Relationship Between Loneliness, Psychiatric Disorders and Physical Health ? A Review on the Psychological Aspects of Loneliness
Open accessAbstract
Human beings are social species which require safe and secure social surroundings to survive. Satisfying social relationships are essential for mental and physical well beings. Impaired social relationship can lead to loneliness. Since the time of dawn, loneliness is perceived as a global human phenomenon. Loneliness can lead to various psychiatric disorders like depression, alcohol abuse, child abuse, sleep problems, personality disorders and Alzheimer's disease. It also leads to various physical disorders like diabetes, autoimmune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and cardiovascular diseases like coronary heart disease, hypertension (HTN), obesity, physiological aging, cancer, poor hearing and poor health. Left untended, loneliness can have serious consequences for mental and physical health of people. Therefore it is important to intervene at the right time to prevent loneliness, so that physical and mental health of patients is maintained.
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Lonely people may be particularly susceptible to disengaging from treatment early.
“Given that loneliness is a significant and independent risk factor for complex psychopathology, including depression and suicidal ideation [8,9,11,12,34-36], lonely people may be particularly susceptible to disengaging from treatment early.”
From The Effectiveness of a Smartphone Intervention Targeting Suicidal Ideation in Young Adults: Randomized Controlled Trial Examining the Influence of Loneliness (2023) · cites this paper as [35]
The citation is attached to the background claim about psychopathology, not the citing authors’ subsequent suggestion about early treatment disengagement. The review reports more depressive symptoms among lonely people (Psychiatric Disorders and Loneliness) and a strong association with suicidal ideation (Introduction), but the cited passages do not establish loneliness as an independent risk factor. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredLoneliness can lead to negative cognitive patterns, such as rumination and self-criticism, which are linked to anxiety and depression.
“Loneliness can lead to negative cognitive patterns, such as rumination and self-criticism, which are linked to anxiety and depression [14, 79].”
From The prospective association of adolescent loneliness and low resilience with anxiety and depression in young adulthood: The HUNT study (2025) · cites this paper as [79]
The Introduction (page not provided) links loneliness in people who are also depressed with negative feelings and negative judgments of personality attributes. The Psychiatric Disorders and Loneliness section also reports more depressive symptoms among lonely people. The copy does not describe rumination, establish that loneliness leads to these cognitive patterns, or link them to anxiety. (LLM, conf=0.85)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredLoneliness is associated with more complex psychopathology, including depression and suicidal ideation.
“These results are consistent with the existing literature examining the relationship between loneliness and mental health to the extent that they suggest that loneliness is associated with more complex psychopathology [8,9,11,12,34-36].”
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- Authors
- Mushtaq, R.
- Affiliations
- Government Medical College (IN)
- Corresponding author
- Mushtaq, Raheel
- Venue
- JOURNAL OF CLINICAL AND DIAGNOSTIC RESEARCH
- Publisher
- JCDR Research and Publications
- Published
- 2014
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- WE01-4
- ISSN
- 0973-709X (ISSN-L)
- 2249-782X
- PMC
- PMC4225959
- OpenAlex
- W2106422213
- Cited by
- 622
- References
- 27
- Citations by year
- 2026: 36 · 2025: 77 · 2024: 94 · 2023: 96 · 2022: 93 · 2021: 89 · 2020: 61 · 2019: 30 · 2018: 24 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 2
- FWCI
- 9.34
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-nd
- Locations
- JOURNAL OF CLINICAL AND DIAGNOSTIC RESEARCH (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Health and Well-being Studies
- Keywords
- loneliness, mental illness, physical health, depression, alcohol abuse, sleep disorders, personality disorders, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes mellitus, autoimmune disease, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, obesity, physiological aging, cancer, interpersonal relationships, loneliness prevention
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