Menschen, die von größerer Einsamkeit berichten, haben tendenziell weniger soziale Beziehungen. Dieser Zusammenhang war sowohl bei depressiven als auch bei nicht depressiven Personen vorhanden, bei depressiven Personen war der Zusammenhang jedoch deutlich stärker.
A smaller social network increases loneliness more drastically for those with depression
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A study in Germany found that people reporting greater loneliness tend to have fewer social relationships. This association was present both in depressed individuals and in those without depression, but the correlation was notably stronger in depressed individuals. The paper was published in BMC Psychiatry.
Loneliness is a feeling of sadness or distress that happens when a person feels socially or emotionally disconnected. It is not the same as simply being alone, because someone can be alone without feeling lonely. A person can also feel lonely even when surrounded by other people.
Loneliness usually reflects a gap between the relationships a person wants and the relationships they actually have. It can be temporary, such as after moving to a new place or losing contact with friends. It can also become chronic when the feeling lasts for a long time. Chronic loneliness is linked to poorer mental health, including depression and anxiety. It can also affect physical health by increasing stress and harming sleep and overall well-being.
Results showed that, in both groups, more pronounced feelings of loneliness were associated with a lower number of social contacts. However, this inverse correlation was significantly stronger in the depression group than in the group of healthy participants.
Confirming previous research, people with a history of depression experienced significantly higher overall levels of subjective loneliness and reported having fewer social contacts than healthy individuals.
When analyzing the different phases of episodic depression, researchers noticed an interesting pattern. They found that a patient’s subjective feeling of loneliness fluctuated wildly depending on their current state, spiking during an active depressive episode. However, their actual number of social relationships remained relatively stable across the different phases of the illness.
Because the study proves that the actual number of social relationships heavily impacts the internal feeling of loneliness for depressed people, the authors suggest that clinical interventions should actively focus on helping patients rebuild objective social networks, rather than treating loneliness as just an internal chemical symptom.
For those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12888-026-07915-3
Is this saying that people with fewer friends are more likely to be lonely? Wow.
Is there something i am missing, or did we confirm that lonely people have fewer friends than those that are not lonely?
Thats it, I just need more friends. Thanks!
I suppose they’re trying to look at the difference between being alone and feeling lonely here? Some people might have less contact without feeling lonely while others crave more human contact. You could also have people with many friends but who feel lonely.
Anyways, not really shocking this discovery.
I’m really tired of these *meaning of words* style studies. These aren’t even correlations, they’re just what words mean. Next we’ll have “People who consume meat tend to consume animal flesh,” and “People who walk more get more steps.” Yeah man, X = X, even if you call it “Y”.
I think the commenters calling this pointless or redundant are funny.
People can feel lonely whether or not they actually are. Yall arent smart for thinking this is stupid. It just makes you look clueless.
Soooo… lonely people are – lonely?
Go figure!
This one does seem admittedly a bit like something that was established in the very definition of the term loneliness, but there is a massive difference between a dictionary definition and operationalizing a variable. We have to prove that the subjective feeling actually correlates with the objective data points (like circle size) to ensure our internal models of the world match the external reality.
Now combine this with being an introvert amd its doesn’t get any better
Wow. Really profound insight here.
Wow, I wonder if this means that people who spend *more* time with people are *less* lonely. Fascinating research, can’t wait to see what comes of this
I’m just pointing out why they decided to look into this and it actually backs up a few ideas. Does feeling lonely really show up in your social circle? Sometimes you can feel super isolated even if you keep up a social life… So you can feel lonely, but unless you’re dealing with clinical depression, it might not show up in your friendships. It might sound obvious, but science often reveals hidden links, and even when it highlights something clear, that’s fine too. Getting confirmation isn’t a bad thing.