Social isolation is the pervasive withdrawal or avoidance of social contact or communication. It can contribute toward, or be the result of, many emotional, behavioural and physical disorders including anxiety Anxiety is a psychological and physiological state characterized by cognitive, somatic, emotional, and behavioral components. These components combine to create an unpleasant feeling that is typically associated with uneasiness, apprehension, fear, or worry. Anxiety is a generalized mood condition that can often occur without an identifiable, panic attacks Panic attack has been described as an episode of incredibly intense fear or apprehension that is of sudden onset. The DSM-IV describes a panic attack as a discrete period of intense fear or discomfort in which symptoms developed abruptly and reached a peak within 10 minutes, eating disorders Eating disorders are a group of conditions characterized by abnormal eating habits that may involve either insufficient or excessive food intake to the detriment of an individual's physical and emotional health, binge eating disorder, bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa being the most common specific forms in the United States, Though primarily, addictions The related concept of drug addiction has many different definitions. Some writers give in fact drug addiction the same meaning as substance dependence, others for example provide drug addiction a narrower meaning which excludes drugs without evidence of tolerance or withdrawal symptoms, substance abuse Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, refers to a maladaptive pattern of use of a substance that is not considered dependent. The term "drug abuse" does not exclude dependency, but is otherwise used in a similar manner in nonmedical contexts. The terms have a huge range of definitions related to taking a psychoactive drug or, violence Violence is the expression of physical or verbal force against self or other, compelling action against one's will on pain of being hurt. Worldwide, violence is used as a tool of manipulation and also is an area of concern for law and culture which take attempts to suppress and stop it. The word violence covers a broad spectrum. It can vary from and overall disease A disease is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism. It is often construed to be a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by external factors, such as infectious disease, or it may be caused by internal disfunctions, such as autoimmune diseases. Ecologically, disease is defined as.
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Illness and social isolation
When it comes to physical illness, "The magnitude of risk associated with social isolation is comparable with that of cigarette smoking Tobacco smoking is the practice where tobacco is burned and the vapors either tasted or inhaled. The practice began as early as 5000–3000 BC. Many civilizations burnt incense during religious rituals, which was later adopted for pleasure or as a social tool. Tobacco was introduced to the Old World in the late 1500s where it followed common trade and other major biomedical and psychosocial Psychosocial refers to one's psychological development in and interaction with a social environment. The individual is not necessarily fully aware of this relationship with his or her environment. It was first commonly used by psychologist Erik Erikson in his stages of social development. Contrasted with social psychology, which attempts to risk factors. However, our understanding of how and why social isolation is risky for health—or conversely—how and why social ties and relationships are protective of health, still remains quite limited."[1]
The research of Brummett[2] shows that social isolation is unrelated to a wide range of measures of demographic factors Demographics or demographic data are the characteristics of a human population as used in government, marketing or opinion research, or the demographic profiles used in such research. Note the distinction from the term "demography" Commonly used demographics include gender, race, age, income, disabilities, mobility (in terms of travel, disease severity, physical functioning, and psychological distress. Hence, such factors cannot account for or explain the substantial deleterious effects of social isolation.
However, they also show that isolated individuals report fewer interactions with others, fewer sources of psychological/emotional and instrumental support, and lower levels of religious activity. The obvious question is whether adjusting for one or more of these factors reduces the association of social relationships/isolation with health, and of which factors constitute the active ingredient in social isolation producing its deleterious effects on health.
First is the idea that isolation from others is anxiety Anxiety is a psychological and physiological state characterized by cognitive, somatic, emotional, and behavioral components. These components combine to create an unpleasant feeling that is typically associated with uneasiness, apprehension, fear, or worry. Anxiety is a generalized mood condition that can often occur without an identifiable arousing or stressful in and of itself, producing physiological arousal and changes, which if prolonged, can produce serious morbidity A disease is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism. It is often construed to be a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by external factors, such as infectious disease, or it may be caused by internal disfunctions, such as autoimmune diseases. Ecologically, disease is defined as or mortality; and, conversely that affiliation or contact with others reduces or modulates physiological arousal, both, in general and in the presence of stress and other threats to health. A growing body of evidence from experimental studies of animals and humans is consistent with this hypothesis.
A second hypothesis is that social relationships In social science, a social relation or social interaction refers to a relationship between two , three (i.e. a triad) or more individuals (e.g. a social group). Social relations, derived from individual agency, form the basis of the social structure. To this extent social relations are always the basic object of analysis for social scientists beneficially affect health, not only because of their supportiveness, but also because of the social control Social control refers generally to societal and political mechanisms or processes that regulate individual and group behavior, leading to conformity and compliance to the rules of a given society, state, or social group. Many mechanisms of social control are cross-cultural, if only in the control mechanisms used to prevent the establishment of that others exercise over a person, especially by encouraging health-promoting behaviors such as adequate sleep, diet, exercise, and compliance with medical regimes or by discouraging health-damaging behaviors such as smoking Smoking is a practice in which a substance, most commonly tobacco or cannabis, is burned and the smoke tasted or inhaled. This is primarily practised as a route of administration for recreational drug use, as combustion releases the active substances in drugs such as nicotine and makes them available for absorption through the lungs. It can also, excessive eating Compulsive overeating, also sometimes called food addiction is characterized by an obsessive/compulsive relationship to food. Professionals address this with either a behavior-modification model or a food-addiction model. An individual suffering from compulsive overeating disorder engages in frequent episodes of uncontrolled eating, or binge, alcohol consumption, or drug abuse Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, refers to a maladaptive pattern of use of a substance that is not considered dependent. The term "drug abuse" does not exclude dependency, but is otherwise used in a similar manner in nonmedical contexts. The terms have a huge range of definitions related to taking a psychoactive drug or.
Another hypothesis is that social ties link people with diffuse social networks A social network is a social structure made of individuals called "nodes," which are tied (connected) by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige that facilitate access to a wide range of resources supportive of health, such as medical referral networks, access to others dealing with similar problems, or opportunities to acquire needed resources via jobs, shopping, or financial institutions. These effects are different from support in that they are less a function of the nature of immediate social ties but rather of the ties these immediate ties provide to other people.
Support resources
The problem with the current resources available is that it makes the incorrect assumptions about those who are socially isolated: that those who are socially isolated choose their fate/destiny, that those who would 'seek' support actively give up their ways. It isn't that simple, and it isn't just a case of whether or not they "loathe" to seek help; it's the problem that seeking help forces them into discomforting situations, detrimental to the supposed help process. As of these recent times and before, psychotherapy Psychotherapy, or personal counseling with a psychotherapist, is an intentional interpersonal relationship used by trained psychotherapists to aid a client or patient in problems of living groups were the sole form of organized resources to address the issue, with the standard social venues of bars A bar is an establishment that serves alcoholic drinks — beer, wine, liquor, and cocktails — for consumption on the premises and clubs A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night. A nightclub is generally distinguished from bars, pubs or taverns by the inclusion of a dance floor and a DJ booth, where a DJ plays recorded dance and pop music presenting the less formal options.
With the advent of online social networking A social network service focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, e.g., who share interests and/or activities. A social network service essentially consists of a representation of each user , his/her social links, and a variety of additional services. Most social network services are web based and communities, there are increasing options. Chat rooms The term chat room, or chatroom, is primarily used by mass media to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing. The term can thus mean any technology ranging from real-time online chat over instant messaging and online forums to fully immersive graphical social environments, message boards An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site. It originated as the modern equivalent of a traditional bulletin board, and a technological evolution of the dialup bulletin board system. From a technological standpoint, forums or boards are web applications managing user-generated content, and other types of communities are now meeting the need for those who would rather stay home alone to do so yet still develop communities of online friends.
New offerings have even begun addressing the specific issue of social isolation by acting as a resource for facilitation of phone-based peer counseling sessions among members. Members are taught how to offer one another Compassionate Listening and other types of supportive peer counseling and are then provided with the software they need to confidentially trade free sessions. Ostensibly participation would not only increase social contact opportunities for the members, but also enhance their relationships outside the community by helping them develop better communication skills.
See also
- Emotional isolation Emotional isolation is a term used to describe a state of isolation where the individual is emotionally isolated, but may have a well functioning social network
- Solitude Solitude is a state of seclusion or isolation; i.e., lack of contact with people. It may stem from bad relationships, deliberate choice, infectious disease, mental disorders, or circumstances of employment or situation
References
- ^ House, James S; . (2001). "Social Isolation Kills, But How and Why?". Psychosomatic Medicine (American Psychosomatic Society) 63 (2): 63:273–274 (2001). PMID A PMID is a unique number assigned to each PubMed citation of life sciences and biomedical scientific journal articles. The related Pubmed Central archive may additionally assign a separate number, a PMCID (PubMed Central Identifier), normally written with a PMC prefix 11292275. http://www.psychosomaticmedicine.org/cgi/content/full/63/2/273.
- ^ Brummett, Beverly H; John C. Barefoot, PhD, Ilene C. Siegler, PhD, Nancy E. Clapp-Channing, RN, MPH, Barbara L. Lytle, MS, Hayden B. Bosworth, PhD, Redford B. Williams, Jr., MD and Daniel B. Mark, MD, MPH (2001). "Characteristics of Socially Isolated Patients With Coronary Artery Disease Who Are at Elevated Risk for Mortality". Psychosomatic Medicine (American Psychosomatic Society) 63 (2): 63:267–272. http://www.psychosomaticmedicine.org/cgi/reprint/63/2/267.
- World Book; Elkin, Frederick, The Child and Society: The Process of Socialization
Categories: Social psychology Categories: Behavioural sciences | Branches of psychology | Social philosophy | Social sciences | Shyness Shyness is the feeling of apprehension or emotional insecurity experienced in social association with others, such as being in proximity to others, or approaching and being approached by others
Wed, 11 Aug 2010 14:32:33 GMT+00:00
BreakingNewsOnline. The HIV/AIDS activists urged for the end of social isolation of the patients and asked people to show compassion to them. The main motto of the Youth ... HIV patients say doctors ignore their other problems, study says Chicago Tribune
