Loneliness is a serious public health issue. The Mental Health Foundation confirms that it makes it harder for people to connect, which leads to fear of social situations, and ultimately makes it more difficult to escape negative thoughts. The sustained lack of social connections can shorten one’s life span as severely as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. 

Anxiety and depression have increased tremendously in the last few years. In the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, global anxiety and depression rates jumped by 25%, according to the WHO. Yet, this peak is only part of a long-term trend. Researchers found that throughout the 2000s anxiety and depression rose equally in all age groups, and spiked in 2011 for those aged 16-24, probably linked to the rise of social media. 

A new type of male loneliness

Men seem disproportionately affected, and psychologists attribute this to gender norms that restrict the emotional communication and relationships of male presenting people.

A research by the University of Oregon found that 15% of men say they have no close friends, a 12% increase since the 1990s. According to a 2022 Pew Research Center survey, about 60% of men in the US under 30 were single, which is nearly twice the rate of single women of the same age at that time.

Women seem to be affected in different ways, and let’s not forget that social isolation can be very hard on gender-nonconforming people, trans people and everybody on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum as well.

As the topic comes to the fore more and more, there are interesting takes on this epidemic of loneliness. In this performance, comedian Josh Johnson recaps the phenomenon of TikTok challenges that highlight the shortcomings of mainstream male friendships. In one of the challenges men call their friends to wish them good night and film the varying responses. Most people put on the spot have a hard time understanding how a friend makes such a gesture, something Johnson finds entirely usual among women.

On today’s episode, psychologists and a curator discuss the matter of social isolation.

Guests

Romeo Bissuti is the CEO of MEN Men’s Health Center Vienna, he is a Clinical Psychologist and psychotherapist, working with male target groups for 25 years.

Regina Pozsgai has been working as a psychologist and hypnotherapist for over 20 years. She incorporates Gábor Maté’s trauma-focused approach in her private practice.

Kateryna Mishchenko is a publisher, curator and author from Kyiv, recently working in Berlin at the Federal agency for civic education. Editor of the book Aus dem Nebel des Krieges (Suhrkamp, 2023), now editing the next anthology Geteilter Horizont, also for Suhrkamp.

Bálint Takács is the head of the international Master’s programme ‘Counseling and School Psychology’ at the Institute of Psychology at the University of Pécs in Hungary. He also runs a private practice as a counselor, where he applies his training in family and couple counseling.

Creative team

Réka Kinga Papp anchor
Daniela Univazo writer-editor
Merve Akyel  art director, Eurozine
Zsófia Gabriella Papp digital producer
Szilvia Pintér producer
Julia Sobota captions and translations

Management

Priyanka Hutschenreiter project manager
Judit Csikós  head of finance
Maximilain Lehner managing director
Csilla Nagyné Kardos office administration

Video Crew

Gergely Áron Pápai DoP
Dániel Pitz camera
István Nagy sound