Terrifying research results. It's a real epidemic in Poland.
Over 60% of adult Poles experience loneliness, and 27% of the surveyed group experience it in an intense form, according to a study conducted by scientists from the Medical University of Wrocław. Men are less likely to admit to loneliness.
The study, conducted by researchers from Wrocław, involved 3,376 people over 18 years of age . They lived in various parts of Poland. The first stage of the study used the DJGLS (De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale) , a tool that indirectly assessed the severity of loneliness. Participants described their emotional state, sense of closeness, and social relationships, among other things, although the word "loneliness" was omitted. Next, the stigma attached to loneliness was assessed. Finally, respondents also answered a direct question about their feelings of loneliness and its frequency.
Responses based on the DJGLS scale showed that 61% of people experienced loneliness, 27% of whom experienced it severely. The study authors point out that the results were completely different when respondents were asked directly about loneliness. In that case, 34% of respondents reported experiencing loneliness, and 6.5% indicated that it accompanied them for most of the week.
Prof. Błażej Misiak, head of the Department and Clinic of Psychiatry at the Medical University of Wrocław , emphasized that the differences in the study results are not a matter of measurement error.
"Previous research has also shown that loneliness, although increasingly common, is one of the most repressed emotional states. People don't admit to experiencing it, especially when asked directly. This means that scientists who want to reliably understand the scale of the phenomenon should use other research tools," said Misiak.
61 percent of Poles suffer from loneliness / Unsplash photo by Annie SprattThe Wrocław research also shows that lonely people feel shame and embarrassment.
" They are afraid to admit their loneliness, not so much to themselves as to others, because they expect to be stigmatized by those around them. The stronger the belief that social opinion perceives loneliness as inappropriate, the more respondents conceal this state," added Professor Misiak.
Men are less likely to admit to being lonely , which scientists attribute to the "cultural stereotype of a strong, self-sufficient and emotionally stable person."
"Additionally, men are more likely to exhibit narcissistic traits, which contradicts the traditional image of a lonely person. They also find it harder to talk about emotions because they perceive it as a sign of weakness," explains Professor Błażej Misiak.
People in relationships also tend to avoid discussing feelings of loneliness. In these cases, the feeling is repressed and emotions are suppressed. According to researchers, the opposite situation can be observed in people struggling with depression or anxiety. They are more likely to discuss feelings of loneliness.
- This can probably be explained by a stronger tendency to experience and report negative emotions - said Prof. Misiak, emphasizing that the second stage of the study, planned in six months, will provide more precise data.
However, the Head of the Department and Clinic of Psychiatry at the Medical University of Wrocław now indicates that the scale of the phenomenon of loneliness may be greater than previously thought.
" Its underreporting means that the problem is becoming an epidemic that many people experience in silence. We must counteract this, for example through education and speaking out that loneliness is a condition that can affect anyone and should neither be a cause for shame nor associated with failure," the scientist added.
The research results will be presented in the article "Silent suffering: Exploring the link between loneliness stigma and its underreporting in the general population sample, " which Prof. Misiak is preparing together with Kacper Żełabowski, a medical student at the Medical University of Wrocław.
well.pl
