Loneliness as a social issue has recently been receiving more attention across Australia and overseas. Researchers, community organisations and policy makers are increasingly exploring the causes of loneliness, its impacts, and the best ways to address it. Loneliness is an intricate and unpleasant set of feelings that occur when a person’s intimate and social needs are not adequately met. The feelings can arise from a dissatisfaction with relationships and are often caused by from periods of exclusion and isolation. It is a subjective experience, quite different from the objective experience of being alone or socially isolated.

Social isolation can involve external factors like living alone and having few social networks, and people who have poor or limited social contact are often considered ‘at risk’ of social isolation. However, in reality, a person might have a small social network but not feel lonely, while someone else might have a large social network but still experience loneliness. So significant are the potential effects of loneliness that it is now regarded as a public health concern. It has been linked to:

• physical health impacts similar to those of smoking 15 cigarettes a day
• an increased risk of heart disease
• poor mental health outcomes, including increased suicidality.

This short resource covers:

• causes and effects of loneliness
• awareness and action
• loneliness: the numbers
• resources about loneliness.