Posts Tagged ‘loneliness’

The loneliness pandemic: How the quarantined are grappling with solitude and faith

Thursday, April 23rd, 2020
loneliness

“An Easter of Solitude”: This is how Pope Francis, standing alone in an empty St. Peter’s Basilica, described what the holiest day of the year would look like for many Catholics as the coronavirus pandemic forced churches to close and their members to stay at home. As the pope was speaking, Mariana Scavo, 32, ate Read more

Poverty, loneliness behind high rates of suicide among elderly men

Thursday, February 20th, 2020

A focus on reducing death by suicide among young people is ageist and misleading, an expert in mental health among the elderly says. Associate Professor Yoram Barak said a recent Otago University study showed rates of death by suicide for men aged over 85 in the past 10 years were similar to those among younger Read more

Book on Loneliness one of the best in 2018

Monday, February 18th, 2019
spiritual books of 2018

New Zealand-born author Father Gerald Arbuckle’s most recent book, Loneliness Insights for Healing in a Fragmented World has been included by the Spirituality and Practice website among the 50 best spiritual books of 2018. Arbuckle is noted scholar in both theology and anthropology. He is the author of many books, the most recent being: Laughing with God: Humor, Read more

Loneliness is an epidemic, and kills

Thursday, November 22nd, 2018
loneliness

Politicians being politicians have sought technocratic solutions: earlier this year, the UK introduced a minister for loneliness and now Fiona Patten, a Victorian upper house MP (Australia) and leader of the Reason party, has proposed the state government do the same. The minister would, it’s been suggested, work across the health, infrastructure, justice and communities Read more

Getting serious about loneliness

Monday, September 10th, 2018

As Ricky Martin and Christina Aguilera sang: “Nobody wants to be lonely.” But loneliness is more than just missing spending time with your friends. Research has found that loneliness can have a negative impact on a person’s health as significant as the effect of “smoking 15 cigarettes a day.” While loneliness is increasing in numbers Read more

Work and the loneliness epidemic

Monday, October 9th, 2017

On August 24, 1992, in the early hours of the morning, my family and I stepped out of our temporary shelter to find our city — and our lives — forever changed. We had spent the past several hours huddled together as Hurricane Andrew battered our South Florida neighborhood with torrential rain and winds near Read more

Biggest threat for men of middle-age — loneliness

Thursday, March 16th, 2017

Let’s start with the moment I realized I was already a loser, which was just after I was more or less told that I was destined to become one. I’d been summoned to an editor’s office at the Globe Magazine with the old “We have a story we think you’d be perfect for.” This is Read more

Without the power of kindness, we are doomed

Friday, November 4th, 2016

If there is an irrepressible human trait it’s the determination, against all odds, to reconnect. Though governments seek to atomise and rule, we will keep finding ways to come together. Our social brains forbid any other outcome. They urge us to reach out, even when the world seems hostile. This is the conclusion I draw Read more

Neoliberalism creates loneliness, mental illness

Friday, October 21st, 2016

What greater indictment of a system could there be than an epidemic of mental illness? Yet plagues of anxiety, stress, depression, social phobia, eating disorders, self-harm and loneliness now strike people down all over the world. The latest, catastrophic figures for children’s mental health in England reflect a global crisis. There are plenty of secondary Read more

Life and marriage after miscarriage

Tuesday, July 19th, 2016

My husband and I were married on a cold, overcast afternoon the day before New Year’s Eve. Neither of us had imagined having a winter wedding, but we needed to marry by January in order to be posted together for our next assignment. We both work as diplomats, our lives divided into chunks of time Read more