Social Isolation

There has been numerous studies that put emphasis on the importance of social support as a cornerstone for an individual’s physical and psychological well-being (Ozbay, Dimoulas, Charney & Southwick, 2007). Lin, Ensel, Simeone and Kuo (1979) defined the term social support as support available to a person from their inner and outer social circles, including family, friends, peers, and the community. Studies have shown the importance of social support as a buffering factor that protects against stress and psychological disorders (Yasin and Dzulkifli, 2010). Ozbay et al. (2007) suggested that fostering positive social support helps in managing stress and reduces psychological disorders such as anxiety, depression, and others. Whereas lacking in adequate social support makes the individual susceptible to the psychological disorders and unable to cope with stress (Yasin and Dzulkifli, 2010).

The impact of loneliness on physical health can also be better understood by the study conducted by Uchino and colleagues (1996). They found that social individuals have lower blood pressure, better immunity and lower levels of stress hormones than the socially isolated people. In contrast another study described by Arthur 2006 demonstrated that it is not yet clear that group therapy or socialization can improve the secondary prevention of Coronary heart Disease. After considering all the studies and arguments by different authors it can be conclude that it is necessary to do more research on the impact of socialization on physical health of individuals.

Many of the elderly find themselves living in isolation. There are many reasons why the elderly will find themselves living alone and in isolation. Many times caregivers have difficulty intervening. Social isolation can have many effects on the health status of the elderly. When alone the mental, physical and even the nutritional status of the older person can be affected. Trying to get the person to accept that they are being isolated can be difficult. There are a few resources that can have a positive impact on the elderly. This paper discusses issues of isolation and the elderly.

In “Chimpanzees’ Stress Level Lowers When a Pal is around”, Written By Los Angeles Times the central idea of this article is to grab the readers attention that having a friend makes you less stressful. In the first stanza it states “ it found that quality time with close companions significantly decreased stress hormone levels in the primates,” we have alot to learn from chimpanzee’s and how they contribute to humans today.“ Like humans, chimpanzee’s tend to have best friends, or bond partners with whom they feel close.” Having relationships with the people where closest to decreases stress.

As a culture, Americans fear what they do not understand, but they more vehemently fear themselves and what they can become. Because of this aversion, Americans are conditioned to fear zombies not because of their monstrous appearance and cannibalistic eating habits, but because of their ability to become them. This fear translates to the American view on obesity. Not only do Americans misunderstand the notion of obesity, but they also fear becoming obese. As a result, the American media paints a picture of the ideal body that society is expected to fit, which consists of a taller and thinner than average female and a taller and more muscular male (Kemerly Lecture - 7/8/15). Those who do not meet this expectation are placed into the out-group. This paper will examine the effect this isolation has on the obese and how this relates to the attitude toward zombies in the film 28 Days Later.

The human species is inevitably a social species that has depended on other members since birth. We’re social creatures that need other people in order to be well and thrive. Naturally, surrounding ourselves with others and fostering close relationships are the

It is defined as “the perception and actuality that one is cared for, has assistance available from other people, and that one is part of a supportive social network”. Studies showed the importance of social support in coping with post-traumatic stress and preventing emotional exhaustion. Having supportive colleagues and supervisors can work as a buffer against work-related traumatic events as it decreases the intensity of the experience of the stress. In contrast, lack of social support has a direct effect on emotional exhaustion, higher levels of fatigue, burnout, and post-traumatic responses among emergency

What does it mean to be human? How as a society do we consider the essence of humanity? Is biology or social interaction the crucial component of what defines our humanity? These are essential questions that require enormous investigation and introspective analysis. These questions are extremely difficult to investigate in a scientific setting. Finding subjects in a controlled setting would raise too many ethical questions for social and behavioral scientists to justify, so cases involving feral children exposed to severe social isolation provide a crucial form of evidence and foundation for analysis. The case of Oxana Malaya is one such scenario.

The events of Of Mice and Men occurred during the time of great depression in America. At that time there was economic crisis that resulted in loss of millions of jobs and people became homeless and very poor. This was reflected in the novel because George and Lennie were poor and had no place to go. Both of them were moving from ranch to ranch searching for a job to survive. This scenario demonstrated their feeling of isolation and loneliness when George mentioned to Lennie “Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place." (Page 13). The author described also that the feeling of poverty and loneliness made the men seem to return to their basic instinct and fight to survive.

The purpose of this paper is to determine how social isolation effects on a patient’s health. Social relationship is a basic need of a human being. In this paper, it illustrates the importance of social relationship and the consequences of social isolation. The consequences, including depression, anxiety, anger, loneliness, mood disturbances that effects on patient care and outcome of patient’s health. The paper is divided into four major parts. The first part of the paper looks briefly into the scholarly definition of social isolation. The next part is the body of the paper where the paper shall discuss the concept of the paper using a theoretical framework and how it is relevant to patient’s illness experience. The following part looks

The social animal works and interacts with others and inserts itself into a web of social connections. These groups manifest out of strangers, neighbors, classmates, co-workers, friends, relatives and among other loved ones we may consider. As a result, the social group provides the information of being loved and belonging in which benefits the social animal (Cobb, 1976). These sensations of love and belonging are also referred to as social support. Nevertheless, research has heavily focused on the physical health benefits of social support but not much knowledge exists on the five psychological constructs such as, rumination, gratitude, preventive health, reappraisal, and the inclusion of other in the self. I should say that I do believe a relationship of perceived social support exists among these constructs like I said its talked about but not stressed enough. However, these studies that emphasize on depression, for example are not drawbacks but fruitful studies in regards to depression. On one hand, we discovered that depression is sometimes caused by loneliness, also to mention this usually leads to suicide, which is a product of loneliness (Wagner & Calhoun,

There are various social support approaches from which to draw from, for the purpose of this paper, I will adopt and briefly introduce the “three social support perspectives on social support research” outlined by Lakey and Cohen (Cohen, Underwood & Gottlieb, 2000, p. 29). The three perspectives on social support are the (a) stress and coping perspective, (b) the social constructionist perspective and (b) the relationship perspective (Lakey & Cohen, 2000). The first perspective suggests that social support acts as a buffer for the effect of stress (Cohen, Underwood & Gottlieb, 2000). The second proposes that our health is influenced by confidence in oneself, which is a consequent of social support (Cohen, Underwood & Gottlieb, 2000). The third perspective however focuses on the foundations of relationships built within social support systems and how the relationships are also considered to have an effect on health (Cohen, Underwood & Gottlieb, 2000).

What is isolation? Merriam-Webster defines isolation as the state of being in a place or situation that is separate from others. Isolation involves being alone for a long amount of time. This is why; overall, isolation is bad, because it can cause psychological problems, destroys previous relationships, and causes health problems.

We as individuals don’t really know the benefits of hugging a person. In other words, we hug people in our lives whether it’s a family member, relative, friend or someone you know, for a reason. That reason can be happiness, sadness, or just to comfort someone. However, due to a team of researchers we have found another reason to hug someone that is beneficial to both the person who is hugging someone and the person being hugged. But according to Carnegie Mellon University, hug-a-day can prevent a person visiting a doctor often. According to the article, researchers such as Robert E. Doherty and Sheldon Cohen researched for the benefits of hug’s trying to find out whether hugging someone is a form of social support, preventing individuals from getting stressed and sick.

Social support is defined by the U of M (2010) as “having friends and other people, including family, to turn to in times of need or crisis to give you a broader focus and positive self-image. Social support enhances quality of life and provides a buffer against adverse life events.” Several articles regarding the benefits of social support on physical well-being, emotional well being and cognitive deterioration were reviewed. We wanted to discover the correlations between social support concerning older adults and its effects on health. We will summarize the articles researched, discuss our goals, and describe our plan for implementation.