I am a veteran reporter covering family issues, including health and medicine. I have over the decades also covered poverty, human services, religion and technology, but medicine and health have accounted for the bulk of my career. I am married, have two teens and live in Salt Lake.
When I tackled the topic of loneliness as a 2013 National Health Journalism Fellowship project, I honestly didn't think it would be hard to find people who were lonely so that I could write about the issue. I was right and wrong.
Childhood cancers, behavior-impacting disabilities like autism, extremely brittle bones or compromised immune systems are just some of the conditions that may leave kids — and by extension, their families — feeling lonely.
For refugees, homesickness & loneliness are often inseparable — symptoms hard to untangle. Refugees in the throes of loneliness and social isolation may suffer depression, lethargy, headaches, exhaustion and more. It makes it harder to learn needed skills like language or cultural understanding.
