Description: Everyone has experienced loneliness - perhaps briefly - perhaps for many years. This handbook explores why people of all ages can become lonely, and features steps that can be taken by individuals, communities, and entire societies to prevent and alleviate loneliness. Chapters present rigorous scientific research drawn from psychology, relationship science, neuroscience, physiology, sociology, public health, and gerontology to demystify the phenomenon of loneliness and its consequences. The volume investigates the significant risks that loneliness poses to health and the harmful physiological processes it can set in motion. It also details numerous approaches to help people overcome loneliness from multiple perspectives, including traditional and cognitive psychotherapy, online interventions, efforts to connect individuals to their communities, and designing communities as well as public health programs and policies to create a greater sense of social connection. Using accessible terminology understandable to a non-medical audience, it is an important work for social science scholars, students, policymakers, and practitioners.
Brief description: Carolyn Cutrona is Distinguished Professor Emerita of Psychology at Iowa State University. She has published over 120 articles, mostly in the area of social support. Carolyn is the author of Social Support in Couples, Marriage as a Resource in Times of Stress and co-developed the Social Provisions Scale and the UCLA Loneliness Scale.
Review Quotes: 'Written by a global roster of experts, this timely collection is bursting with deep insights and practical guidance about today's epidemic of loneliness. It's a must-have resource for scholars, policymakers, and applied practitioners who want to know what loneliness is, where it comes from, what its effects are, and what to do about it.' Harry T. Reis, Dean's Professor in Arts and Sciences and Professor of Psychology, University of Rochester, UK