The portrayal of loneliness in in the UK has changed over the last decade. The established representation of loneliness was as a social problem of old age. The existence of loneliness among older people has been used by politicians to castigate their citizens for a lack of ‘care’ for older people, and which has generated an intense preoccupation in the media and age-related charities. Since 2010 loneliness (in later life) has been redefined as a public health problem and presenting as causing a range of adverse health consequences for older people. The media has now framed the loneliness ‘epidemic’ as potentially ‘crippling’ the health service given excessive use due to loneliness. Such is the perceived magnitude of the concern over loneliness that in early 2018 the UK created a Minister for Loneliness. In this symposium we adopt a critical and empirically focused approach to the evidence underpinning the debate about loneliness in later life in contemporary society. Victor will examine the empirical evidence that loneliness ‘causes’ excess service use whilst Smith will evaluate evidence linking loneliness and inflammation. Valtorta will critically review the epidemiological evidence linking loneliness to morbidity and mortality, and consider how this evidence is being used to underpin intervention strategies in the UK. Sullivan will provide an in-depth exploration of loneliness representations in the media and disentangle the public narrative whilst Nelson-Becker will explore disenfranchised loneliness, the loneliness emergent from loss, trauma, and dying narratives that friends and family often cannot hear, accept, or acknowledge.
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