This week is Mental Health Awareness Week and the theme this year is loneliness. Research has shown that social isolation, not having anyone to talk to and often feeling lonely can exacerbate existing mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety.
In this episode of MQ Open Mind, Professor Rory and I spoke to Associate Professor in Psychiatry at UCL and Consultant Psychiatrist at Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust, Dr Alexandra Pitman, about loneliness, and the differences with social isolation.
Alexandra also shared insights from her years of research and explained the impact COVID had on loneliness.
Listen to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts, or watch it on YouTube.
Links to the topics mentioned in the episode:
- https://www.bespokementalhealth.co.uk/mental-health-awareness-week
- https://www.ucl.ac.uk/psychiatry/research/epidemiology-and-applied-clinical-research-department/loneliness-and-social-isolation
- https://iris.ucl.ac.uk/iris/browse/profile?upi=APITM02
- https://twitter.com/UCL_Loneliness/status/1511696881642000397
- https://www.ucl.ac.uk/psychiatry/research/epidemiology-and-applied-clinical-research-department/loneliness-and-social-isolation-26
