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| Published: March 23, 2021
Psychological impact of social isolation: does an evolutionary viewpoint make a better sense?
Department of Environmental Science, Vivekananda College, Thakurpukur, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Google Scholar More about the auther
DIP: 18.01.079/20210901
DOI: 10.25215/0901.079
ABSTRACT
Socially disconnected humans are known to function poorly. Social isolation often results in debilitating mental and physical ailments, and increased risk of death. With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing a breakdown of social activities, across the world there is an increased report of people suffering from psychological ailments. India is no exception. Typically, these ailments are considered illnesses and therefore, treated with medicines and/or counselling therapies. However, much of these ailments are incidental by-products of a mismatch between the long-term evolutionary ecology and what is currently prevailing. Here, I argue that the psychological ailments are better understood from an Evolutionary viewpoint. I point out the lack of data and a need for a fresh approach by practicing psychologists and psychiatrists.
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This is an Open Access Research distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any Medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
© 2021, Mukherjee S
Received: September 06, 2020; Revision Received: February 26, 2021; Accepted: March 23, 2021
Article Overview
ISSN 2348-5396
ISSN 2349-3429
18.01.079/20210901
10.25215/0901.079
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Published in Volume 09, Issue 1, January-March, 2021