Loneliness increases risk for depression, substance abuse
LAbbie Roth
ove and belonging. Maybe an odd choice for a column about pediatric research, but given the epidemic of substanceabuse disorders, it warrants consideration. The high number of overdose deaths in Franklin County — 18 in one week earlier this month — underscores that we are in an opioid crisis.
The idea that love and belonging are important to health isn’t new. In 1943, Abraham Maslow published his theory that human needs can be described as a hierarchy — most commonly depicted as a pyramid with five tiers. At the base level, humans need food, water and shelter. At the next level are safety and security; followed by love and belonging; then esteem; and, finally, self-actualization.
A recent Cigna survey of more than 20,000 Americans older than 18 had some concerning findings. Most surprising, only 53 percent of Americans report having daily, meaningful face-to-face interactions. Two in five Americans sometimes or always feel that their relationships are not meaningful. One in five people report that they rarely or never feel close to people. Finally, young adults ages 18 to 22 were the loneliest.
You can probably guess that lonely people are at higher risk for depression, anxiety, substance abuse and myriad other problems. And although this survey focused on adults, we know patterns of social isolation and loneliness begin at a much younger age.
In her book “Daring Greatly,” social scientist Brené Brown writes that “a deep sense of love and belonging is an irreducible need of all people. We are biologically, cognitively, physically and spiritually wired to love, to be loved, and to belong. When those needs are not met, we don’t function as we were meant to. We break. We fall apart. We numb. We ache. We hurt others. We get sick.”
In my work, I have the privilege of talking to many professionals around Nationwide Children’s Hospital. When I recently interviewed Ashley Garrett, a counselor for the addiction-treatment program, she said the biggest challenge in working with young people with addiction is meeting their needs for love and belonging. Not only do they need to find supportive relationships, they also need to believe they are worthy of that love and belonging.
Sometimes, addiction takes hold as people try to self-medicate to numb painful emotions. The numbing and the painful emotions both work to further isolate them, making it difficult to have meaningful and close relationships.
For families, this can sting. It can feel as though they are offering every advantage to the person with addiction, just to have them turn away. Active addiction makes it difficult for people to embrace support systems that might be reaching out to them. This is one reason that support groups, sponsorships, mentors and psychological therapy are important pieces of the recovery plan — for people with addiction and their loved ones.
Research about the positive effects of helping children establish safe and meaningful relationships is increasingly abundant, and it is at the forefront of new programs designed to prevent substance abuse from taking hold.
School programs, such as Health and Opioid-Abuse Prevention Education (HOPE), are designed to give students the skills and support systems they need to understand the effects of opioids on people around them and to break the cycle of addiction before it starts.