Guides: Catalyst 300: The Loneliness Epidemic
Summary
A report by the U.S. Surgeon General in 2023 signaled that Americans of various ages and social groups suffer from an actual loneliness epidemic, in particular teens and young adults, elderly people, minorities, and people with lower income levels. Community involvement is lower than before; jobs require less in-person social interaction; social media create contacts, but do not seem to cultivate the authentic connections that allow humans to really thrive. This loneliness can lead to anxiety, depression, and addiction, and lack of human contact can aggravate dementia in older adults. What can be done to rebuild a lasting sense of community and authentic forms of communication among people? Your challenge is to identify a specific problem related to the loneliness epidemic and to come up with an innovative plan to address it. As you develop your project, focus on community building and social programming rather than on individualized therapies. Design your project so that it actually can be put into practice.
Government Documents, Statistics, Websites
Proquest Statistical Abstract: 1400+ individually indexed tables (with attached spreadsheets) of statistics on the social, political and economic organization of the United States. Information available both by searching and browsing.
Choosing a mental health provider
Center for Disease Control: Social Connection
National Institute on Aging: Social Isolation and Loneliness Outreach Toolkit
Getting Started
Reference resources provide a starting point for your research projects.
Credo Reference
Credo Reference provides hundreds of encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, and more in one place. Below is a sample of keyword searches in Credo Reference related to this topic:
Call Numbers and Subject Headings
You can use the list of call numbers and subject headings below as keyword searches in our catalog and databases, or you can go to these sections of the library to find books on these topics
- BF575.L6
- BF575.S37
- HM1131
- HM1221
- HQ1060–1064
- RC455.4.L67
- RA643–645
- B105.L65
Subject Headings
Books
The social biome: How everyday communication connects and shapes us / Merolla, Andy | HM1166 .M46 2025 and e-book
From the abyss of loneliness to the bliss of solitude: Cultural, social, and psychoanalytic perspectives / Dimitrijević, Aleksandar | BF575.L7 F76 2022
Lives interrupted: Psychiatric narratives of struggle and resilience / O’Laughlin, Michael | RC552.T7 L57 2019
Loneliness : Psychosocial risk factors, prevalence and impacts on physical and emotional health / Rhodes, Danielle | e-book
Loneliness as a way of life / Dumm, Thomas | e-book
The loneliness room : a creative ethnography of loneliness / Redmond, Sean | e-book
Loneliness: Science and practice / Jeste, Dilip | e-book
Loneliness and social isolation in old age : Correlates and implications / Hajek, Andre
Articles
Academic Search Complete: Covers a wide range of academic disciplines, with more than 8600 periodicals available in full text.
JSTOR: A full-text archive of over 400 scholarly journals in the arts and sciences. Issues from the past three to five years may not be available.
Proquest Research Library: Includes both popular and scholarly periodicals covering a variety of subjects, with over 3300 titles available in full text.
Proquest Social Science: Over 550 full-text journals covering a range of social science topics.
PsychInfo / Psycharticles: These two databases combined offer the full text of over 650 journals in behavioral science and related disciplines. They can be searched simultaneously via the above link.