History of Sciences and Ideas, University of Oulu , Oulu, Finland.
Gender Studies, University of Oulu , Oulu, Finland.
Int J Qual Stud Health Well-being. 2020 Dec;15(1):1838101. doi: 10.1080/17482631.2020.1838101.
If a person experiences both loneliness and mental ill health, it may have severe effects on a person's wellbeing and functioning. This study explored the ways in which loneliness may be entangled with mental ill health and the factors that contribute to the development of such entanglements.
The study participants were women from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 study, who, in 2001-2002, responded to the survey about being very lonely at the age of 15-16. Women (n = 17) were interviewed again at age 27-28 with semi-structured interviews. Data was analysed with thematic analysis.
Loneliness and mental ill health formed four types of entanglements: Entanglement 1 (E1): "Loneliness periodically evoked depressive feelings"; E2: "Loneliness and depressive feelings formed an ongoing spiral"; E3: "Loneliness and diagnosed depression/serious emotional disturbance formed periodic spirals;" and E4: "Serious emotional disturbance/mental illness and loneliness formed an ongoing, difficult spiral." Social adversities like unsafe family environment, lack of close friends, and school violence contributed to the development of Entanglements 1-3. In Entanglement 4, serious mental health disorder caused loneliness.
Loneliness was centrally linked to mental health issues in the present study and should be taken into consideration when providing mental health prevention and treatment.
如果一个人同时经历孤独和心理健康问题，这可能会对其身心健康和功能产生严重影响。本研究探讨了孤独可能与心理健康问题交织在一起的方式，以及导致这种交织的因素。
研究参与者是来自芬兰北部出生队列 1986 研究的女性，她们在 2001-2002 年对 15-16 岁时非常孤独的调查做出了回应。女性（n=17）在 27-28 岁时再次进行了半结构化访谈。采用主题分析对数据进行分析。
孤独和心理健康问题形成了四种类型的交织：交织 1（E1）：“孤独周期性地引起抑郁情绪”；E2：“孤独和抑郁情绪形成了一个持续的螺旋”；E3：“孤独和诊断出的抑郁症/严重情绪障碍形成周期性的螺旋”；E4：“严重情绪障碍/精神疾病和孤独形成持续的、困难的螺旋”。不安全的家庭环境、缺乏亲密朋友和校园暴力等社会逆境促成了交织 1-3 的发展。在交织 4 中，严重的精神健康障碍导致了孤独。
在本研究中，孤独与心理健康问题密切相关，在提供心理健康预防和治疗时应予以考虑。
