The only thing that has ever improved my mental health in any measurable capacity is making more friends. That's literally it
The way isolation plays on your psyche, and the way that a solid support system can improve your life is insane. One of the worst things that we did as a society is removing most avenues to find this kind of thing, and the over reliance on the idea of getting better on your own
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there’s a theory in psychology called social baseline theory that basically says that humans, at baseline, are a social species. it’s not that having a social group has a positive effect, it’s that not have a social group is an unnatural way of existing for our brains, and so to make up for it our brains have to go into overdrive, thus all the negative things that happen when you are isolated.
the original study looked at brain activity, a stressor, and hand holding. For the stressor, they conditioned the participants to expect pain at the sound of a buzzer (just a small shock). They then scanned people’s brains in three different scenarios: while alone, while holding a stranger’s hand, and while holding the hand of their spouse. When alone, the brain lit up with stress, anticipating the shock used up a lot of power. While holding a strangers hand, the brain lit up less, and with a spouse, even less so. Even if you don’t know a person, your brain still uses less power to anticipate and deal with stressful situations, because it knows there is at least someone else there to help. Kind of like how meerkats have one person to watch out for predators, and the rest of the meerkats can chill and look for food!
Another study that is similar asked people standing at the bottom of a hill how hard it would be to climb the hill. Participants who were alone ranked the hill harder to climb than participants who were with someone else. This reminds me of how doing chores and running errands is often a lot easier when you go with a friend!
TLDR; Having friends/existing in a social group is the neutral state (at least for our brains), and being isolated means your brain is putting in a lot more effort than usual to mitigate stressful situations, thus all the negative effects of isolation
Doing life with others makes life easier!