Tereza Vitková & Professor Genevieve Dingle: Loneliness and social connection in substance use and eating disorders

Abstract

Loneliness has been recognised as a major public health concern due to its rising prevalence worldwide and association with a range of physical and mental health conditions and lifespan/mortality risk. However, until the last 15 years, loneliness has been a 'blind spot' for health systems and practitioners. There is no diagnosis, and few tools and guidelines for clinical intervention. In this seminar, we explore what loneliness is (and is not), some research on health correlates and our recent work on the role of loneliness in substance use disorders (Gen) and eating disorders (Tereza).

Bio

Tereza Vítková is a psychologist and visiting doctoral researcher at Nottingham Trent University (UK) specialising in eating disorders and loneliness. She has clinical experience in a specialist psychiatric eating disorder service, supporting multidisciplinary treatment programmes and families. Her work is also informed by a background in sport psychology, with a focus on compulsive exercise in eating disorders. 

Genevieve Dingle is a registered clinical psychologist and Professor in the School of Psychology (with affiliation to Nottingham Trent University). She worked as a program manager in two hospital alcohol and other drug treatment services, and is a co-CI on an NHMRC funded cluster RCT of the Groups 4 Belonging intervention in 26 alcohol and other drug treatment sites across Australia.