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Chronic Illnesses
People can be lonely while interacting with different crowds but will never feel like they are socially unwanted. According to a 2018 national survey by Cigna, loneliness levels have increased in the US due to social isolation from others. Isolation is a state where the number of contacts with people minimizes. Social isolation has different impacts on different individuals. (Shao, Y., Yan, G., Xuan, Y., Peng, H., Huang, Q. J., Wu, R., & Xu, H. 2015). People suffering from chronic illnesses are mostly affected by social isolation from friends, family members, health workers and employers.
Chronic illnesses include cancer, mental disorders, liver pyrosis, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and inflammatory bowel disease. When there is isolation, some factors are affected, like the person’s movement, transportation of the person, the person’s employment, the person’s relationship and the inability to perform social duties. ( Holley U. A., 2007). Apart from these, the individual is stressed and dysfunctional as they cannot do many activities. These negative impacts are felt differently among the patients.
For starters, the movement of the individual is limited. A child who is 12 years would generally yarn to go to school and socially get involved in some activities. With social isolation, this is impossible as no child will want to get in contact with them. The child has to stay in the house to avoid this. In most cases, one prefers staying away from people who make them feel rejected. The child will stop going to school, which leads to poor education. He will not participate in other social activities like playing with other children and getting involved with them in different activities. A person who is 75 years of age will not be able to move around and participate in social duties. Social duties include being in committees and even being a leader at some point.
References
Shao, Y., Yan, G., Xuan, Y., Peng, H., Huang, Q. J., Wu, R., & Xu, H. (2015). Chronic social isolation decreases glutamate and glutamine levels and induces oxidative stress in the rat hippocampus. Behavioural brain research, 282, 201-208.
Holley, U. A. (2007). Social isolation: a practical guide for nurses assisting clients with chronic illness. Rehabilitation Nursing, 32(2), 51-58.