Scientists are working on a pill for loneliness
Excerpt:
Unlike depression and anxiety, loneliness has no recognized clinical form; there is no available diagnosis or treatment for feeling chronically isolated.She has also found relief in her work and in continuing her husband’s legacy: “If you have a sense of worth and life with a purpose, you will feel less lonely,” Stephanie says. Today, that means continuing a body of research that she and her late husband were beginning to explore: a pill for loneliness.
It’s less science fiction than it sounds. A number of clinical trials – led by Stephanie and others – are already under way, targeting the ways in which chronic loneliness changes the brain, as well as the havoc it unleashes on the nervous system. If there are pharmacological treatments for other social pains like depression and anxiety, why not loneliness?
Like depression and anxiety, loneliness is a universal part of the human experience. Unlike depression and anxiety, loneliness has no recognized clinical form; there is no available diagnosis or treatment for feeling chronically isolated.
Ellen Hendriksen, a clinical psychologist who specializes in anxiety, envisions a future in which that’s no longer the case. Currently, social anxiety is considered a disorder only when it causes enough distress or impairment to interfere with a person’s life. She can see the same distinction working for loneliness: “Maybe we’ll call this social isolation syndrome,” Hendriksen suggests, adding that she thinks many of her patients would fit the criteria. Some people tell her that she’s the only person they interact with for an extended period of time during the week.
Full story at site
Excerpt:
Unlike depression and anxiety, loneliness has no recognized clinical form; there is no available diagnosis or treatment for feeling chronically isolated.She has also found relief in her work and in continuing her husband’s legacy: “If you have a sense of worth and life with a purpose, you will feel less lonely,” Stephanie says. Today, that means continuing a body of research that she and her late husband were beginning to explore: a pill for loneliness.
It’s less science fiction than it sounds. A number of clinical trials – led by Stephanie and others – are already under way, targeting the ways in which chronic loneliness changes the brain, as well as the havoc it unleashes on the nervous system. If there are pharmacological treatments for other social pains like depression and anxiety, why not loneliness?
Like depression and anxiety, loneliness is a universal part of the human experience. Unlike depression and anxiety, loneliness has no recognized clinical form; there is no available diagnosis or treatment for feeling chronically isolated.
Ellen Hendriksen, a clinical psychologist who specializes in anxiety, envisions a future in which that’s no longer the case. Currently, social anxiety is considered a disorder only when it causes enough distress or impairment to interfere with a person’s life. She can see the same distinction working for loneliness: “Maybe we’ll call this social isolation syndrome,” Hendriksen suggests, adding that she thinks many of her patients would fit the criteria. Some people tell her that she’s the only person they interact with for an extended period of time during the week.
Full story at site
