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Loneliness Can Be Deadly for Elders; Friends Are the Antidote
The New York Times: The circle shrinks. As the years pass, older people attend too many funerals. Friendships that sustained them for decades lapse when companions and confidants retire or move away or grow ill.
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Helping the lonely and elderly during the holidays
The Baltimore Sun: When 92-year-old Carolyn Bochau gets a visitor at home, she concedes that she turns into a chatterbox. Because of health problems and old age, the Baltimore resident doesn’t go out for much
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How Social Isolation Is Killing Us
The New York Times: My patient and I both knew he was dying. Not the long kind of dying that stretches on for months or years. He would die today. Maybe tomorrow. And if not
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Thinking of Loved Ones Lessens Our Need to “Reconnect” Through Anthropomorphism
Reminding people of their close relationships can reduce their tendency to anthropomorphize objects as a way of feeling socially connected.
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Researchers Confront an Epidemic of Loneliness
The New York Times: BLACKPOOL, England — The woman on the other end of the phone spoke lightheartedly of spring and of her 81st birthday the previous week. “Who did you celebrate with, Beryl?” asked
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Loneliness can be depressing, but it may have helped humans survive
The Washington Post: Loneliness not only feels nasty, it can also make you depressed, shatter your sleep, even kill you. Yet scientists think loneliness evolved because it was good for us. It still is —