Definition
The tendency to isolation and the loss of contact with the outside world are manifestations that characterize particular conditions, such as depression, schizophrenia and autism.
Depression is characterized by a sad, persistent mood, with psychomotor slowing, anhedonia (deprivation of hedonism), isolation and somatic signs (insomnia, loss of appetite, headache, digestive disorders, etc.).
Autism is a neuropsychic infantile disorder characterized, instead, by the lack of connection with external reality. This can cause serious problems in the ability to communicate, to enter into relationships with people and to adapt to the environment.
Isolation can occur in those suffering from schizophrenia and social phobia. The latter manifests itself in an intense state of anxiety triggered by relational situations considered embarrassing, in which a humiliating judgment is feared. The person has little self-confidence and is dominated by a sense of inferiority that manifests itself with isolation behaviors to avoid anxiety-provoking events and situations.
Isolation is a symptom to be determined by both "structural" aspects (such as, for example, living alone and the scarcity of social relations), and "functional" (such as the lack of emotional support). In older people, social isolation is also related to the decline of cognitive abilities and, more generally, to a worse state of mental and physical health.
Possible Causes * of social isolation
- Alcoholism
- Autism
- Vascular dementia
- Major depression
- Postpartum depression
- Dysthymia
- Bipolar disorder
- Cyclothymic disorder
- Borderline Personality Disorder
- Avoidant Personality Disorder
- Narcissistic Personality Disorder
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
- Obesity
- Schizophrenia
- Asperger syndrome
