Loneliness and social isolation in mental health: proposal for a network for cross-disciplinary collaboration and capacity development

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People are said to be lonely when they feel unpleasantly lacking in meaningful connections with other people. They are described as socially isolated when they have little social contact. Lonely people are more likely to be socially isolated, but the two do not always go together. Researchers have found that these states have significant impacts on physical and mental health. Some of this research is about loneliness and some about social isolation - we plan to look at both alongside each other, as it can be difficult to disentangle their effects. The strongest evidence is on the impact of loneliness on physical health. For example, people who are persistently lonely tend to die earlier and have more heart disease. There is less research on loneliness and social isolation in mental health, but it's clear there are many links. For example, people who are lonely and/or socially isolated are more likely to become depressed, and depressed people who are lonely/lacking in social support recover less well than others. So by helping people to feel less lonely, some people could be prevented from developing mental health problems. Among people who already have mental health problems, strategies aimed at reducing loneliness and/or social isolation may help recovery. Some such strategies have been developed, for instance by charities. However, we don't yet have good evidence about how good these strategies are at reducing loneliness and social isolation, and about which are best for which people. We also don't know much about the extent to which they prevent people from developing mental health problems, or improve life for people who already have them. Challenges in trying to improve this evidence are the many different influences on loneliness and social isolation. For instance, people's genetic make-up, the way they tend to think about other people, their caring responsibilities, their disabilities, the architecture and layout of the area they live in, and their income and education are just some of things that influence whether people become lonely or isolated. Possible ways of helping are also very varied. Talking treatments seem to help some lonely people. Other ways of helping include supporting people in rebuilding former relationships, or in getting involved in the arts, sport or religious practice. Digital ways of connecting may help some people. Another approach is to try to make a whole community, or even a country, friendlier and less divided. No one is an expert in all fields relevant to loneliness and social isolation and their relationship to mental health, and that's why this call is a great opportunity for us to get together a network that includes many different kinds of relevant expert. We will hold a series of events where people bring together their expertise to map out what we already know between us about this field. We will also involve throughout our activities a group of people with personal experience of mental health problems. They will work with researchers, and with charities and public organisations who are active in this field, to work out the priorities for further research that brings together different types of expertise. Once we've mapped the evidence and established research priorities, we will advertise to researchers within and outside our network an opportunity to carry out small projects that will help move this field forwards. There are some excellent young researchers in this field who have joined our network - we aim especially to support them and other potential future leaders in applying for funding. The final stage will involve presenting the network's work widely. This will include papers and a conference for other researchers, meetings with policy makers, and discussions with professionals and the public about our findings and potential next steps. Our blogger collaborators the Mental Elf and Mark Brown, and our roles in policy research will help us at this stage.