Loneliness in the Era of COVID-19

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Eric D. Miller¹ 

[1] Department of Psychology, Kent State University, United States

关键词: COVID-19;    social connectedness;    loneliness;    well-being;    mental health;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02219

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

COVID-19 is proving to be a particularly cruel disease not just because of its pathophysiology butalso due to its potentially devastating consequences for engendering loneliness. From the outsetof the pandemic, we have learned of countless individuals having to die alone or loved ones notbeing able to grieve by providing burial services (Miller, 2020). This disease holds particularly direconsequences for many populations—most notably the elderly and those with compromised healthconditions but also minorities and the homeless; these groups have also faced unique difficulties incontending with loneliness well before this crisis (Rokach, 2019). For as much attention that thisdisease has rightfully focused on the elderly, individuals can experience different developmentalchallenges with loneliness throughout the lifespan including adolescence and young adulthood(Luhmann and Hawkley, 2016)—and, indeed, there is already evidence of heightened psychologicalproblems amongst Chinese youth in the wake of this pandemic (Liang et al., 2020). Accordingly, itwill be important for psychologists to assess how age-based threats to loneliness evolve in the eraof COVID-19.

【 授权许可】

CC BY