Faith, family and friends

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5ukKf4vi6g

The Editor, Prague 23.5.2023.

We have selected for you an article on the current problem of isolation and loneliness, which appeared in MercatorNet, a very important digital newspaper based in Australia.

The author of the following article is Erica Komisar, LCSW, psychoanalyst, parenting expert and author of “Being There: Why Prioritizing Motherhood in the First Three Years Matters” and “Chicken Little The Sky Isn’t Falling: Raising Resilient Adolescents in the New Age’ She Cooperates with the Institute for Family Studies, USA.

The Faith, Family and Friends Trinomial

Poor public health can be boiled down to a lack of three things in our society: faith, family, and friends. General Practitioner Vivek Murthy has officially sounded the alarm in the USA on this point, because loneliness can lead to depression and other forms of mental illness, as well as serious diseases such as heart disease and dementia.

As a psychotherapist and mental health expert, I believe we must focus on addressing the underlying causes of loneliness if we are to solve this public health epidemic. In recent years, families have been breaking apart. Some Americans have abandoned faith in a higher power. Virtual friendships and social networks have replaced real-life friendships. Not surprisingly, disconnection and alienation are the consequences of a lack of faith, family and friends.

The good thing about living with family     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlxHX2NFgcw   

Family support is critical to our mental health. In his commentary, Jim Dalrymple tells us that the report in General Practitioner sadly omits any mention of family as part of the solution to the loneliness epidemic. Spouses, parents, siblings and children offer valuable support and often unconditional love.

However, the trend of people moving away from their families to work and/or live in other parts of the country or the world has caused the family support system to fracture. More and more young people are raising their children away from their parents and grandparents, forcing them to leave their infants and toddlers in the care of nannies or day care centers. The elderly are staying in assisted living or nursing homes because their children have moved out and are unable to care for them.

Gone are the days when three or more generations lived together in the same house, caring for each other. We have outsourced the care of our parents and children, denying them the opportunity to enrich each other. Working remotely may have given us more flexibility, but it has degraded our relationships with co-workers, many of whom were our best friends.

The rise of the Internet and social networking has led to the decline of real, meaningful friendships. But talking is what really keeps us together. How many of these people are really our friends and how many are just people we follow on the Internet? How superficial does a friendship have to be before it ceases to be digitally and we still feel lonely?

The pandemic has both helped and hurt us when it comes to loneliness. Children, especially younger children, were happier because their parents were at home. And parents felt a greater sense of satisfaction and connection because they spent more time with family.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlxHX2NFgcw

The importance of faith

Religion used to be the foundation of society. Communities revolved around a birthplace of worship, instilling in Americans a moral compass and a higher sense of purpose. Over the years, parts of Americans have rejected faith, leaving a regrettable void. The loss of faith has deprived society and its citizens of a sanctuary in the storm of life. When faith dies, who defines morality? What do people live for? What is left to hold communities together? No wonder loneliness and aimlessness in life are on the rise.

For years, worship centers were closed in many states. Families were denied access to their sick and dying loved ones in hospitals due to restrictions imposed by the pandemic. Fear separated families and friends, and many felt isolated, alienated, and depressed. The pandemic also caused a migration of people away from their communities and families. Many found themselves losing friends and loved ones who moved to states with better tax laws or better job opportunities. For their part, adolescents struggled because they were cut off from school and isolated from their friends, which impaired their social-emotional development and increased their free time.

Loneliness is nothing more than the symptom of the social degradation of family, faith and meaningful friendships. While technology promised to bring us closer to each other, we have drifted further apart. We have moved away from our siblings and parents, thinking that they are only a short flight away.

We have left our faith behind, thinking it is a relic of the past. We spend less time maintaining real relationships with friends, thinking there must be nothing new to catch up on, since their lives are in plain sight on the Internet. I am an optimist and believe we can change this situation, but it will take a concerted effort. To solve the public health epidemic, which is Loneliness, we may have to look to the past to regain the family relationships, faith and friendships we have lost.