A psychologist has linked loneliness to the risk of developing brain disease

More and more often experts have begun to link loneliness with the risk of various diseases. In a conversation with Izvestia on November 21, Elena Solomeina, clinical and child psychologist, leading specialist of the "Semeynaya" clinic network, spoke about the influence of lifestyle on human health.

"What happens in a person's psyche if he feels lonely? It is no secret that people who feel lonely do not see the need to deal with their emotional states. Often emotions go unrecognized, or if they are recognized, there are no points of attachment for the emotional states. Locked emotions and accumulated affect are almost always the cause of somatic diseases," she said.

According to the specialist, a person faced with loneliness experiences deep, often monotonous emotions without the ability to broadcast and accept them.

"In our society it is accepted to consider loneliness as limitation of social contacts. If we talk about this, it is worth thinking about decreased criticality as a related problem. A person caught in a situation of restriction of contacts loses criticality to a decrease in the level of reflection, his level of anxiety rises sharply," the psychologist specified.

Solomeina added that experts increasingly associate loneliness with the risk of diseases of the nervous, cardiovascular, immune and brain systems.

Earlier, on October 30, the expert of the laboratory "Hemotest", neurologist Ekaterina Demyanovskaya told "Izvestia" that lonely lifestyle increases the risk of stroke and the development of cognitive impairment. Lack of social contacts and a reclusive lifestyle negatively affect both blood pressure and the immune system, she emphasized.