The largest increases occurred in Slavic, Baltic, English-speaking and Latin American countries.

Following Britain's lead, Japanese government created an isolation/ loneliness countermeasures office in its cabinet on February 19 to counter issues like suicide and child poverty.

For the areas of cities with less than 10% green space, increasing that to 30% could cut the overall odds of residents becoming lonely by a quarter.

It felt good to love again, in that big empty house. Virginia Kellner got the cat last November, around her ninety-second birthday, and now it’s always nearby. It keeps her company as she moves, bent over her walker, from the couch to the bathroom and back again. The walker has a pair of orange scissors hanging from the handlebar, for opening mail. Virginia likes the pet’s green eyes. She likes that it’s there in the morning, when she wakes up.

New research explores how louder sounds make people feel closer and more connected to others, while quietness evokes a sense of loneliness.

After 60 years with the Bard, John Bell reflects on how the playwright turned home quarantine into a source of productivity

Japan has appointed a "Minister of Loneliness" in an attempt to reduce loneliness and social isolation among its residents as the country deals with rising suicide rates, Tomohiro Osaki reported for the Japan Times.

We are all suffering from a certain amount of loneliness as a result of social distancing during the pandemic. This post focuses on the particular disadvantages faced by many boys and men. Males in our culture tend to rely on opportunistic socialization—socializing while engaging in a shared activity. For them, feeling the need to actively reach out to others can trigger a shame response about appearing ‘needy.’

After hours of isolation, dopamine-producing cells in the brain fire up in response to pictures of humans, showing our social side runs deep.

Hannah Arendt enjoyed her solitude, but she believed that loneliness could make people susceptible to totalitarianism. What prepares men for totalitarian domination in the non-totalitarian world is the fact that loneliness, once a borderline experience usually suffered in certain marginal social conditions like old age, has become an everyday experience...

Sharing a home with a pet appeared to act as a buffer against psychological stress during lockdown, a new survey shows. Most people who took part in the research perceived their pets to be a source of considerable support during the lockdown period (23 March -- 1 June, 2020).

Long before the world had ever heard of covid-19, Kay Tye set out to answer a question that has taken on new resonance in the age of social distancing: When people feel lonely, do they crave social interactions in the same way a hungry person craves food? And could she and her colleagues detect and measure this “hunger” in the neural circuits of the brain?

Studies suggest that we are finding ways to connect even amid quarantine

Working from home can start to feel isolating, leading to loneliness, which can have negative health effects, according to researchers. Fortunately, there are ways to combat it.

Absence of human contact is associated with declines in cognitive function. But as the COVID-19 pandemic brings concerns about the potential harms of isolation to the fore, researchers are still hunting for concrete evidence of a causal role as well as possible mechanisms.

While you may not have been quite this isolated over the last few months, reentry into life after lockdown might be bumpier than you expect.

A new study finds differences in how lonelier people's brains represent others.

Even before the COVID pandemic, many experts posited that loneliness was itself an American epidemic. Now, many fear the reduction in social contact may especially affect those populations most vulnerable to isolation and loneliness. Now, emerging research explores the manner in which the brain maps relationships with other people in relation to one’s self.

New research highlights the profound effect of severe social isolation on the brain

Our lives have changed radically but we can adapt, says a former Guardian journalist who has lived alone on a boat for three years – and learned to love it