Countries like the UK and Japan already have a privacy ministry. In Portugal, considering that the head of the future government, Antonio Costa, has announced his intention to form a small executive, the researcher considered it appropriate to have a Secretary of State in health training, but no. Only.
“Of course, this kind of state secretariat should be positioned somewhere between the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Social Affairs because it is not just health in the strict sense,” said a retired professor at the university. Porto’s, which currently integrates the Loneliness Monitor at ISCET – the top agency for business and tourism science.
Loneliness, he said, is not only complementary or monitored from a clinical perspective, but also from a “very serious” social perspective.
“The Japanese know that a very significant percentage of their population, especially in the big cities, Tokyo, live in isolation, so it’s urgent to form a cabinet to deal with these cases.
According to Atalberto Dias de Carvalho, who continues to collaborate with the research center of the Institute of Philosophy at the University of Porto, the situation is complicated and exacerbated by the Govit-19 epidemic.
“To deal with these cases, it is not enough to send them to the hospital, it is not enough to give them a house, give them more food. All of these are important, but considering the complexity of the loneliness phenomenon, nothing can solve it, ”he said, suggesting that the oversight of the Secretary of State or similar body could also go through the Ministry of Labor.
“It is important that the political system that monitors the problem of loneliness has a short-lived relationship with the various ministries, considering the many dimensions of the event,” he argued.
“It simply came to our notice then [a Secretaria de Estado], Because there are spoken events, but somehow hidden. While loneliness is no longer a ban, it is true that it has not been on the agenda in the political debates we have seen in the election campaign. This is not a topic that seems to be happening, “lamented Atalberto Diaz de Carvalho.
With epidemics, loneliness is no longer a characteristic of the elderly or isolated people, but of all sectors of society, including the youth.
Despite the themes of “very happening” and “very lived”, to the professor it is “very hidden in the political debate” and “very quiet”.
“Loneliness is not only based on personal experience, it has important causes and consequences. Today, there are so-called GDP of happiness, and countries are ranked in a hierarchical degree of happiness enjoyed by their citizens. And loneliness does not bring happiness. This loneliness, as we speak, is loneliness,” he noted. .
For executive power, Atalberto Dias de Carvalho made a call to draw attention to this field as well. “If politicians realize that the economic meaning of GDP must be the experiential meaning associated with the GDP of that happiness, then for this reason the issue of loneliness needs to become an issue. Politicians, a challenge, a responsibility.”
“I have separated the economy from happiness, but separation is not clear even to an economist, because those who are in situations of loneliness or those who are closest to the levels of loneliness will be economically less energetic and less diligent,” he justified.
According to academics, even economists need to look “very carefully” at the “serious and most important” problem in today’s societies.
“We live in societies where we have degraded ourselves, they are civil societies, in which the weight of religion is not so important.
“In secular societies like ours, the weight of religion has greatly diminished and in religious communities both the experience and the search for compensation for divine relationships have lost its weight,” Atalberto Dias de Carvalho considered.
According to the researcher, if education is not “a function controlled by religion”, then there is no problem of loneliness.
“Loneliness is, now, in this way, and in the classic sense of the word, a ‘political’ issue. In order to promote politics in a secular society, the government, and those government agencies, must respect the problem of loneliness, in their very nature and in their operation.” Announced that.
Loneliness “has become a part of people’s emotions”
“It’s something people don’t talk about. They can talk about depression, illness, in a nutshell, but loneliness. Loneliness is an experience that has become part of people’s feelings, rather than a concept,” the researcher said.
The problem of loneliness, whether physically isolated or social, arises today on many fronts, especially in relation to being away from others.
“Usually the most shocking and surprising thing here is the distance from family members and close friends as a result of the outbreak,” he noted.
Fear of infection, “distrust” of one another, due to the possibility of a viral infection, whose causes and effects are not yet known, leads to reduced direct contact.
Whether they communicate with each other on the phone, whether they see each other or meet, caring about not wearing a mask, not touching, not getting close, makes a profound difference in the relationship, Adelberto Dias said. De Carvalho.
The observed changes are thought to have been caused by a researcher who is a retired professor at the University of Porto, an associate of the institute’s Institute of Philosophy, and a researcher who coordinates the isolation monitoring center at the ISCET – Instituto Superior de Sciencio’s Embraziers e Tourismo.
“People show that they know or feel that their relationships with those close to them are changing and deteriorating for family or friendship reasons,” he said.
“It causes distance. Loss of emotional intimacy, in which people feel punished and it brings them frustration, which brings them sadness. I think this is one of the most important aspects that brings about the spread of the epidemic,” the educator admitted.
According to Atalberto Dias de Carvalho the risk of losing hope or losing hope in returning to a formal relationship is one of the most significant aspects of the epidemic at this stage: “Initially, there was, despite strong isolation. The expectation that it will be short-lived, then it will pass, and then the expectation of vaccinations, will solve everything. We know the situation is better at that level, but the epidemic is still there, and even if it is reduced, people are afraid that it will come back, which is the most important aspect.
In addition to the sense of loneliness that results from the prolongation of the infection, in the researcher’s opinion, there is a “lack” of information that reveals safety.
“If there was a‘ hope ’in science, this‘ hope ’would somehow crumble, considering the prolongation of epidemics, and the contradictions between the various actors that often come up in the media, say something contradictory.
In addition, there are differences in how different countries manage the epidemic.
“It creates distrust in science, but we can trust that they are all right. They may say that science is uncertain from the beginning, that convictions are structured, that facts are structured. There was, but it was an approach.
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