Many are lonely but ashamed to talk about it
Hundreds of thousands of people experience loneliness but many feel ashamed and unable to talk about it, although it can have a negative impact on mental health, according to new research.
A survey commissioned by Mental Health Foundation (MHF) found that a quarter of people (25 per cent) in Scotland said they felt lonely some or all of the time in the previous month, while more than three quarters (78 percent) said they had felt lonely at some point in the last year.
Almost one third (31 per cent) of the 1,000 Scots surveyed said feelings of loneliness had a negative impact on their mental health, however more than half (51 per cent) said they would hide their feelings of loneliness from others.
More than a quarter (27 per cent) said they feel ashamed about being lonely and almost four in 10(39 per cent) said they would never admit to feeling that way.
There search was released by MHF for Mental Health Awareness week, this year’ s theme is loneliness .
The theme was chosen because loneliness can damage mental health and feelings of loneliness surged during the lockdowns.
MHF said that loneliness needs to be treated as a public health issue with action from government, communities and individuals to help prevent mental health problems. Julie Cameron, associate director of Mental Health Foundation in Scotland, said: "Our research shows that lonelinessis affecting hundreds of thousands of people across Scotland . This is very concerning as long-term loneliness can potentially lead to mental health problems, and it is also associated with increased thoughts of suicide.”