Depending on PTSD symptoms, traumas have a negative or positive impact on loneliness

After traumatic events, some victims suffer from loneliness. Victims with very severe PTSD symptom levels more often suffer from loneliness than victims with very low levels. But non-victims more often suffer from loneliness than victims with very low PTS-symptom levels.

These are the main outcomes of a large prospective study among about 1800 adults in the Netherlands conducted by Tilburg University. For the present study, data was extracted from the large Longitudinal Internet for the Social Sciences-panel (LISS-panel) based on a traditional random sample of the Dutch population. This study focused on recent traumas, and not on chronic traumas or traumatization during childhood.

The level of loneliness among victims and non-victims was assessed during a period of three years, with a one-year time interval. We assessed to what extent pre-trauma loneliness and pre-trauma mental health predicts post-event loneliness one and two years later (post-event). We also examined differences between victims and non-victims. The analyses showed that existing loneliness is the strongest predictor for post-event loneliness.

To date, this is the first large prospective study on the effects of traumatic events on loneliness. Most studies on trauma and loneliness are cross-sectional or conducted after the events, while this study included non-retrospective measures of pre-event loneliness. Because of this design, the precise impact of trauma on loneliness compared to other variables could be determined (such as existing loneliness).

Social support

The results are in line with studies on the relationships between social support and PTSD symptoms: Very severe PTSD symptoms undermine social support at later stages. The finding that victims with very low PTSD symptom levels are less lonely than non-victims seem to suggest that the less victims suffer from PTSD symptoms,the easier it is for family and friends to provide attention and support.