May 30, 2023 • 25 mins
In part 2 of this two-part series on loneliness, we return to the discussion with Dr. Geoffrey Hopkins, Senior Medical Director of Behavioral Health at Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, to explore the impact of loneliness on specific populations, such as seniors and teens. He shares steps individuals can take to avoid the long term effects of experiencing loneliness and how parents and caregivers can also provide support.
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(00:03):
Welcome to excel Us Blue Cross BlueShields Community check In. Each week we
cover a specific topic featuring Excellis BlueCross Blue Shield experts. You'll get to
know our team as we discuss thelatest in healthcare, health education, and
community health. Find us at excelUs BCBS dot com and follow on Instagram
(00:26):
and Facebook. I'm Joelomonico and welcometo the check In. We are back
with our second of a two partseries on the health impacts of loneliness,
and we are joined again by doctorJeffrey Hopkins. To discuss the effects of
loneliness on specific populations is what we'regoing to talk about this time. Who
may experience loneliness the most? DoctorHopkins, welcome back, Good to see
(00:48):
you again. It's great to behere. Joe. Doctor Hopkins is a
Senior medical director of Behavioral Health forExcellis Blue Cross Blue Shield. He's also
Board certified in Child and Adolescent Psychiatryand Adult psychiatry by the American Board of
Psychiatry and Neurology and a member ofthe Onondaga County Medical Society. Now,
if you missed part one of ourseries, we're going to do just a
(01:08):
little bit of a step back beforewe move forward. We talked about what
loneliness is, doctor and how itimpacts our health, and also how we
might prevent or treat loneliness if weexperience it. So I want to run
through some of those key things againto kind of catch people up on our
discussion. Of course, Joe soat its simplest, loneliness really results from
(01:30):
a lack of social connection. Therecan be a bunch of causes for it,
like major life transitions, social isolation, cultural and social factors, or
even technology. When your social wellnessis out of balance, it can impact
all of the areas of your healthand wellness, especially your physical and emotional
(01:52):
wellness, and this could lead toa cascade of significant health impacts like depression,
anxiety, or even increase the likelihoodexperiencing chronic medical conditions like heart disease
or high blood pressure. But thereare ways to address loneliness by strengthening your
social network and your connection to thecommunity. All right. As we mentioned
(02:12):
last week, this is a topicthat I think you think you have a
hand a lot, but you're probablyonly just understanding a small piece of it,
which is why this has been agreat conversation for us to have about
how loneliness can impact and manifest inso many different ways. So now we
get to dig in a little bitdeeper this week and get a little bit
more specific. Are there populations thatyou see that are more likely to experience
(02:37):
what they would consider to be lonelinessor how may they might look at themselves
as being lonely? Jo? Yeah, there are. There's two populations that
are really impacted by loneliness. Onewe could make a good guess about seniors
and then the other teams, eventhough they're highly social row need to connect,
they can experience loneliness at higher levelsthan the general population. In fact,
(03:01):
the journal Nature, they found thatthe frequency of loneliness is highest in
young adulthood, and that it declinesin adulthood and earlier old age, and
that increases as we progress further intoold age. Also, people with disabilities,
immigrants, and members of the LGBTQplus community can also be more likely
(03:21):
to experience social stigma, discrimination,and rejection, with reduced opportunities to connect
with others and develop those necessary supportiverelationships that then can lead to loneliness.
Interesting that for some populations it's sortof an inverted Bell curve about how loneliness
works. Okay, well, thenlet's start at the top end of that
(03:43):
curve with our senior population. Whydo they experience loneliness at higher rates than
people who are ten to twenty maybethirty years younger than them. So,
just to start off with that,National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine
noted that nearly one fourth of adultssixty five and older are considered to be
socially isolated, increasing their risk fordeveloping loneliness. And there's a lot of
(04:08):
factors that go into contributing to lonelinessfor seniors. First, as we might
guess, many seniors are retired andthey experience a loss of that social connectedness
that they had through their employment.And this loss of social connection can then
be exacerbated if health issues make itdifficult for you to leave the house,
further reducing your opportunities for social interaction. Loss the loss of a spouse or
(04:31):
a partner can be another factor.If and you're an individual and you're more
likely to lose a spouse as youage, which can happen to all of
us, this can lead to asense of social isolation. In addition,
seniors can face financial barriers to socialconnection. Right if you have a fixed
income, it can make it difficultfor you to participate in social activities they
(04:55):
require you to spend money. Thenthis can again exacerbate social withdrawal and lead
to the development of loneliness. Soit's essential to recognize that loneliness among seniors
is not only a matter of personalhealth, but it's also a public health
issue. As we mentioned before,isolation and loneliness can be associated with a
(05:15):
lot of negative health outcomes, likeincreased rates of chronic diseases and cognitive issues.
So loneliness can exacerbate mental health conditionstoo and lead to the development of
depression and anxiety in that population.Maybe you won't think about it until you
reach that population, or you getinto it on the outside looking in.
One white suspect, you're retired,you are no longer working, You now
(05:39):
have time, you now have somecontrol in your life back, and you
can start doing the things that younever had the ability to do because you
had to earn a living or raisea family. But it can oftentimes be
just the opposite. With all ofthat opportunity comes in a lot more ability
for those connections to be severed ornot maintain the way they were in your
(06:00):
working life, or other factors tobe working against you. Now you have
all the time and maybe not themeans. So how do we support our
senior population both Let's say, youknow, within our families, within our
communities, I mean there's a lotof different places we can make an impact.
Well, there's definite things that wecan do to support our seniors.
We can provide individuals with resources andsupports to help them maintain and build their
(06:25):
social connections. How would we dothat. We can connect individuals with community
organizations like senior centers and volunteer groupsthat offer opportunities for social participation. Remember,
volunteering is a great solution that's beenassociated with a reduced risk of loneliness
among older adults, as it's asocial opportunity and nourishes that sense of purpose
(06:47):
and improves your feelings of self worth. Where might you look? A great
place to start looking for volunteer opportunitiesis through your local chapter of the United
Way. There's also virtual social platformsthat offer seniors a new way to connect
with family and friends and that canhelp maintain that social connection. If there
are long periods when you're experiencing socialisolation. And then another often overlooked pillar
(07:13):
of support for seniors is healthcare providersthat can play a really important part in
addressing loneliness. Providers can screen forloneliness during routine appointments and also connect individuals
with resources and supports. Medicare evenhas expanded coverage for social services that can
address social determinants of health, includingloneliness and social isolation. So there are
(07:35):
some pretty clear ways that we canhelp seniors and their families or caregivers to
address feelings of loneliness. And Ithink understanding that negative health impacts of loneliness
can help highlight and develop a senseof urgency that we need to make sure
resources for social connection are readily availableso we can help the senior population improve
(07:59):
their overall health and well being.Doctor Jeffrey Hopkins is our guest this week
on the Community check In. He'ssenior medical director of Behavioral Health that excel
Us Blue Cross, Blue Shield.This is the second part of our discussion
on the topic of loneliness. DoctorHopkins is also certified in child and adolescent
psychiatry, so we're going to goto the opposite end of the spectrum.
Now we've talked about our seniors.Now let's talk about our young people,
(08:20):
especially our teens. How have youseen them experiencing loneliness? And what is
modern society and technology doing to contributeto what our teens are already going through
as a very turbulent and tumultuous timejust in their physiological development, let alone
(08:43):
their social development. During our teenageyears, we're undergoing so many physical,
psychological and social changes and this leadsto the search for identity like who am
I? Developing a greater sense ofindependence and self discovery. This creates a
real complex environment for teens, whichdoes increase their risk for developing loneliness.
(09:05):
Then there's a lot of reasons whyteens can experience it. Some things are
very obvious like moving to a newlocation, switching schools, losing friends,
new friend groups, These can allincrease it. And then also teens are
very high risk of experiencing social anxietyand that can and shyness, so that
that can make it hard to initiateand maintain those social connections and make it
(09:28):
more challenging for teens. What aboutthe modern world, Well, a particularly
pressing factor is the impact of socialmedia on teens. It's created this kind
of paradox or unexpected situation where teenagersare more connected digitally than ever before,
but they also feel isolated and lonelierthan ever before. It's so easy for
(09:52):
all of us, especially teens,to kind of like scroll endlessly and constantly
compare ourselves and their bodies and whatlooks perfect on social increasing their sense of
inadequacy or feeling like they don't wantto connect with somebody else. And teens
may also be impacted more because they'reexperiencing all of these developmental changes that we
talked about. So, according toa twenty twenty one study from Common Sense
(10:16):
Media and the Hope LAP, youngpeople with moderate to severe depressive symptoms,
we're found to use social media farmore frequently than others their age. So
there may be a connection between relyingon social media, not having those individual
connections, and then putting yourself atmore risk for developing emotional problems. Going
(10:37):
through adolescents as an adolescent is probablyone of the worst design flaws of human
beings. That you know, yourbrains aren't even fully developed by that point,
and you're being thrust into all ofthese things and all of these wild
changes, and it's very difficult toreally understand and get a handle on it.
Then you're getting messages coming in fromall sorts of directions from school group
(11:00):
and family group and peer group insocial media, and there's so much there.
Perhaps, doctor, would you agreethat maybe the natural defense mechanism that
we as human beings have is tosometimes retreat. We don't want to face
these things head on. We don'twant to deal with them immediately. We
just want to find ourselves our ownlittle cocoon and kind of shrink back into
(11:20):
it. And we do. Andwhile that's a natural response when we're faced
with stress to withdraw get away fromwhatever it is, it's making it difficult.
There's two huge things that teams haveto do in their teenage years.
One, they have to go toschools. They have all these academic demands,
and loneliness can affect your ability tohave a positive attitude and avoid depression
(11:45):
and anxiety. It also can erodeor take away from your physical health,
which makes it harder to succeed inschool. So that there's this correlation between
adolescent isolation elevated levels of stress,anxiety, depression, and then pourer outcomes.
So and even you could imagine theanxiety and depression and emotions like that
(12:07):
could lead to destructive coping strategies likesubstance use, self harm, or even
suicidal thoughts. So teens that sufferfrom loneliness can have difficulty forming healthy relationships
in the future, so that we'vegot our academic goals right staying healthy and
then friendships and the loneliness can makeit harder to practice forming friendships, and
(12:28):
it can lead to the development ofa negative self image and then feelings of
insecurity and a lack of self confidence, and these can have a lasting impact
on mental health and well being asa whole, even though we might just
necessarily want to withdraw from that stressorWell, that's a lot going on,
and that's a lot happening while ouryoung people are trying just to kind of
(12:52):
figure themselves out and figure out howthey work within their world and what their
place is and what it's going tobe. So I guess a bigger question
then, and one that probably hasan even greater answer than a lot of
the things we've talked about, ishow then do we support our teams without
them wanting to just keep us atcompletely arm's length, like, no,
(13:16):
you don't understand you. You're no, you don't understand me because you've never
you've never experienced what I've experienced goingthrough now as a team. So you
know, part of it is somethingthat you know, if you're feeling lowly
and socially isolated, really encouraging ourteams to participate in structured social activities,
(13:37):
clubs, sports, other extra curriculactivities. These can lead to the development
of social skills right, so thatit becomes easier for you to interact with
other people and also can help youdevelop more positive peer relationships. Additionally,
again we've talked about how this youknow, we're we have this balance of
(13:58):
wellness, physical health, mental health, social health. Regular physical activity and
exercise have actually been shown to reducethe impact and the feeling of loneliness.
When our body is really active,reproduce this natural thing called an endorphin,
which is like a natural mood booster, and this helps to combat negative emotions
(14:20):
like loneliness. So we've got thesocial activity, the physical activity, and
then we can also improve the homeenvironment. We can encourage that communication and
emotional support to try to prevent thefeelings of isolation that lead to develop lead
to developing feelings of loneliness. Also, talking about the social media right,
(14:41):
I mean for parents and caregivers,consider starting conversation about social media and how
best to use it right. Discussways to evaluate what it is that you're
seeing on social media, question thecontent and what our teens are seeing.
Parents could even lead by examples rightif you're asking your teens to limit their
(15:03):
social media use, you might wantto show that you're doing that too.
And if you do this together,you can have like a double benefit of
strengthening connection between yourself and your teamand developing camaraderie about the behavior change of
being mindful about how you're going toconsume social media content. On a societal
level, we might even work onimproving mental health resources and services to create
(15:28):
more inclusive and welcoming communities for teens. And going back to the social media,
part of it is to remind ourselvesand then also tell others that social
media is a tool and that's whatit is used for. It's not the
reality. It's used as a toolto achieve an end. At least that's
kind of what it's become. Ina lot of ways. So having some
(15:48):
context and having some good open discussionsabout what it is and what it's used
for can be very helpful. DoctorJeffrey Hopkins is with us today on the
Community check In. He's the seniormedical director of Behavioral Health that excel Us
Blue Cross, Blue Shield, andwe've been talking about loneliness and how it
impacts a couple of, you know, key demographics within our communities. That's
(16:10):
our senior community and our teens curiosityquestion. You know, it can often
be hard to get people in bothof those groups to accept help, to
want to engage in conversations that maybe personal. Maybe Ikey Finger quotes I
(16:34):
guess, how then, do weon the outside are ones that want to
give support, be they parents,be they caregivers, whatever role they're in,
give the right amount of support,of the right type of support without
being too forceful or pushing people furtheraway and into their loneliness as opposed to
wanting to help draw them out.I really think it goes back to being
(16:57):
a genuinely interested in finding out howsomebody else is doing. We call that
active listening. That's being present tohave a conversation with somebody and really listening
actively to a person who's lonely,and just doing that can provide immense relief
(17:18):
and support to the person who's experiencingloneliness, kind of encouraging them to express
their emotions, thoughts, and eventheir experiences related to loneliness without interrupting them
or judging them or telling that they'renot real, that's not how they really
feel. So it's crucial to callthat. We call that validation right where
you validate the feelings of a personwho's experiencing loneliness and then recognizing that it
(17:41):
can be really hard to manage allof the stuff that comes along with loneliness
and how we feel, so offeringthat empathy and support, demonstrating you care
and understand what the individuals going through, and then assure them that they're not
alone and that you'll be there forthem. This can make a really big
difference. Also, like we talkedabout before, encouraging social connections right,
(18:04):
trying to motivate the individual and supportthem to engage in some social activities and
form new relationships. Offer to assistthem right in locating groups or clubs that
share their interests, maybe even takingsome time out of your schedule and engaging
inactivities together. Participating inactivities that theindividual who's experiencing loneliness that they enjoy and
(18:29):
doing it together can be a concretestep at reducing loneliness and being able to
understand that if this loneliness is severeenough, right, it may lead to
emotional difficulties and you may need professionalassistance, encouraging the individual to consult a
mental health professional for guidance and supportif it's gotten to the point which it's
causing severe emotional difficulties and the abilityto manage your emotions or even function.
(18:53):
So we're putting a lot on everybodyelse around it. Of course, we
talk about you always have to makesure to take care of yourself. If
you're going to be taking care ofother people, parents and caregivers, they
have to practice self care to ensurethat their own mental and emotional health is
strong, so that taking care ofyourself can provide a reservoir of the necessary
(19:17):
energy, so that you can providesupport and assist individuals who are dealing with
loneliness that are in your own life, as in your own sphere, as
you are going to give that supportto others you have to be able to
also take that support from others aswell. It is a give and take
relationship there, and also to knowthat you're not going to step into fix
(19:37):
something that's not the attitude you wantto take, like I need to correct
this so I can move it frommy inbox to my outbox or into my
dun pile. Because it's never done. It's an ongoing relationship, and even
if you don't have success the firstgo around, you have to be willing
to keep trying again and again becauseit could be just that next one you
(20:00):
do that's going to start making somelevel of impact. And it goes back
to why it's important, I guessdoctor to understand like what loneliness is in
a general term, and those groupsof people that might need a little bit
more care or a little bit moreattention when it comes to dealing with the
(20:21):
symptoms, and also how to workagainst feeling that way all the time.
But really by taking a look andunderstanding the populations that are most affected by
loneliness, we can really develop targetedinterventions and focus the development of support systems
to assist these individuals in as reestablishing those meaningful relationships that enhance their overall
(20:45):
well being, and this could involvethe provision of social support groups, making
sure that people have access to mentalhealth resources, and the promotion of inclusive
communities that celebrate diversity and foster socialconnection. Yeah, we have just a
few minutes left to spend with doctorJeffrey Hopkins here on Community check In this
(21:07):
week, and I want to talkto about the resources that are available,
because again, loneliness can be experienced, can look different even in your peer
group, your family group, yourneighborhood group, and can look different.
It can be different. So you'vegot to have robust resources, and there
are robust resources that are available forpeople that want help and how to be
(21:32):
that the right kind of support.We all experience loneliness differently, and it's
important to know that there's lots ofresources available. One resource, if you're
a member of Excelist, Blue Cross, Blue Shield, we have behavioral healthcare
case managers who can provide support andconnect you with the resources that you need
(21:52):
to improve your wellness. You canreach them by dialing on your phone eight
seven seven two two two one twofour zero. That's eight seven seven two
two two one two four zero.If you're experiencing emotional difficulties due to loneliness.
You should also feel free and knowthat you can get support from your
primary care physician. If you're lookingto get more information, either to give
(22:18):
to a loved one or to learnmore yourself, or if you're a caregiver
or a healthcare provider, you canaccess some great information at NIA dot nih
dot gov slash CTC toolkit and alsothe National there's a national helpline provided by
the Substance Abuse and Mental Health ServicesAdministration, which is confidential. It's open
(22:41):
twenty four hours a day, everyday of the year, and it has
services in English and Spanish. Andthat number is one eight hundred four eight
seven four eight eight nine. Andjust in our last few seconds here,
just to kind of encapsulate everything we'vetalked about in both part one and Part
(23:02):
two of our series. Loneliness canbe experienced by a variety of age groups.
It can span the gamut, Itcan manifest itself in different ways.
It can impact many aspects of youroverall wellness. Last, I'm going to
have you land the plane for ushere. Doctor. I mean, if
(23:22):
you're feeling this, it might beeasy just to say this is how I
feel, and it's going to betoo scary or ikey to try something else.
I don't want to make that firststep. Is it possible or do
we really need to extend a handto say, look, I'm struggling,
(23:44):
can you do anything for me?And maybe that's as simple as a conversation
can start. Jo. I thinkit's important that we do, you know,
learn to reach out and ask forhelp and understand that loneliness is a
serious shoot that we all have.We all experience it at some time,
and being able to have some help, someone help you, either to talk
(24:07):
about it, to come up witha plan, or just to recognize the
impact that's having on you is thefirst step that can allow you to combat
it and to understand that loneliness doesn'thave to continue. It's something that we
can take multiple small steps to reduce, and there's lots of support out there.
Doctor Jeffrey Hopkins is Senior medical Directorof Behavioral Health at excel Us Blue
(24:29):
Cross, Blue Shield. Doctor,it's always good to catch up with you.
Thanks for joining us on the checkin. Thank you so much for
having me, Joe, Thanks forjoining us on community check in. A
presentation of excel US Blue Cross,Blue Shield at iHeartRadio. Podcasts of community
check in are available on the iHeartRadioapp or wherever you find your favorite audio
content. For more ways to staysafe, healthy, and educated, visit
(24:53):
excel us bcbs dot com and followon Instagram and Facebook
Welcome to excel Us Blue Cross BlueShields Community check In. Each week we
cover a specific topic featuring Excellis BlueCross Blue Shield experts. You'll get to
know our team as we discuss thelatest in healthcare, health education, and
community health. Find us at excelUs BCBS dot com and follow on Instagram
(00:26):
and Facebook. I'm Joelomonico and welcometo the check In. We are back
with our second of a two partseries on the health impacts of loneliness,
and we are joined again by doctorJeffrey Hopkins. To discuss the effects of
loneliness on specific populations is what we'regoing to talk about this time. Who
may experience loneliness the most? DoctorHopkins, welcome back, Good to see
(00:48):
you again. It's great to behere. Joe. Doctor Hopkins is a
Senior medical director of Behavioral Health forExcellis Blue Cross Blue Shield. He's also
Board certified in Child and Adolescent Psychiatryand Adult psychiatry by the American Board of
Psychiatry and Neurology and a member ofthe Onondaga County Medical Society. Now,
if you missed part one of ourseries, we're going to do just a
(01:08):
little bit of a step back beforewe move forward. We talked about what
loneliness is, doctor and how itimpacts our health, and also how we
might prevent or treat loneliness if weexperience it. So I want to run
through some of those key things againto kind of catch people up on our
discussion. Of course, Joe soat its simplest, loneliness really results from
(01:30):
a lack of social connection. Therecan be a bunch of causes for it,
like major life transitions, social isolation, cultural and social factors, or
even technology. When your social wellnessis out of balance, it can impact
all of the areas of your healthand wellness, especially your physical and emotional
(01:52):
wellness, and this could lead toa cascade of significant health impacts like depression,
anxiety, or even increase the likelihoodexperiencing chronic medical conditions like heart disease
or high blood pressure. But thereare ways to address loneliness by strengthening your
social network and your connection to thecommunity. All right. As we mentioned
(02:12):
last week, this is a topicthat I think you think you have a
hand a lot, but you're probablyonly just understanding a small piece of it,
which is why this has been agreat conversation for us to have about
how loneliness can impact and manifest inso many different ways. So now we
get to dig in a little bitdeeper this week and get a little bit
more specific. Are there populations thatyou see that are more likely to experience
(02:37):
what they would consider to be lonelinessor how may they might look at themselves
as being lonely? Jo? Yeah, there are. There's two populations that
are really impacted by loneliness. Onewe could make a good guess about seniors
and then the other teams, eventhough they're highly social row need to connect,
they can experience loneliness at higher levelsthan the general population. In fact,
(03:01):
the journal Nature, they found thatthe frequency of loneliness is highest in
young adulthood, and that it declinesin adulthood and earlier old age, and
that increases as we progress further intoold age. Also, people with disabilities,
immigrants, and members of the LGBTQplus community can also be more likely
(03:21):
to experience social stigma, discrimination,and rejection, with reduced opportunities to connect
with others and develop those necessary supportiverelationships that then can lead to loneliness.
Interesting that for some populations it's sortof an inverted Bell curve about how loneliness
works. Okay, well, thenlet's start at the top end of that
(03:43):
curve with our senior population. Whydo they experience loneliness at higher rates than
people who are ten to twenty maybethirty years younger than them. So,
just to start off with that,National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine
noted that nearly one fourth of adultssixty five and older are considered to be
socially isolated, increasing their risk fordeveloping loneliness. And there's a lot of
(04:08):
factors that go into contributing to lonelinessfor seniors. First, as we might
guess, many seniors are retired andthey experience a loss of that social connectedness
that they had through their employment.And this loss of social connection can then
be exacerbated if health issues make itdifficult for you to leave the house,
further reducing your opportunities for social interaction. Loss the loss of a spouse or
(04:31):
a partner can be another factor.If and you're an individual and you're more
likely to lose a spouse as youage, which can happen to all of
us, this can lead to asense of social isolation. In addition,
seniors can face financial barriers to socialconnection. Right if you have a fixed
income, it can make it difficultfor you to participate in social activities they
(04:55):
require you to spend money. Thenthis can again exacerbate social withdrawal and lead
to the development of loneliness. Soit's essential to recognize that loneliness among seniors
is not only a matter of personalhealth, but it's also a public health
issue. As we mentioned before,isolation and loneliness can be associated with a
(05:15):
lot of negative health outcomes, likeincreased rates of chronic diseases and cognitive issues.
So loneliness can exacerbate mental health conditionstoo and lead to the development of
depression and anxiety in that population.Maybe you won't think about it until you
reach that population, or you getinto it on the outside looking in.
One white suspect, you're retired,you are no longer working, You now
(05:39):
have time, you now have somecontrol in your life back, and you
can start doing the things that younever had the ability to do because you
had to earn a living or raisea family. But it can oftentimes be
just the opposite. With all ofthat opportunity comes in a lot more ability
for those connections to be severed ornot maintain the way they were in your
(06:00):
working life, or other factors tobe working against you. Now you have
all the time and maybe not themeans. So how do we support our
senior population both Let's say, youknow, within our families, within our
communities, I mean there's a lotof different places we can make an impact.
Well, there's definite things that wecan do to support our seniors.
We can provide individuals with resources andsupports to help them maintain and build their
(06:25):
social connections. How would we dothat. We can connect individuals with community
organizations like senior centers and volunteer groupsthat offer opportunities for social participation. Remember,
volunteering is a great solution that's beenassociated with a reduced risk of loneliness
among older adults, as it's asocial opportunity and nourishes that sense of purpose
(06:47):
and improves your feelings of self worth. Where might you look? A great
place to start looking for volunteer opportunitiesis through your local chapter of the United
Way. There's also virtual social platformsthat offer seniors a new way to connect
with family and friends and that canhelp maintain that social connection. If there
are long periods when you're experiencing socialisolation. And then another often overlooked pillar
(07:13):
of support for seniors is healthcare providersthat can play a really important part in
addressing loneliness. Providers can screen forloneliness during routine appointments and also connect individuals
with resources and supports. Medicare evenhas expanded coverage for social services that can
address social determinants of health, includingloneliness and social isolation. So there are
(07:35):
some pretty clear ways that we canhelp seniors and their families or caregivers to
address feelings of loneliness. And Ithink understanding that negative health impacts of loneliness
can help highlight and develop a senseof urgency that we need to make sure
resources for social connection are readily availableso we can help the senior population improve
(07:59):
their overall health and well being.Doctor Jeffrey Hopkins is our guest this week
on the Community check In. He'ssenior medical director of Behavioral Health that excel
Us Blue Cross, Blue Shield.This is the second part of our discussion
on the topic of loneliness. DoctorHopkins is also certified in child and adolescent
psychiatry, so we're going to goto the opposite end of the spectrum.
Now we've talked about our seniors.Now let's talk about our young people,
(08:20):
especially our teens. How have youseen them experiencing loneliness? And what is
modern society and technology doing to contributeto what our teens are already going through
as a very turbulent and tumultuous timejust in their physiological development, let alone
(08:43):
their social development. During our teenageyears, we're undergoing so many physical,
psychological and social changes and this leadsto the search for identity like who am
I? Developing a greater sense ofindependence and self discovery. This creates a
real complex environment for teens, whichdoes increase their risk for developing loneliness.
(09:05):
Then there's a lot of reasons whyteens can experience it. Some things are
very obvious like moving to a newlocation, switching schools, losing friends,
new friend groups, These can allincrease it. And then also teens are
very high risk of experiencing social anxietyand that can and shyness, so that
that can make it hard to initiateand maintain those social connections and make it
(09:28):
more challenging for teens. What aboutthe modern world, Well, a particularly
pressing factor is the impact of socialmedia on teens. It's created this kind
of paradox or unexpected situation where teenagersare more connected digitally than ever before,
but they also feel isolated and lonelierthan ever before. It's so easy for
(09:52):
all of us, especially teens,to kind of like scroll endlessly and constantly
compare ourselves and their bodies and whatlooks perfect on social increasing their sense of
inadequacy or feeling like they don't wantto connect with somebody else. And teens
may also be impacted more because they'reexperiencing all of these developmental changes that we
talked about. So, according toa twenty twenty one study from Common Sense
(10:16):
Media and the Hope LAP, youngpeople with moderate to severe depressive symptoms,
we're found to use social media farmore frequently than others their age. So
there may be a connection between relyingon social media, not having those individual
connections, and then putting yourself atmore risk for developing emotional problems. Going
(10:37):
through adolescents as an adolescent is probablyone of the worst design flaws of human
beings. That you know, yourbrains aren't even fully developed by that point,
and you're being thrust into all ofthese things and all of these wild
changes, and it's very difficult toreally understand and get a handle on it.
Then you're getting messages coming in fromall sorts of directions from school group
(11:00):
and family group and peer group insocial media, and there's so much there.
Perhaps, doctor, would you agreethat maybe the natural defense mechanism that
we as human beings have is tosometimes retreat. We don't want to face
these things head on. We don'twant to deal with them immediately. We
just want to find ourselves our ownlittle cocoon and kind of shrink back into
(11:20):
it. And we do. Andwhile that's a natural response when we're faced
with stress to withdraw get away fromwhatever it is, it's making it difficult.
There's two huge things that teams haveto do in their teenage years.
One, they have to go toschools. They have all these academic demands,
and loneliness can affect your ability tohave a positive attitude and avoid depression
(11:45):
and anxiety. It also can erodeor take away from your physical health,
which makes it harder to succeed inschool. So that there's this correlation between
adolescent isolation elevated levels of stress,anxiety, depression, and then pourer outcomes.
So and even you could imagine theanxiety and depression and emotions like that
(12:07):
could lead to destructive coping strategies likesubstance use, self harm, or even
suicidal thoughts. So teens that sufferfrom loneliness can have difficulty forming healthy relationships
in the future, so that we'vegot our academic goals right staying healthy and
then friendships and the loneliness can makeit harder to practice forming friendships, and
(12:28):
it can lead to the development ofa negative self image and then feelings of
insecurity and a lack of self confidence, and these can have a lasting impact
on mental health and well being asa whole, even though we might just
necessarily want to withdraw from that stressorWell, that's a lot going on,
and that's a lot happening while ouryoung people are trying just to kind of
(12:52):
figure themselves out and figure out howthey work within their world and what their
place is and what it's going tobe. So I guess a bigger question
then, and one that probably hasan even greater answer than a lot of
the things we've talked about, ishow then do we support our teams without
them wanting to just keep us atcompletely arm's length, like, no,
(13:16):
you don't understand you. You're no, you don't understand me because you've never
you've never experienced what I've experienced goingthrough now as a team. So you
know, part of it is somethingthat you know, if you're feeling lowly
and socially isolated, really encouraging ourteams to participate in structured social activities,
(13:37):
clubs, sports, other extra curriculactivities. These can lead to the development
of social skills right, so thatit becomes easier for you to interact with
other people and also can help youdevelop more positive peer relationships. Additionally,
again we've talked about how this youknow, we're we have this balance of
(13:58):
wellness, physical health, mental health, social health. Regular physical activity and
exercise have actually been shown to reducethe impact and the feeling of loneliness.
When our body is really active,reproduce this natural thing called an endorphin,
which is like a natural mood booster, and this helps to combat negative emotions
(14:20):
like loneliness. So we've got thesocial activity, the physical activity, and
then we can also improve the homeenvironment. We can encourage that communication and
emotional support to try to prevent thefeelings of isolation that lead to develop lead
to developing feelings of loneliness. Also, talking about the social media right,
(14:41):
I mean for parents and caregivers,consider starting conversation about social media and how
best to use it right. Discussways to evaluate what it is that you're
seeing on social media, question thecontent and what our teens are seeing.
Parents could even lead by examples rightif you're asking your teens to limit their
(15:03):
social media use, you might wantto show that you're doing that too.
And if you do this together,you can have like a double benefit of
strengthening connection between yourself and your teamand developing camaraderie about the behavior change of
being mindful about how you're going toconsume social media content. On a societal
level, we might even work onimproving mental health resources and services to create
(15:28):
more inclusive and welcoming communities for teens. And going back to the social media,
part of it is to remind ourselvesand then also tell others that social
media is a tool and that's whatit is used for. It's not the
reality. It's used as a toolto achieve an end. At least that's
kind of what it's become. Ina lot of ways. So having some
(15:48):
context and having some good open discussionsabout what it is and what it's used
for can be very helpful. DoctorJeffrey Hopkins is with us today on the
Community check In. He's the seniormedical director of Behavioral Health that excel Us
Blue Cross, Blue Shield, andwe've been talking about loneliness and how it
impacts a couple of, you know, key demographics within our communities. That's
(16:10):
our senior community and our teens curiosityquestion. You know, it can often
be hard to get people in bothof those groups to accept help, to
want to engage in conversations that maybe personal. Maybe Ikey Finger quotes I
(16:34):
guess, how then, do weon the outside are ones that want to
give support, be they parents,be they caregivers, whatever role they're in,
give the right amount of support,of the right type of support without
being too forceful or pushing people furtheraway and into their loneliness as opposed to
wanting to help draw them out.I really think it goes back to being
(16:57):
a genuinely interested in finding out howsomebody else is doing. We call that
active listening. That's being present tohave a conversation with somebody and really listening
actively to a person who's lonely,and just doing that can provide immense relief
(17:18):
and support to the person who's experiencingloneliness, kind of encouraging them to express
their emotions, thoughts, and eventheir experiences related to loneliness without interrupting them
or judging them or telling that they'renot real, that's not how they really
feel. So it's crucial to callthat. We call that validation right where
you validate the feelings of a personwho's experiencing loneliness and then recognizing that it
(17:41):
can be really hard to manage allof the stuff that comes along with loneliness
and how we feel, so offeringthat empathy and support, demonstrating you care
and understand what the individuals going through, and then assure them that they're not
alone and that you'll be there forthem. This can make a really big
difference. Also, like we talkedabout before, encouraging social connections right,
(18:04):
trying to motivate the individual and supportthem to engage in some social activities and
form new relationships. Offer to assistthem right in locating groups or clubs that
share their interests, maybe even takingsome time out of your schedule and engaging
inactivities together. Participating inactivities that theindividual who's experiencing loneliness that they enjoy and
(18:29):
doing it together can be a concretestep at reducing loneliness and being able to
understand that if this loneliness is severeenough, right, it may lead to
emotional difficulties and you may need professionalassistance, encouraging the individual to consult a
mental health professional for guidance and supportif it's gotten to the point which it's
causing severe emotional difficulties and the abilityto manage your emotions or even function.
(18:53):
So we're putting a lot on everybodyelse around it. Of course, we
talk about you always have to makesure to take care of yourself. If
you're going to be taking care ofother people, parents and caregivers, they
have to practice self care to ensurethat their own mental and emotional health is
strong, so that taking care ofyourself can provide a reservoir of the necessary
(19:17):
energy, so that you can providesupport and assist individuals who are dealing with
loneliness that are in your own life, as in your own sphere, as
you are going to give that supportto others you have to be able to
also take that support from others aswell. It is a give and take
relationship there, and also to knowthat you're not going to step into fix
(19:37):
something that's not the attitude you wantto take, like I need to correct
this so I can move it frommy inbox to my outbox or into my
dun pile. Because it's never done. It's an ongoing relationship, and even
if you don't have success the firstgo around, you have to be willing
to keep trying again and again becauseit could be just that next one you
(20:00):
do that's going to start making somelevel of impact. And it goes back
to why it's important, I guessdoctor to understand like what loneliness is in
a general term, and those groupsof people that might need a little bit
more care or a little bit moreattention when it comes to dealing with the
(20:21):
symptoms, and also how to workagainst feeling that way all the time.
But really by taking a look andunderstanding the populations that are most affected by
loneliness, we can really develop targetedinterventions and focus the development of support systems
to assist these individuals in as reestablishing those meaningful relationships that enhance their overall
(20:45):
well being, and this could involvethe provision of social support groups, making
sure that people have access to mentalhealth resources, and the promotion of inclusive
communities that celebrate diversity and foster socialconnection. Yeah, we have just a
few minutes left to spend with doctorJeffrey Hopkins here on Community check In this
(21:07):
week, and I want to talkto about the resources that are available,
because again, loneliness can be experienced, can look different even in your peer
group, your family group, yourneighborhood group, and can look different.
It can be different. So you'vegot to have robust resources, and there
are robust resources that are available forpeople that want help and how to be
(21:32):
that the right kind of support.We all experience loneliness differently, and it's
important to know that there's lots ofresources available. One resource, if you're
a member of Excelist, Blue Cross, Blue Shield, we have behavioral healthcare
case managers who can provide support andconnect you with the resources that you need
(21:52):
to improve your wellness. You canreach them by dialing on your phone eight
seven seven two two two one twofour zero. That's eight seven seven two
two two one two four zero.If you're experiencing emotional difficulties due to loneliness.
You should also feel free and knowthat you can get support from your
primary care physician. If you're lookingto get more information, either to give
(22:18):
to a loved one or to learnmore yourself, or if you're a caregiver
or a healthcare provider, you canaccess some great information at NIA dot nih
dot gov slash CTC toolkit and alsothe National there's a national helpline provided by
the Substance Abuse and Mental Health ServicesAdministration, which is confidential. It's open
(22:41):
twenty four hours a day, everyday of the year, and it has
services in English and Spanish. Andthat number is one eight hundred four eight
seven four eight eight nine. Andjust in our last few seconds here,
just to kind of encapsulate everything we'vetalked about in both part one and Part
(23:02):
two of our series. Loneliness canbe experienced by a variety of age groups.
It can span the gamut, Itcan manifest itself in different ways.
It can impact many aspects of youroverall wellness. Last, I'm going to
have you land the plane for ushere. Doctor. I mean, if
(23:22):
you're feeling this, it might beeasy just to say this is how I
feel, and it's going to betoo scary or ikey to try something else.
I don't want to make that firststep. Is it possible or do
we really need to extend a handto say, look, I'm struggling,
(23:44):
can you do anything for me?And maybe that's as simple as a conversation
can start. Jo. I thinkit's important that we do, you know,
learn to reach out and ask forhelp and understand that loneliness is a
serious shoot that we all have.We all experience it at some time,
and being able to have some help, someone help you, either to talk
(24:07):
about it, to come up witha plan, or just to recognize the
impact that's having on you is thefirst step that can allow you to combat
it and to understand that loneliness doesn'thave to continue. It's something that we
can take multiple small steps to reduce, and there's lots of support out there.
Doctor Jeffrey Hopkins is Senior medical Directorof Behavioral Health at excel Us Blue
(24:29):
Cross, Blue Shield. Doctor,it's always good to catch up with you.
Thanks for joining us on the checkin. Thank you so much for
having me, Joe, Thanks forjoining us on community check in. A
presentation of excel US Blue Cross,Blue Shield at iHeartRadio. Podcasts of community
check in are available on the iHeartRadioapp or wherever you find your favorite audio
content. For more ways to staysafe, healthy, and educated, visit
(24:53):
excel us bcbs dot com and followon Instagram and Facebook
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