Meaghan Barlow

Difficult circumstances often bring people closer together. But a new Concordia study published in Health Psychology has found that the onset of chronic illness often results in sufferers feeling lonelier — even for those who have had a steady partner for 50 years or more.

Researchers at the Personality, Aging, and Health Lab at Concordia took on the study because they found that, while plenty of research examined the effect of loneliness on illness, there was a lack of empirical evidence about whether or not illness contributes to loneliness.

“We were surprised by the amount of literature that examined whether people who are lonely are more likely to get sick,” says Meaghan Barlow, the study’s first author. “Yet none of them asked the opposite question: ‘Do sick people get lonely?’”

Barlow collaborated with PhD candidate Sarah Liu, and psychology professor Carsten Wrosch, into the effects of illness on a person's sense of social isolation. The study was reported on in outlets including: Canarias 7, Valencia Plaza, Health Day, @Hon, Drugs.com, Psych Central, Toronto Telegraph, Health News Network, Health Canal, Vancouverdesi.com and Canoe.