Although the survey data show numbers about the pandemic, the feeling of loneliness was already present in society before that.
In 2018, the United Kingdom created the "ministry of loneliness" to understand how the country's population was living with mental health issues.
The detailed study generated clear analysis, finding that 9 million people always or often felt alone in the country.
According to the magazine Galileo, the same survey found that 200,000 seniors said they had not talked to a relative or friend for at least 30 days or more.
For the country's prime minister at the time, Theresa May, this was "a sad reality of modern life". You reflections of loneliness they do not appear only in specific social groups, such as the elderly.
In the United States, in a survey by Columbia University, 61% of the public over 18 years old stated that they feel lonely.
Loneliness that became pathology?
Therefore, lonely people are a political and social issue, since thousands of people from different realities are presenting worrying emotional aspects.
Studies on loneliness intensified in the 1970s and in 1984, researchers Álvaro Tamayo and Ângela Pinheiro published, in Journal of Psychology of the Federal University of Ceará, the main aspects of loneliness, which are:
- Lack of purpose and meaning in life;
- Emotional reaction;
- Unwanted and unpleasant feeling;
- Feelings of isolation and separation;
- Deficiency in relationships and lack of intimacy.
Thus, from the time of publication until today, loneliness continues to be present in society and is currently considered a pathology. It has serious consequences for social interaction, demonstrating impacts on affective relationships, at work, on social networks and increasingly contributing to the isolation of people.
