Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1697645010291.pdf (Australia)
Targeting Loneliness for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Ending Loneliness Together Submission Select Committee on Mental Health and Suicide Prevention April 2021 Mental Health and Suicide PreventionSubmission 192 Ending Loneliness Together Ending Loneliness Together (ELT) is a national Australian initiative that aims to raise awareness and reduce the negative effects of loneliness and social isolation in our community through evidence-based interventions and advocacy.
Inspired by the work of the UK Campaign to End Loneliness and the growing research evidence of the biological, psychological, social and economic impact of loneliness and social isolation, Ending Loneliness Together has drawn together knowledge from Australian and international universities along with service delivery expertise from community groups, professional organisations, government agencies and skilled volunteers, in order to address loneliness in Australia.
We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the lands and seas on which we work and live, and pay our respects to Elders, past, present and future, for they hold the dreams of Indigenous Australia.
Contact C/O WayAhead Level 2.02, Building C, 33-35 Saunders St Pyrmont NSW 2009 (61 2) 9339 6001 info@endingloneliness.com.au www.endingloneliness.com.au ABN 34 878 289 140 Mental Health and Suicide PreventionSubmission 192 Ending Loneliness Together Submission • Select Committee on Mental Health and Suicide Prevention • April 2021 3 Targeting Loneliness Ending Loneliness Together welcomes the opportunity to provide input to the House Select Committee on Mental Health and Suicide Prevention.
The Productivity Commission’s 2020 Mental Health report1 highlighted the significant impact of loneliness and social isolation on mental illness and suicide.

Loneliness and social isolation can affect anyone, at any age.

Internationally, loneliness and social isolation are clearly recognised as significant threats to public health, important targets for prevention of mental and physical ill health, and major contributors to health system costs.
Loneliness is poorly understood within our community and within our health sectors.

While related to social isolation, the ways to manage loneliness are less straightforward than merely reducing social isolation.

Although there has been investment to address loneliness and social isolation in Australia in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, identified gaps remain.
We therefore call on the Federal Government to consider significant investments to advance this work to ensure an effective, coordinated and extensive impact on combatting the next public health issue facing Australians.
Key Recommendations Given the high prevalence rates of loneliness and the exacerbation of this issue as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in order to deliver a more sustainable, effective, and efficient response to addressing loneliness and social isolation to promote the social recovery of all Australians, we urge the Federal Government to address two major gaps.
First, to address a lack of community awareness and skills on how to manage loneliness and social isolation; and second, to address the absence of uniform standards and guidelines within community and mental health systems.

Ending Loneliness Together calls for the Federal Government to address these two gaps by equipping, implementing, and mobilising all sectors to deploy Australia’s first National Loneliness and Social Isolation Response Strategy.
Ending Loneliness Together makes three key recommendations based on consideration of the Productivity Commission’s report and its proposal for a National Response Strategy: 1.

Deliver a national community awareness campaign to address loneliness as a whole of population target for preventing mental illness and equip individuals with the tools and resources to facilitate positive mental health improvements.

2.
2.

Deliver the National Social E-Health Portal, an online, digital tool to help consumers and healthcare professionals find local, evidence-based programs and services targeting loneliness and social isolation that best suit their needs or those of their patients.

3.
3.

Develop a national standardised measurement and evaluation framework, practice guidelines, and training for frontline workers to equip them with evidence-based approaches, resources and solutions to systematically identify, monitor and direct people experiencing loneliness.

1 Productivity Commission.

2020.

Mental Health, Report no.

95, Canberra.

Available from: https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/mental-health/report.
Mental Health and Suicide PreventionSubmission 192 Ending Loneliness Together Submission • Select Committee on Mental Health and Suicide Prevention • April 2021 4 Framing the Issue: Loneliness in Australia Loneliness is a critical issue of our time.

In November 2020, Ending Loneliness Together released a landmark white paper which captures the seriousness of loneliness, as a major social, health and economic issue of our time, with wide-ranging implications for our economy and society.
Loneliness has a detrimental impact on health and wellbeing, productivity, and functioning in daily life.

One in four Australians aged 12 to 89 experience problematic levels of loneliness2,3.

At any given time, the estimated prevalence of problematic levels of loneliness4 is around 5 million Australians.

While the financial burden on Australia’s health service has not been quantified, equivalent costs to Medicare in the USA have been estimated at $6.7 billion annually5.
The stigma of loneliness means that many more people are uncomfortable talking about their feelings of social isolation and disconnection.

There are countless Australians living with persistent loneliness who do not access the appropriate help available in their community.

Equally, the stigma of loneliness makes it difficult for service providers to identify, engage with and support people experiencing or at risk of loneliness.
Loneliness and Mental Health Before the pandemic, loneliness was identified as a growing public health problem with a robust body of evidence testifying to the deleterious impacts on both mental and physical health6, including poor cardiometabolic health, physical inactivity, obesity, impaired sleep, cognitive decline and increased risk for dementia7.
In fact, people who are lonelier not only have increased morbidities, but they also experience higher mortality rates compared with their less lonely counterparts8.

Loneliness is associated with a 26% greater risk of premature mortality equivalent to rates of living alone or being socially isolated9.

Critically, loneliness is a significant predictor of a range of mental health symptoms and disorders.
Loneliness predicts future poorer mental health severity, including depression, social anxiety and paranoia10, and increases the odds of having a clinically diagnosed mental disorder, including phobias, depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder11.

Loneliness is also associated with increased suicidality and parasuicide12.

Those with severe loneliness are 17 times more likely to have made a suicide attempt in the past 12 months13.
2 Lim MH, Eres R, Peck C. The Young Australian Loneliness Survey: understanding loneliness in adolescents and young adults.

Swinburne University of Technology VicHealth 2019.

Available from: https://www.

vichealth.vic.gov.au/loneliness-survey.

3 Lim MH, Australian Psychological Society.

Australian loneliness report: a survey exploring the loneliness levels of Australians and the impact on their health and wellbeing.

2018.

Available from: https://psychweek.

org.au/2018-archive/loneliness-study/.


4 Peplau L, Perlman D. Perspectives on loneliness.

In: Peplau L, Perlman D, editors.

Loneliness: A Sourcebook of Current Theory, Research and Therapy.

New York: John Wiley and Sons.

; 1982. p. 1-20.

5 AARP Public Policy Institute, Medicare Spends More on Socially Isolated Older Adults.

November 27, 2017.

Available from: https://www.aarp.org/content/dam/aarp/ppi/2017/10/medicare-spends-more-on- sociallyisolated-older-adults.pdf.
6 Stickley A, Koyanagi A. Loneliness, common mental disorders and suicidal behavior: findings from a general population survey.

J Affect Disord [Internet].

2016 [cited 2020 Nov 16];197:81–7.

Available from: http:// dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2016.02.054.

7 Badcock JC, Shah S, Mackinnon A, Stain HJ, Galletly C, Jablensky A, et al.

Loneliness in psychotic disorders and its association with cognitive function and symptom profile.

Schizophr Res [Internet].

2015 [cited 2020 Nov 16];169(1-3):268–73.


Available from: http://dx.doi.

org/10.1016/j.schres.2015.10.027.

8 Lim MH, Gleeson JFM, Alvarez-Jimenez M, Penn DL.

Loneliness in psychosis: a systematic review.

Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol [Internet].

2018 [cited 2020 Nov 16];53(3):221–38.

Available from: http://dx.doi.

org/10.1007/s00127-018-1482-5.

9 Badcock JC, Adery LH, Park S. Loneliness in psychosis: a practical review and critique for clinicians.

Clin Psychol (New York) [Internet].


2020 [cited 2020 Nov 16]; Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ cpsp.12345.

10 Lim MH, Rodebaugh TL, Zyphur MJ, Gleeson JFM.

Loneliness over time: the crucial role of social anxiety.

J Abnorm Psychol [Internet].

2016 [cited 2020 Nov 16];125(5):620–30.

Available from: http://dx.doi.

org/10.1037/abn0000162.

11 Meltzer H, Bebbington P, Dennis MS, Jenkins R, McManus S, Brugha TS.

Feelings of loneliness among adults with mental disorder.
Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol [Internet].

2012 [cited 2020 Nov 16];9;48(1):5– 13.

Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00127- 012-0515-8.

12 Stravynski A, Boyer R. Loneliness in relation to suicide ideation and parasuicide: a population-wide study.

Suicide Life Threat Behav [Internet].

2001 [cited 2020 Nov 16];31(1):32–40.

Available from: http:// dx.doi.

org/10.1521/suli.31.1.32.21312.


13 Stickley A, Koyanagi A. Loneliness, common mental disorders and suicidal behavior: findings from a general population survey.

J Affect Disord [Internet].

2016 [cited 2020 Nov 16];197:81–7.

Available from: http:// dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2016.02.054.
Mental Health and Suicide PreventionSubmission 192 Ending Loneliness Together Submission • Select Committee on Mental Health and Suicide Prevention • April 2021 5 Loneliness and social isolation are signature concerns of the COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 crisis has brought loneliness and social isolation to the centre of our attention and serves as a powerful reminder of just how important meaningful social relationships are.
One in two Australians reported feeling lonelier since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For Australian residents aged 18-81 years surveyed between March and April 2020, loneliness increased the likelihood of developing a clinical depressive disorder by eight times and a clinical social anxiety disorder by five times.
Unfortunately, based on previous infectious diseases research, it is likely that social disconnectedness and poor mental health triggered by COVID-19 will be persistent even after the immediate public health crisis ends.

More Australians are anticipated to report emerging mental ill health as we move beyond the immediate crisis.

Those who did not have prior mental health disorders are expected to report more loneliness, financial and work-related stress, and problematic mental health symptoms.
First-time help seekers struggling with loneliness may be reluctant to access services through specialist mental health service providers and may not identify relevant community solutions or service providers.

Australia requires a national strategy to address loneliness and social isolation now.
Critically, allocating funding to the sector to address loneliness and social isolation will enable the Federal Government to deliver the reforms outlined in the Productivity Commission’s Mental Health Inquiry Report.

Mental Health and Suicide PreventionSubmission 192 Ending Loneliness Together www.endingloneliness.com.au Mental Health and Suicide PreventionSubmission 192