In Spain, there are more and more expert voices in psychology who recommend, in addition to a stress-free life, a healthy diet and the practice of exercise in contact with nature, the healthy maintenance of a circle of social relationships that maintains mental health. fit. In no case is this advice of minor importance, since Loneliness can lead to serious health problems.
We always talk about unchosen loneliness, the one that arrives without us realizing it and ends up cornering us in the absolute isolation. This kind of loneliness is hard to admit, but it is there. The psychiatrist Marian Rojas Estapé speaks about this important issue during an interview on the program ‘And now Sonsoles’, published on her social networks.
Loneliness affects our mental health, but also physical
The psychologist Marian Rojas begins by recognizing in her interview that imposed loneliness, the most common in the world in which we live, is the one that most affects our well-being, in every sense. It is, as he comments, a silent enemy that undermines our self-esteem and the ability to face life. From there, comes the impact on physical health as well.
The expert calls it a ‘reverse vaccine’; That is to say, it is a circumstance that, instead of making us feel protected, is making us increasingly insecure and vulnerable. Like most psychologists, Rojas insists on the importance of working on social relationships, which function as an indisputable protector of our self-esteem, and as a shield against emotional and physical deterioration.
As social beings that we humans are, maintaining contact with our peers will ensure the healthiest possible aging, and a effective protection against mental illness. So it’s not about feeling alone and that’s it. This increasingly common circumstance goes far beyond what we can believe a priori, and directly impacts our happiness, and also our life expectancy.
This is how our body reacts to unsought loneliness
“We feel strong when we feel loved, and relationships strengthen us“. We can imagine in a more or less clear way how unsought loneliness affects our emotional state; isolation causes mental deterioration, a ‘lowering of the arms’ of the natural state of positive alertness, a feeling of abandonment… As it says Rojas, “we may even be surrounded by people, but we feel judged, belittled, abandoned. That is also loneliness, because loneliness has many faces.”
But beyond that, those who are victims of this dangerous isolation that they have not consciously chosen, and that has probably been developing progressively without them realizing it, generates a chronic fear. We could say that it is something like social anxiety that the brain converts into stress for the body, which feels threatened (and gripped).
Therefore, a state of permanent and unwanted loneliness, according to psychiatrist Marian Rojas Estapé, can lead to states of anxietysomething more direct, but also in certain chronic diseases that derive from an emotional state of sadness, which undermines self-esteem by eliminating ties with other people.
“A study led by psychiatrist Robert Waldinger of the Harvard University concludes that healthy relationships are the main protective factor for our body, for our physical and psychological health,” concludes the psychiatrist.
References
Robert Waldinger, Marc Schulz. The Good Life. Lessons from the World’s Longest Scientific Study of Happiness. The New York Times bestseller. Harvard University. Posted in: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Good-Life/Robert-Waldinger/9781982166694
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