Loneliness: The Other Epidemic (Mental Health)

You're busy: You work from home, you exercise, you manage your household chores and you now meet friends over video calls. Life seems all sorted, you seem to have learned the "newnormal" well, but is it so?


More and more people are experiencing the dark looming shadow of loneliness.


People who are lonely are up to 32% more likely to die early than their more connected peers, research shows.


Do you know loneliness ranks high up there with dangerous health outcomes of smoking, obesity, and physical inactivity in terms of its long-term effects on your health?


Under normal circumstances, loneliness would be something we have some degree of control over, but the COVID-19 pandemic is making us feel as if we have little control over our lives and our feelings of isolation.


Previous research into this area has shown that strong social ties may protect people from emotional distress, cognitive decline, and physical disability, while loneliness and social isolation can cause harm to physical and psychological wellbeing. Both loneliness and social isolation have been strongly associated with poorer quality of life and other measures of well-being.


In a survey of 20,000 Americans, nearly half reported always or sometimes feeling lonely or left out. Young adults ages 18 to 22 are the loneliest generation of all, the survey found. It could be as simple as having people around who encourage you to make healthy choices, such as keeping doctor's appointments, eating right, and taking medications. Or, chronic loneliness could be a recipe for chronic stress, which in turn wreaks havoc on your health.


The late Dr. John Cacioppo, a psychology professor at the University of Chicago, studied the effects of loneliness for two decades before his passing in 2018. He equated loneliness with a type of hunger, noting that establishing social connections is essential for human survival. He also believed that chronic loneliness can increase the incidence of early death.


Seek out if you are lonely.
Try to reduce someone's loneliness.

This post is a part of Blogchatter #CauseAChatter Campaign.

Empathetic Active Listening (Mental Health)

Communication consists of verbal (words and their meanings) and - nonverbal parts. 

Words play a much smaller role than we think. Personal example plays a much more important role. (Words are generally considered to form about 7 to 10% of communication, voice (tone, loudness) 30 to 38% and the greatest deal, 55 to 60%, is body language (nonverbal communication) = what we do and what we are.)

Levels of Active Listening 

1) Ignoring 

2) Pretending

3) Listening Selectively 

4) Listening Carefully

5) Listening Empathically 

Empathic listening is the highest form of listening. We empathize with the feelings and thoughts of the other party by which we create a positive psychological climate. If we've created such a climate contrasts between words and feelings disappear; people express themselves openly and honestly. 

Steps to Empathy How to learn it? 

Step by step: 

1) Listen carefully and time to time use the other party's words to repeat what has been said. 

2) Express what has been said by your own words giving feedback on how you've understood. 

3) Try to reflect the partner's feelings (what you think the heard has evoked in him or her). 4) Occasionally make a summary of the essence of what has been said. Also express feelings, which it has evoked, and importance for the partner.

This post is a part of Blogchatter #CauseAChatter Campaign.

Ways to support someone with Suicidal Thoughts

CONTENT WARNING: The following write up mentions suicide and self-harm.





Along with a plethora of peripheral issues that the coronavirus pandemic has spilled on the world, one is the mental health crisis. In conventional societies like India that do not have either enough mental health care systems and largely see "suicide" from a moral or religious lens, suicide prevention remains a huge grey area.

In this scenario the role of peer intervention and friends and family offering initial psychological first aid is crucial. So here are a few pointers as to how to intervene when a near one indicates "self-harm" or "suicidal" ideation.



1. Be an Active Listener
Don't offer quick fixes. Often a person in such extreme stress wants just to be heard and their pain acknowledged. A listener can mitigate a lot of such extreme situations by being attentive.


2. Trust their feelings and take them seriously
When someone confides such feelings in you, do not dismiss these as empty threats and label them as "emotional drama". Take these disclosures seriously and seek help and support to help them.

3. Don't panic, stay calm.
Someone already in distress can be further triggered if someone they confided in acts anxious or shaken. If you cannot handle these feelings seek further emergency or professional help and stay by them till that arrives.

4. Ask the person, what they need
Sometimes they would just want some company or want you to get them professional help, or want to speak to their family/friends for them. This also shows your keen interest in their wellbeing and might also offer a pause to their suicidal thoughts.

5. Find Support for yourself
Being a caregiver here is stressful so find a friend or therapist to talk about what comes up for you, so you don’t get burnt-out and your care comes from a place of self-care as well as care for the other person.




This post is a part of Blogchatter #CauseAChatter Campaign.