"University students arriving from high school are often surrounded by people-dorm neighbors, classmates, study groups, and endless social activities. Yet many feel profoundly alone. They've just left behind their entire social network at home. They're forming new identities, questioning who they are, and navigating independence for the first time. The calendar is full, but something crucial is missing: that person who truly knows them, who they can be vulnerable with at 2 a.m. when the facade of having it all together crumbles."
"Older adults face the opposite challenge. After decades of marriage, they may have lost their partner. Friends have moved away or passed on. Their social world has contracted dramatically. They might have one or two close family members who provide deep emotional support, but they're missing the broader community-people to grab coffee with spontaneously, neighbors to chat with, a sense of belonging to something larger than their household."
Loneliness links to measurable health risks, including increased likelihood of earlier mortality. Different life stages produce loneliness for different reasons. University students often feel profoundly alone after leaving behind established social networks while forming new identities and navigating independence, lacking a confidant for vulnerability. Older adults often experience social contraction after losing a partner and peers, retaining deep emotional support from a few family members but lacking a broader community and spontaneous social interactions. Generic advice such as deepening existing relationships or joining clubs often fails because triggers, subjective experience, and effective remedies vary across individuals, requiring tailored approaches.
Read at Psychology Today
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