Only the lonely

They might be the saddest sounds in the world. In the French Alps, a lone wolf howls at the moon, lamenting the loss of its pack. Deep in the Pacific, the 52-hertz whale issues its high-pitched call to no response. In the Scottish Glens, a solitary cow bellows into the night, yearning for companionship.

If this cow were to move down to BelperA town in the English county of Derbyshire., she might feel less alone. At half-past six each evening, the community comes together for a two-minute mooResidents stood at their doors and used makeshift musical instruments to take part in the daily outburst of sound.. Instituted to defend against lockdown loneliness, it has since inspired copycats across the globe.

Loneliness has been a huge side effect of the Covid-19 pandemic. In Britain, a report by the ONSThe Office of National Statistics, a UK government agency devoted to collecting statistics about British society. found that 4.2 million adults now feel "always or often" lonely, a significant rise from 2.6 million in early March. Photographer Tony Fisher captured the Belper daily moo as part of a project depicting loneliness. "With Covid", he said, "people have become more isolated".

The pandemic has rubbed salt in an already sore wound. The number of people identifying as lonely in developed countries continues to grow. Loneliness has been called "a silent plague" and an "epidemic". For journalist Maggie Fergusson, it is "the leprosyA chronic bacterial disease. Once known pejoratively as lepers, sufferers were historically forced to live in colonies, isolated from others. of the 21st Century, eating away at its victims and repelling those who encounter it".

Research has found that social isolation disrupts the body's immune functions, which can lead to arthritis, diabetes, heart disease and a shorter lifespan.

Like a contagion, it targets people of various ages and backgrounds. In Japan, elderly women are committing crimes to escape their lonely homes in exchange for a stay in prison. Meanwhile, studies show that half of Britain's 10 to 15-year-olds endure regular bouts of loneliness.

As lepers were deemed toxic and cast out of communities, lonely people feel cut off from others. Some fail to seek help because of a perceived stigmaA mark of shame or disgrace that sets a person apart from others. In the 16th Century, it referred to a literal mark branded into the skin. around their condition. "They feel ashamed or embarrassed", says one SamaritansA charity which provides phone counselling for desperate people. volunteer, "as though feeling lonely isn't something serious". Novelist Deborah Moggach calls it "the last taboo".

This is changing. There are now dedicated charities, such as the Campaign to End Loneliness. In 2018, the UK government even appointed a Minister for Loneliness to raise visibility around the issue.

While most diseases are spread through invading bacteria and viruses, loneliness derives from emotions we already possess. Historian Fay Bound Alberti describes it as "a complex cluster of feelings, composed of anger, grief, fear, anxiety, sadness and shame".

Loneliness is also affected by societal changes. Alberti has paralleled the rise in loneliness with the decline of close-knit communities. Before the 20th Century, only 1% of the world population lived alone; now, around 30% of Japanese homes are single-person households, and research suggests this number will rise to 40% before 2040.

But many experts point out that being alone is not the same as being lonely. Thinkers from Jean-Jacques RousseauAn 18th Century Swiss philosopher whose book Reveries of the Solitary Walker extolled the virtues of being alone in nature. to Friedrich NietzscheIn 1869, the German philosopher became the youngest person ever to hold the University of Basel's Chair of Classical Philology. He was 24.   have celebrated solitude.

So is loneliness the leprosy of our times?

Sadly so, some would agree. As our lives become more isolated, loneliness has proved contagious. It has been transmitted through our society like an epidemic. It instills feelings of shame, failure and humiliation that compare with those excluded for disease. The symptoms may be very different, but the two bear comparison in how they shape our attitudes.

Not at all, respond to others. By comparing a complex psychological state to a physical disease, we misunderstand it. We downplay the societal changes that fuel it. And while those suffering from loneliness might feel stigmatised, to analogise them to lepers is glib and unhelpful to both groups. Leprosy is now a treatable disease. A full understanding of loneliness seems a long way off.