Impact of Loneliness on Mental Health

We are pleased to welcome Professor Simon Gilbody (Professor of Psychological Medicine and Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist University of York and Bradford District Care Trust) who will talk on 'Lonesome no more:  What is loneliness and what can we do?'

Loneliness is as bad for our health as smoking 15 cigarettes per day and is a modifiable risk factor for depression and dementia. People who use mental health services report some of the highest rates of loneliness of any section of the population, but loneliness is generally not a focus for mental health services. During the pandemic we designed and delivered the largest ever RCT of a behavioural intervention to tackle loneliness. 

Key learning objectives include:

• Understanding loneliness and its evolutionary origins as a human experience. 
• Understanding the health impacts of loneliness and how these can be addressed. 
• Thinking about how mental health professionals might integrate an understanding of loneliness into their practice.  

Originally from the Northwest, Simon is the foundation Professor of Psychological Medicine at the University of York and Hull York Medical School. He is a trialist, clinician and epidemiologist by trade. Having researched scalable interventions for depression for over two decades, he turned his interest to loneliness during the COVID pandemic. Simon led the UK C-19 Behavioural Activation for Social Isolation (BASIL) trial. 

Simon is a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and an honorary Fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners. He was elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (FMedSci) in 2023 and holds both a doctorate (PhD) and higher doctorate (DSc) from the University of York. He is among the top 1% of scientists in the world (by citation).  

This event will be recorded and available to all registered delegates to watch on demand. The recording will be available within one week of the live event taking place and will be emailed out to all registered delegates. The recording will be available to watch for 60 days from the event taking place.

Copies of speakers' slides will be included with the recording, but only in cases where we have received permission from the speaker.

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Please note this webinar recording will not be available to purchase post-event.

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