By Avram Goldstein, California Health Care Foundation, August 2, 2021
In this extraordinary era of pandemic isolation, social distancing, and masking, it makes perfect sense that loneliness and its impact on mental and physical health would garner literary attention. Vivek Murthy, MD, MBA, the US surgeon general, released a book early in the pandemic saying America is experiencing a loneliness epidemic. Murthy reported that chronic loneliness works this way: Persistent stress increases inflammation that damages tissues and blood vessels, increasing risk of cardiovascular illness and death. It can interfere with the function of the immune system and make high blood pressure, obesity, and other conditions more likely, Murthy said.
In her new graphic nonfiction book Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness, artist-writer Kristen Radtke takes a qualitative look at the emotional dimensions of this daunting subject. Her illustrations, musings, and reminiscences explore “the space between the relationships you have and the relationships you want.” She ponders the roots of the peculiarly American form of social isolation.
“Loneliness is often exacerbated by a perception that one is lonely while everyone else is connected,” Radtke wrote. “It’s exaggerated by a sensation of being outside something that others seem to be in on: a family, a couple, a friendship, a joke. Perhaps now we can learn how flawed that kind of thinking is, because loneliness is one of the most universal things any person can feel.”
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