More than one in three young adults suffer from loneliness.
This is shown by figures from the Public Health Agency, which has now been tasked by the government to add a national strategy to increase the community.
– It was hard not having so many people to call or meet in their free time, says Adam Edvardsson, who is one of many young people who have experienced exclusion.
The feeling of alienation came already during childhood when Adam Edvardsson grew up in a small town and as an adopted child felt different.
– It was hard not having so many people to call or meet in the spare time. It made me quite depressed and lost a bit of my personality. You do that when you don’t meet people who respond to you, he says.
In his early 20s, when Adam entered a folk high school training to become a church musician, things finally turned around.
– I lived in the boarding school at school, which meant that you got very close to the others and we became like a big family, says Adam Evardsson.
Affects physical and mental illness
The problem of loneliness among young people is widespread. According to the Public Health Agency, a full 40 percent of those between the ages of 16 and 29 experience loneliness to some degree. Now the authority, together with the National Board of Health and Welfare, will develop a plan to counteract the problem.
– From the research, we know that there is a strong connection between involuntary loneliness and physical and mental illness. So the strategy we develop is about bringing in different actors in society, regions, municipalities, authorities, civil society and the private sector, says Hillevi Busch, investigator at the Public Health Agency.
Adam Edvardsson thinks that the initiative to involve more actors is good so that others who share his experience can get help. But regardless of where the contact takes place, he hopes that more people dare to step out of isolation.
– Believe in yourself! It can’t get worse than it already is, sitting at home alone.