The Handbook of Loneliness

The problem of loneliness has increased dramatically over the last 25 years. Loneliness presents a threat to the mental, emotional, and even physical well-being of the lonely individual. This statement is borne out in much research, and the alarming threat that loneliness presents is such that the U.S. Surgeon General issued an 82-page advisory in 2023 on what he called an “epidemic” of loneliness. Here in this Handbook of Loneliness, are gathered experts on loneliness from all over the world, in multiple disciplines, in which they discuss the results of their research and that of their colleagues on a wide range of topics related to understanding loneliness. The Springer Handbook of Loneliness is an invaluable reference for anyone seeking a wide-ranging, deeper understanding of the causes and effects of loneliness, and how loneliness can be reduced.

Part I. Theoretical Perspectives.- Chapter 1. Subjective Disconnection: An Attachment Perspective.- Chapter 2. The Evolutionary Theory of Loneliness.- Part II. Assessing and Measuring Loneliness.- Chapter 3. The Measurement of Loneliness: An Obituary (and How to Move On).- Chapter 4. Disciplinary and Methodological Pluralism in Loneliness Studies.- Part III. Personality and Loneliness.- Chapter 5. Pathological narcissism and loneliness.- Chapter 6. Loneliness and Dark Personality.- Part IV. Covid-19 and Loneliness.- Chapter 7. Impact of COVID-19 Policy Stringency and Lockdown on Loneliness.- Chapter 8. Loneliness before and after the COVID-19 pandemic.- Part V. Economic and Political Impact of Loneliness.- Chapter 9. Financial Inclusion and Loneliness in Old Age: An Overview and Some Empirical Evidence from Ghana.- Chapter 10. Connecting the Dots: Perceived Organizational Politics, Green Creativity, and the Experience of Workplace Loneliness.- Chapter 11. Loneliness and Political Behavior.- Part VI. Genetics of Loneliness.- Chapter 12. Disrupted sociocognitive neural responses in loneliness.- Chapter 13. Behavior Genetic Analysis of Loneliness.- Part VII. Physiological Effects of Loneliness.- Chapter 14. Loneliness and Health.- Chapter 15. The Endocrinology of Loneliness and Social Isolation.- Chapter 16. The link between loneliness and social isolation with inflammation.- Chapter 17. Biological Pathways Linking Loneliness to Physical Health.- Part VIII. Effects of Loneliness on Mental Health.- Chapter 18. The Stigma Associated with Loneliness: What it is, why we Care, and What we Can do About it.- Chapter 19. Loneliness Among Adults with Serious Mental Illness.- Chapter 20. Aggression and loneliness.- Chapter 21. Loneliness: Coping & Flourishing.- Part IX. Loneliness in Specific Groups.- Chapter 22. Loneliness among LGBTQ+ communities.- Part X.  Influence of Social Media on Loneliness.- Chapter 23. Loneliness and social media use: do motives for using social media matter?.- Chapter 24. Together and yet apart. The phubbing and loneliness.- Chapter 25. A Psychological Perspective on the Complex Interplay Between Loneliness and Cyberbullying .- Part XI.  Loneliness Across Cultures.- Chapter 26. What makes us (less) lonely across the globe? Causes and remedies for loneliness in different cultures.- Part XII. Loneliness Over the Lifespan.- Chapter 27. Owner of a Lonely Mind: Loneliness and Theory of Mind in Adolescents.- Chapter 28. Loneliness at the End of Life.- Chapter 29. Loneliness and Risk of Dementia: Moderators, Mediators, and Future Directions.- Chapter 30. Loneliness in Older Veterans.- Part XIII. Interventions to Reduce Loneliness.- Chapter 31. A Social Cure for Loneliness.- Chapter 32. Interventions for Social Isolation and Loneliness in Later Life: Considering the Needs of Family Caregivers.- Part XIV. Epilogue.- Chapter 33. Epilogue and future directions for loneliness research.

Todd Nelson, Ph.D., is a professor of psychology, teaching at California State University-Stanislaus for the last 30 years. His research specialization is prejudice and stereotyping with a focus on ageism. He is the co-author of The Psychology of Prejudice (3^rd Ed.),(2024). He has edited scholarly volumes for the last 23 years on Prejudice, Ageism, and with this Handbook, on his newest research interest area of Loneliness.