Researchers are working on a pill for loneliness, as studies suggest condition is worse than obesity

National Post ^ | Aug. 12, 2019 | Sharon Kirkey

[rickmichaels]

The volunteers at the University of Chicago’s Brain Dynamics Laboratory, all otherwise young and healthy, were tied together by really only one thing: nearly off-the-chart scores on the most widely used scale measuring loneliness.

Asked how often they felt they had no one they could turn to, how often they felt their relationships seemed superficial and forced, how often they felt alone, left out, isolated or no longer closer to anyone, the answer, almost always, was “always.”

The volunteers agreed to be randomly dosed over eight weeks with either pregnenolone, a hormone naturally produced by the body’s adrenal gland, or a placebo. Two hours after swallowing the assigned tablet, the university’s researchers captured and recorded their brain activity while the participants looked at pictures of emotional faces or neutral scenes.

Studies in animals suggest that a single injection of pregnenolone can reduce or “normalize” an exaggerated threat response in socially isolated lab mice, similar to the kind of hyper vigilance lonely people feel that makes them poor at reading other people’s intentions and feelings.

The researchers have every hope the drug will work in lonely human brains, too, although they insist the goal is not an attempt to cure loneliness with a pill.

Lead researcher and neuroscientist Stephanie Cacioppo has likened using a drug to rubbing frost from a windshield. Loneliness increases both a desire to connect with others, and a gut instinct for self-preservation (“if I let you get close to me, you’ll only hurt me, too”). People become more wary, cautious and self-centred. The idea is to help people see things as they are, “rather than being afraid of everyone,” Cacioppo said in an interview with Smithsonian.com.

[sparklite2]

this is not what society is supposed to be like.

---

Maybe not, but it works for me. There is a high percentage of single person residences, especially MGTOW. I live in a gated retirement community in Florida, and half my neighbors live alone.

[coaster123]

Cup of Loneliness:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ljlZypz2SxI

Loneliness is a consequence of the appropriate response to today’s society and culture.

[Captain Compassion]

“They are sharing a drink they call loneness.
But it’s better than drinking alone.”

[sparklite2]

Loneliness is a consequence of the appropriate response to today’s society and culture.

---

Being alone doesn’t equate to being lonely, either. My dog is all the company I require.

[Gay State Conservative]

A pill is not the solution.

A few years ago I had the opportunity to meet a brain researcher from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm,a *very* highly respected research center.

Long story short...while he was "holding court" for several fascinated audience members over several evenings (it was a South African "safari" where we met him) he said at one point "we know more about the surface of the moon than we know about the human brain.

Also,consider this: years ago...perhaps as recently as 40 or 50 years ago...experienced,reputable physicians used to tell the parents of schizophrenics that their son was the way he was because the mother was too cold and the father was too strict...or something like that.IOW,they'd blame the parents.

But now scientists know that it's caused by chemical imbalances in the brain...just as some disorders of other organs are...heart,lungs,kidneys,liver,etc.

[montag813]

HERE IS THE CURE....no charge!

GET RID OF THIS....

[PeterPrinciple]

I can think of no better expression of loneliness than the following:

Psa 142:4  I looked on my right hand, and I watched, but no one recognized me; escape was lost to me; no man cared for my soul. 

Read in context for the balm, it isn’t a pill.

[Garth Tater]

"We used to call these people losers."

LOL We used to call people like you assholes. Still do as a matter of fact.

[coaster123]

Important distinction, you’re right.

[Songcraft]

"All the lonely people..."   (Youtube Beatles song "Eleanor Rigby")

[coaster123]

We?

[Garth Tater]

Yes, we. You know, those of us with compassion in our hearts for those of God’s children that don’t rise to Bonemaker’s standards.

[Go Gordon]

Researchers are working on a pill for loneliness, as studies suggest condition is worse than obesity,p> Okay, then why not let the lonely person turn to food, gain a crap load of weight, then have the person focus on their obesity - joining a gym, jogging around the neighborhood and frequenting juice bars. They'll forget how lonely they are.

[GingisK]

Thanks

[Osage Orange]

I have two Border Collies and some cows...they keep me un-lonely...

[Bonemaker]

“...nearly off-the-chart scores on the most widely used scale measuring loneliness...”

They should consider themselves lucky. Your misery index is directly proportional to the number of other people in your life.

[Bonemaker]

“LOL We used to call people like you assholes. Still do as a matter of fact. “

Sorry to learn you are a loser. All the best in the future....maybe the pill will help.

[catnipman]

“Researchers are working on a pill for loneliness, as studies suggest condition is worse than obesity”

i heard that the anti-loneliness pill for women makes them look like Michelle Pfeiffer when she was 35, and the anti-loneliness pill for men makes them look like Brad Pitt, plus it opens a bank account for the patient that has a hundred million dollars in it ...

[sparklite2]

Heh

[Chickensoup]

one takes every organizaion, religious group, club, get together spot away from people and they are lonely. Give them the pretend of the internet socials. And they are doubly lonely

There is little to connect people.