Relationships (or a lack thereof) can significantly impact your mental health and quality of life. Unfortunately, more and more people are struggling with a sense of loneliness. Whether you are isolating yourself to hide a mental disorder you are struggling with, or struggle to make meaningful connections with others, without question isolation can hurt your mental well-being. Keep reading to learn more about the effects of isolation and mental health, and how isolation can harm your mental well-being.
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7 Ways Isolation Hurts Mental Health
Isolating yourself from friends, family members, and others can over time hurt your mental health for the worse– whether you realize it or not! Below are several ways isolation and mental health are related.
Raises Sense of Loneliness
While being alone is not inherently bad for your mental health, more and more people today are struggling with loneliness. Research from the American Psychiatric Association found that 30% of adults say they have experienced feelings of loneliness at least once a week over the past year. When you isolate yourself, you fracture relationships and thus can raise feelings of loneliness that ultimately harm your mental well-being.
Raises Stress and Anxiety Levels
When you isolate yourself, you can also struggle with feelings of stress and anxiety. This is because you may feel like you have no one to talk to or lean on for support when you are struggling. Not only can isolation keep you from talking about your troubles openly and honestly with others, but it can also keep you from getting the potential help you need to improve your mental health.
Raises Risk of Substance Abuse
Many people who isolate themselves may turn to drugs or alcohol to cope with feelings of loneliness. Additionally, people who struggle with drug addiction may become more and more isolated as their drug dependency grows for fear of their loved ones finding out about their substance use disorder.
Hurts Overall Sleep Quality
Sometimes, isolation can increase feelings of stress and overthinking which can harm your overall sleep quality. And, worsening sleep quality not only harms your physical health but can also hurt your mental health and well-being.
Hurts Relationships with Others
As briefly mentioned above, increased isolation will inevitably hurt your relationships with others. Not only will you lose touch with friends and family members, but many of your loved ones may feel hurt if you cut ties with them– seemingly out of the blue.
Increases Risk of Physical Decline
Isolation hurts both your mental health and physical health. Oftentimes, when you are isolating yourself, you neglect your physical health, which can lead to a lack of proper diet, exercise, good quality sleep, and more.
Hurts Cognitive Function
Isolation can also hurt your cognitive function. When you isolate yourself from others, you are not only hurting your mental health and likely fracturing relationships, your brain suffers and you may struggle to pay attention or interact with others again with time. This is why it is critical if you are struggling with mental illness and isolating yourself, it’s important you seek professional help to improve your mental well-being.
Help Is Available
Now you know more about how isolation and mental health are related. Constantly isolating yourself from loved ones not only hurts your relationships but can take a toll on your mental and physical health. If you are struggling with a mental illness or addiction, it’s critical you seek help!
Our compassionate team at Grace Recovery is here to help you every step of the way along your recovery journey. We provide comprehensive addiction and mental health treatment to ensure you receive the right care to best support your road to recovery. Gone are the days of suffering in silence with your addiction. Ready to begin your recovery journey? Contact us today!