A recent German and Israeli study included video games as well as brain imaging to differentiate neurological biases from loneliness and social anxiety. The goal was to demonstrate that unlike today, these two conditions should be treated differently.
By catalyzing stress, loneliness can have adverse effects on mental and physical health, and is a risk factor for premature mortality . In sum, loneliness is a public health concern and the recent Covid-19 pandemic has served as a reminder. The fact is that the symptoms of loneliness and social anxiety are very close. However, behavioral therapies often target these two states in the same way . Only, there you go, a study published in the Journal of Neuroscience on February 14, 2022 highlights an important novelty. According to researchers in neurology and psychiatry at the University Hospital of Bonn (Germany) of the University of Haifa (Israel), loneliness and social anxiety do not have the same neurological underside .
Studies highlight a strong link between loneliness and symptoms of social anxiety . In addition, social anxiety can be considered as a more or less long-term factor of loneliness. We should also mention the fact that the scientific literature very often associates social anxiety with social isolation, but also with a lack of social support and a drop in self-satisfaction. In addition, symptoms of social anxiety can be amplified by poor friendships, with symptoms persisting if social situations are avoided , a protective behavior.
Thus, the study shows that a distorted emotional reactivity in the face of negative events characterizes loneliness. Avoidance, on the other hand, is more about social anxiety. To reach this conclusion, the researchers analyzed the behavior of individuals with loneliness and social anxiety at different levels during a video game session. Participants could choose to bet safely on their victory and win a small amount of money or make a much riskier bet that could win them a much larger sum. Then, the volunteers had to watch a video featuring a virtual human happy or unhappy in case of victory or defeat.
According to the results, participants with social anxiety chose the safe bet more in order to avoid an adverse outcome. People with loneliness largely preferred the opposite choice. By performing MRIs on these people, the scientists observed a more pronounced activation of the amygdala in anxious people during decision-making. There is also talk of less activation of the nucleus accumbens, a sign of lower social reward when it came to watching the video. However, these two specificities did not appear in people prone to loneliness. Thus, the researchers believe that these are two specific conditions or disorders requiring different behavioral interventions .
