Social Disconnection and How It Undermines Our Health
We have seen in previous posts how social connection plays a pivotal role in bettering our mental and physical health. It improves our overall health outcomes, increases resiliency in times of stress, and can even help us strive to achieve our goals. But what happens when we have the opposite? What happens when, instead of being connected and in supportive relationships, we experience social disconnection? Researchers have continued to study the adverse effects of isolation and unhealthy relationships in individuals’ lives, especially post pandemic, and have noted how it effects our physical and mental health outcomes.
Within this research, scientists have separated the effects of social disconnection into several different categories: negativity/hostility, social rejection, and social isolation/low social integration. The majority of the studies I’ve looked at review the effects of the first two categories. So for now, we’ll dive deeper into these.
Negativity and Hostility
Most people, at some point in their lives, have been in a relationship (romantic, friendship, family relation, or colleague) in which the individual may have criticized or otherwise become negative or hostile toward you. Or maybe this behavior went both ways. Regardless, it never feels good and can severely disrupt a relationship. When negativity or hostility grow, individuals experience a disruption in physiological stress responses. For example, spousal criticism is linked to elevated blood pressure, poor immune responses, increased inflammation, and slower wound healing. On a similar vein, patterns of dysfunctional attachment styles in conflict (e.g., anxious-ambivalent wife vs avoidantly attached husband) are linked to increased daily cortisol levels and atypical cortisol reactivity when anticipating conflict discussions. This link may be due to the couple not meeting each other’s needs.
Outside of criticism alone, patterns of disruption within a relationship are detrimental. This can be a pattern of fights, passive-aggressive behavior, or lack of connection, just to name a few. In several studies focusing on this particular issue, they found that individuals in relationships with much disruption experienced increased health risks over time. This included cardiovascular disease, obesity, and chronic pain. Now remember, we’ve seen many studies that link physiological health with mental health. If these disruptions are causing such harmful physical health concerns, we can assume it would also lead to unfavorable mental health outcomes.
Social Rejection
Social rejection happens every day to every person. It stings when it does and hurts our self-esteem, even if just for a moment. But why? Because social rejection directly challenges our fundamental need to belong and form social connections. Many studies have been completed to discover the effects of social rejection on our physical and mental health, and as you may have predicted, it’s not good. Overall, several health factors were negatively impacted, including greater cortisol reactivity and increased inflammation. What was interesting is that inflammation was also seen to increase one’s sensitivity to social threat. Put simply, those with excess inflammation in their bodies perceive social threat more frequently and more intensely than those without. Other factors included an increase in poorer sleep patterns and risky behaviors such as smoking, binge eating, and less physical activity, all of which we know also negatively impact mental health over time. Within these issues, those who had experienced social rejection also perceived themselves as having less ability to overcome these behaviors. We might call this a sense of agency, which was reduced due to social rejection.
What Do You Do?
As I’ve mentioned before, most of us have experienced some form of social disconnection at some point in our lives. Knowing how negatively this can impact both our mental and physical health, what do we do to protect ourselves? Within my realm of work, I’ve come across many an individual who is adamant they don’t need relationships. That they are better off without people and therefore will not experience things like hostility or rejection. But we can’t forget that disconnection means isolation too. We were not meant to be alone, rather, we thrive in the context of healthy and supportive relationships.
If you’re have difficulty with establishing or maintaining relationships, you are not alone. In a day and age where a large part of our interaction is online, and people struggle with genuine connection, it can be a challenge.
Here are some tips for decreasing social disconnection and moving toward connection:
Establish and nurture different types of relationships with people
Reach out to others to talk or make plans, and acknowledge their attempts to contact you.
Join community groups or volunteer to meet a wide variety of people with shared interests.
Find ways to be responsive and grateful to others.
Address barriers
Take care of your health, both mentally and physically, so you can more readily connect socially and have fun.
Put down the screen and connect with people in person.
Find ways to share the things you are already doing, such as exercising or having meals with others.
Seek help if feeling isolated or stressed
Reach out to a professional who can find ways to help you.
You deserve to feel connected and supported in life, and finding ways to create deep meaningful relationships is imperative for your health. If you are struggling with feelings of social disconnection and want a game plan for increasing your social relationships, contact us here at Demut Counseling & Consultation to set up an appointment and let us be there for you.