A New South Wales Upper House report has found that widespread loneliness is a social scourge associated with poor mental and physical health, social behaviour and educational and employment outcomes. Source: The Catholic Weekly.
The report, “The prevalence, causes and impacts of loneliness in New South Wales”, cited many studies underlining the crisis.
The state government’s own Life Satisfaction Survey found that 15 per cent of people surveyed strongly agreed that they often felt lonely and 32 per cent said that they “had no one to lean on in times of trouble”.
Loneliest of all is the 18-24-year-old cohort with 41 per cent of them complaining about “persistent loneliness”.
None of this surprised Sydney Auxiliary Bishop Daniel Meagher. He lives in Surry Hills, an inner-city suburb dominated by housing commission flats that could be regarded as the epicentre of Sydney’s loneliness epidemic.
“There are so many people with mental and other illnesses who live singly and sit on benches singly, and they might chat with each other, but they’re pretty lonely,” Bishop Meagher told The Catholic Weekly.
Loneliness is a complex issue, the report stresses, but Bishop Meagher believes marriage and the family are key factors.
“You see smaller families, broken families, kids who don’t have brothers and sisters and cousins around.
“There’s a lack of meaning. We’re created by God and for God, and if we have no awareness of that, we’re just all alone in a meaningless universe.
“And that can be a cause of anxiety, and you feel all alone.”
People who have no spiritual connection are particularly vulnerable, Bishop Meagher said.
“They might be a single mum or single dad or a merged family. Often there are very few people about. They’re left alone with their phone, which just distracts them into a million different directions. And when they get off the phone they’re empty; they look around and think, well, I’m all alone.”
The report recommends a “whole of society” approach to tackling loneliness on “individual, community and population levels” with everyone pitching in – “individuals and families, schools and workplaces, health care and public health systems, technology companies, state governments, faith organisations, and communities”.
“In a compassionate society, these (negative) impacts alone justify concerted action by government and others to address loneliness,” says Dr Sarah Kaine MLC, the chair of the Standing Committee on Social Issues which wrote the report.
FULL STORY
Battling an epidemic of loneliness in NSW (By Michael Cook, The Catholic Weekly)
National FREE 24/7 Crisis Services: • Lifeline 13 11 14 www.lifeline.org.au • Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467 www.suicidecallbackservice.org.au • Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800 www.kidshelpline.com.au • MensLine Australia 1300 78 99 78 www.mensline.org.au • Beyond Blue Support Service 1300 22 4636
