Systemic Loneliness
This year Mental Health Awareness Week has the theme of loneliness. It seems a good time to think about the role of loneliness in mental health and, in particular, the role of systemic loneliness in the mental wellbeing of marginalised folks. And loneliness really matters because, as well as feeling lonely (which is difficult enough) it can lead to mental health difficulties and also impact physical health.
Generally, there are thought to be four distinct types of loneliness - emotional, social, situational and chronic. To this list we can add systemic loneliness, which is the type of loneliness that happens when systems fail to meet the needs of the people they are designed to serve due to systemic racism inherent in those systems.
When accessing systems such as health care or education, racism and marginalisation make it impossible to access the full spectrum of services and support that these systems are meant to offer. This creates a risk of loneliness that we have defined as systemic loneliness. What we can see is that systemic racism gives rise to systemic loneliness. Research has highlighted that BAME groups do suffer more loneliness and one of the factors leading to this is systemic loneliness.
There is no doubt that the pandemic has aggravated the problem of loneliness, as well as systemic loneliness. This is due to schools and universities being closed and health care systems becoming overwhelmed, and lack of support systems, such as local community groups, which were also impacted and unable to run. Whilst some of these systems moved online, the issue of loneliness still arose as many services closed altogether and those that remained active didn’t serve the needs for connection, belonging and community in the same way as they had in the past. Students were one of the groups with the most increase in loneliness despite their classes continuing online.
The greatest increase in loneliness during the pandemic has been in those groups of people that were already at greatest risk from loneliness. These include BPOC individuals, young adults, women and gender diverse folks, people with a lower income, those who are not working, those who live alone and people who live in urban areas. These groups are the same people who tend to be more dependent on structures and systems that create opportunities to help with loneliness. Now, as the restrictions are lifted and there is some return to ‘normal’, these problems will be made worse because much of the support for people suffering from all forms of loneliness has been lost. The world has also changed as we know it and not everyone is able to resume socialising face-to-face due to physical or mental health conditions and disabilities.
Systemic loneliness isn’t something new, but what is happening, with a crumbling infrastructure of systems of care, is an increasing risk of systems creating isolation in those who are most vulnerable. There is a relationship between loneliness and mental and physical health problems, which makes it likely that systemic loneliness is going to become more of a factor as people take their mental and physical difficulties towards a system that is already overloaded and likely to deteriorate further.
In order to end systemic loneliness, we need our services to be grounded in anti-oppressive practice (including anti-racism), cultural competence, community-based leadership and empathy. We need training for professionals on the impact of hostile systems and we need the tools and courage to challenge and change these systems over time. Systems that are accidentally or intentionally harmful can be invisible and can lead to lack of accountability.
Loneliness is everyone’s problem.
If you are reading this and you are struggling with loneliness from any cause, then please reach out for help. Therapy and community support provide two routes for help, but there are also other things that might help. This article gives some tips for dealing with loneliness on your own and also references some of the help available.
