Why are so many of us ashamed to admit we feel lonely?

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, most people viewed loneliness as an emotion which mainly affected older people. Repeated lockdowns over the past two years have prompted a wider discussion about how people of all ages struggle with isolation. Yet, a real stigma remains attached to feeling lonely, particularly among younger people who are expected to be enjoying the most socially active years of their lives.

So why do so many of us struggle to admit we feel alone?

Eimear McGovern, assistant news editor with the Belfast Telegraph, says she worries that if she tells friends or family she feels lonely, they will immediately become worried.

“Almost to admit sometimes to your loneliness is maybe to admit a neediness,” she told In the News. “It’s not that I’m at the stage where I’m having very dark thoughts about my loneliness,” she told the podcast.

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“It’s sort of a low level feeling, you know, when it’s a Saturday and you’re sort of thinking, maybe back in the day this would be when I meet someone for lunch or when I go out for dinner.”

Professor Roger O'Sullivan from the Institute of Public Health Ireland, wrote last week in an editorial published by the British Medical Journal that "a better understanding is required of the intensity and impact of the experience of loneliness" and called for the issue to be made a political priority.

“It’s about looking at the root cause of loneliness,” O’Sullivan told the podcast. “It’s about issues of poverty, education, inequalities, housing... what are the risks at the structural level that causes loneliness.”

In the News is presented by reporters Sorcha Pollak and Conor Pope.

Listen to the podcast here:

In the News is presented by reporters Sorcha Pollak and Conor Pope.

Listen to the podcast here:

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