Loneliness and Social Isolation: Podcast with Carla Perissinotto and Ashwin Kotwal
episode
GeriPal - A Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Podcast
40 min
5 speakers
8 chapters
transcribed 2 days ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What is the difference between loneliness and social isolation?
The JerryPow podcast is brought to you by Artstone Foundation, improving the health and well-being of older Californians and their caregivers. Welcome to the Jerry Powell podcast. This is Eric Radera. This is Alex Smith. And Alex, we had a couple week break, but we're back on. Who do we have with us today?
Back, and we're delighted to welcome Carla Pericinotto, who is a geriatrician and palliative care physician, professor of medicine at UCSF in the division of geriatrics. Welcome to the Jerry Powell podcast, Carla. Thanks. Nice to see you all. And we're delighted to welcome back Ashwin Kutwal, who is a geriatrician and palliative care physician as well, and is also a researcher and is assistant professor in the UCSF division of geriatrics. Welcome back, Ashwin.
Thanks, great to be here.
We're gonna be talking about uh loneliness and social isolation and older adults and those with serious illness. But before we go into the topic, Carla, I think you got a song request, don't you?
I do. I specifically requested Eleanor Rigby from The Beatles. Um, it's pretty neat to see a song that's been around for a while that actually talks um that really touches on loneliness and lonely people. So uh felt quite appropriate.
Mm-hmm. And amazing that Paul McCartney wrote this at 24, such a mature song for such a young person. Uh here's a little bit.
Eleanor Rigby picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been. Lives in a dream, waits at the window, wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door. Who is it for all the lonely people? Where do they all come from? All the lonely people, where do they all belong? Father McKinsey writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear. No one comes near, look at him working, darning his socks in the night when there's nobody there. What does he care? All the lonely people, where do they all come from? All the lonely people, where do they all belong? Oh look at all the lonely people. Oh look at all the lonely people.
I love it when the song perfectly aligns to the topic at hand. You're welcome. Joyce Carla. Okay, Carla, I got a question for you. This may be a really stupid question, so I apologize. In advance, loneliness, social isolation. What is it? What's the difference? How should we think about these two topics?
Yeah, so I actually don't think it's a stupid question because we get it wrong all the time and we use the terms interchangeably. And if you read things on the news or in the media or in papers, they're used interchangeably. Um, they are related, they can coexist, but they are different things. And what I mean by that is loneliness is really something that's subjective. So it is how you are feeling. Do you feel that you are missing connections, that you're isolated? It's also something that's distressing. And the importance of saying that it's distressing is because some people are quote unquote alone but aren't distressed by it. Social isolation in contrast is really about something that's very quantifiable in terms of the number of relationships and people and contacts that people have.
Um, you can also think about it together if you look at both of the terms together, calling it social disconnection, which really will encompass both loneliness and isolation.
Um,
and there's there's so much more detail we can talk about it in terms of types of loneliness, but I think it's really important that we know those two things up front and get that term straight, those terms straight.
And I think because of loneliness being a feeling, um, it can really play into some of the assumptions that we want to avoid. So it's like, you know, if you have people around you, you don't feel lonely. We know that that's not the case, that you know, the popular phrase is you can feel lonely in a crowd. So, you know, many people who are even married may feel lonely.
Um,
and similarly with social isolation, you know, we really need to think about what are the resources that people can reach out to, those social resources um that people can rely on.
You said something interesting, Carla.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the difference between loneliness and social isolation?
0:01–4:45
2
How common are loneliness and isolation among older adults and those at the end of life?
4:45–10:05
3
Why should clinicians care about loneliness and social isolation?
10:05–15:27
4
What practical questions can clinicians ask to screen for loneliness and isolation?
15:27–20:35
5
Which assessment tools are recommended for measuring loneliness and social isolation?
20:35–25:56
6
How can clinicians intervene effectively once loneliness or isolation is identified?
25:56–30:52
7
What community‑based programs and peer‑support models help reduce loneliness?
30:52–36:03
8
If we had unlimited funding, what single initiative could most improve social well‑being for older adults?
36:03–40:47
Speakers
5 identifiedMore from GeriPal - A Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Podcast
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