lonely man sitting and contemplating
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Summary: Yes, loneliness can increase suicidal ideation for people with anxiety and depression.

Key Points:

  • Millions of people in the U.S. report symptoms of anxiety and depression
  • Millions of people in the U.S. report feelings of loneliness.
  • Among people with symptoms of anxiety or depression, the presence of loneliness can increase risk of suicidal ideation.

Loneliness, Anxiety and Depression in the U.S.

In 2025, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) published the report “Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation: The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community.” Data in the report show that between 2003 and 2023, the amount of time the average person in the U.S. spends alone has increased.

  • 2003: 4.75 hrs. per day, about 6 days per month
  • 2019: 5.2 hrs. per day, about 6.5 days per month
  • 2020: 5.5 hrs. per day, about 7 days per month

The CDC defines loneliness as:

  • A disconnection between social/emotional needs and social/emotional experiences
  • A sense of emptiness
  • Feelings of isolation, while wanting to feel connected
  • Feeling unwanted, while wanting to feel wanted

About 33% of adults in the U.S. report feelings of loneliness.

Evidence indicates loneliness is associated with a 26% increased risk of premature mortality.

As our rates of loneliness increased, our rates of depression have increased, and our rate of anxiety have remained stable, with some variation by year. The latest statistics on anxiety and depression from the 2024 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2024 NSDUH) show the following:

Major Depressive Episode (MDE): 2024

  • Past month MDE: 8.2% (21.4 million)
  • Past month MDE with severe impairment: 5.6%, (14.7 million)

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD): 2024

Past two-week GAD symptoms:

  • Mild symptoms: 14.3% (37.5 million)
  • Moderate symptoms: 4.7% (12.2 million)
  • Severe symptoms: 2.7% (7.1 million)

While rates of anxiety have remained relatively stable among adults in the U.S. over the past 20 years, general feelings of anxiety have increased since the COVID pandemic. However, those feelings have not resulted in a significant increase in rates of clinically diagnosed anxiety since 2003.

How Does Loneliness Affect People with Anxiety and/or Depression?

In March 2026, a group of mental health researchers published the study “Loneliness, Anxiety Symptoms, Depressive Symptoms, and Suicidal Ideation in the All of Us Dataset,” which addresses the following question about the relationship between loneliness, suicidal ideation, and symptoms of anxiety and depression among adults in the U.S.

“Does loneliness mediate the association between anxiety symptoms and suicidal ideation as well as depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation?”

In this context, mediate means has an effect on. For instance, while symptoms of anxiety may increase instances of suicidal ideation, the presence of loneliness in addition to symptoms of anxiety may increase or decrease instances of suicidal ideation, i.e. have an effect on subsequent instances of suicidal ideation.

Note: Never ignore suicidal ideation. Suicidal ideation means thinking about, talking about, or planning suicide. If you or someone you know engages in suicidal ideation and is at risk or in crisis, call the 988 Lifeline. If they’re in imminent risk of harm, call 911 or go to the emergency room.

We reported current rates of anxiety and depression above, which show that mental health problems in the U.S. are a serious public health issue in the U.S. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) resource on suicide prevention shows the following prevalence of suicidality in the U.S., with the most recent confirmed data, collected in 2023.

Suicidal Ideation, Attempts, Fatalities: 2023 in the U.S.

Suicidal ideation:

  • Thought about/talked about attempting suicide 12.8 million
  • Made a plan to attempt suicide: 3.7 million
  • Attempted suicide: 1.5 million
  • Died by suicide: 49,000

That’s one suicide fatality every 11 minutes, and a 57% increase in annual suicide fatalities since 2003.

When we read those statistics alongside those on depression and anxiety, we understand why the researchers conducted the study. If increases in loneliness can increase suicidal ideation for people with anxiety and depression, then that’s an important fact that treatment providers – as well as friends and family members of people with anxiety and depression – need to learn about and understand.

To explore their question, the research team analyzed records from 62,685 individuals in the All of Us Dataset. Participants completed the following evidence-based self-report surveys to assess levels of anxiety, depression, loneliness, and suicidal ideation:

Let’s take a look at what they found.

Loneliness and Increase in Suicidal Ideation for People With Anxiety and Depression

The research team proposes that people with anxiety and depression may have experiences that cause them to withdraw from others and self-isolate. It’s well-known social isolation increases feelings of loneliness, and evidence shows isolation itself is a risk factor for suicide and suicidal ideation. Therefore, the research team sought to clarify whether loneliness – when combined with symptoms of anxiety and/or depression – can increase rates of suicidal ideation.

The reasoning is sound. Here are their results.

The Connection Between Loneliness, Anxiety, Deprssion, and Suicidal Ideation

Compared to people without anxiety, depression, or loneliness:

  • Anxiety symptoms: significantly and positively correlated with increased suicidal ideation
  • Depressive symptoms: significantly and positively correlated with increased suicidal ideation
  • Symptoms of loneliness: significantly and positively correlated with increased suicidal ideation

For different demographic groups, the presence of:

  • Anxiety symptoms: associated with differences in rates of suicidal ideation
  • Depressive symptoms: associated with differences in rates of suicidal ideation
  • Loneliness: positively with differences in rates of suicidal ideation

Across all demographic groups:

  • Anxiety: among people with symptoms of anxiety, the presence of loneliness was associated with increased suicidal ideation
  • Depression: among people with symptoms of depression, the presence of loneliness was associated with increased suicidal ideation

Strength of association:

  • Depression had had the strongest independent association with increases in suicidal ideation
  • Loneliness had the second strongest independent association with increases in suicidal ideation
  • Anxiety had third strongest independent association with increases in suicidal ideation

The primary takeaway from these results:

The presence of loneliness increased the strength of the association between symptoms of anxiety and suicidal ideation and symptoms of depression and suicidal ideation.

How We Can Use This Information to Help Our Patients

We’ll start with how each of us can help our friends and family members who may have anxiety or depression:

  1. Call, text, email, direct message – get in touch with them somehow.
  2. Make arrangements to spend time together.
  3. Follow through and spend time with them.
  4. Ask them how they’re doing. Let them talk if they need to. If they don’t, understand that you simply being there is a protective factor that decreases risk of suicidality.
  5. Repeat.

It’s important to understand that if someone does engage in suicidal ideation, asking about it does not increase risk of a suicide attempt. In fact, it decreases risk.

As mental health treatment providers, the way we can use this data is by increasing our level of screening for loneliness and social isolation among our patients with anxiety and depression. Since evidence shows loneliness can increase suicidal ideation for people with anxiety and depression, we can directly address loneliness during treatment. We can involve family members in treatment, we can recommend peer support groups for people with anxiety and depression, and we can recommend activity and offer resources to locate activity groups that promote social contact.

In other words, anything we can do to help them expand their social network, we should do. Evidence indicates two the most powerful protective factors against suicidality are:

  1. A robust social, family, and community support system.
  2. Access to professional mental health support.

If you’re a friend or family member, you can do your part by spending time with them, thereby decreasing loneliness, and recommend they seek professional support, if they haven’t already. As treatment providers, we can do our part as described above: help them connect with friends and family in order to decrease loneliness and reduce risk of suicidal ideation.

Finding Help: Resources

If you or someone you know needs professional treatment and support for anxiety or depression, please contact us here at Crownview Psychiatric Institute. We can help. In addition, you can find support through the following online resources:

Resources: Finding Support for Suicidality

If you or someone you know is at risk of suicide, please get help immediately. When risk is immediate, call 911 or go to the emergency room now: do not wait. If risk of harm is serious but not imminent, call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988. The crisis line will connect you or the person in crisis to an appropriate level of support and care.

Veterans dial 988 + 1 for 24/7 support for veterans and active-duty military.

For members of the LGBTQIA+ community, the Trevor Project offers targeted support:

  • Phone (24/7/365): 1-866-488-7386
  • Trevor Project Text (24/7/365): Text START to 678678
  • The Trevor Project Chat: CLICK HERE

About Angus Whyte

Angus Whyte has an extensive background in neuroscience, behavioral health, adolescent development, and mindfulness, including lab work in behavioral neurobiology and a decade of writing articles on mental health and mental health treatment. In addition, Angus brings twenty years of experience as a yoga teacher and experiential educator to his work for Crownview. He’s an expert at synthesizing complex concepts into accessible content that helps patients, providers, and families understand the nuances of mental health treatment, with the ultimate goal of improving outcomes and quality of life for all stakeholders.