🎗️Loneliness May Be Putting Veterans' Mental Health At Risk

Nearly 6 in 10 U.S. veterans report some level of loneliness, and the greater the loneliness, the heavier the burden of psychological distress. A new study found a strong association between social isolation, depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, and suicidal thoughts. The findings highlight something often invisible: a lack of social connection can also be a significant warning sign regarding mental health.

Loneliness can be much more than simply being alone. It occurs when a person feels they lack sufficient companionship, are isolated, or do not belong to a meaningful network of relationships. Among U.S. military veterans, this feeling appears to be particularly significant.

Previous research had shown that more than half of veterans experienced at least some level of loneliness. Now, researchers sought to determine whether this issue had changed in recent years and, crucially, whether higher levels of loneliness were associated with problems such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, and suicidal thoughts.

To answer these questions, researchers analyzed data from a large national survey conducted between December 2025 and January 2026. Initially, 2,636 U.S. veterans participated, selected via a research panel comprising tens of thousands of households across the United States.

This system allows for the creation of a sample that better represents the country's veteran population. Twenty-four individuals lacked sufficient information regarding loneliness and were excluded from the analysis, leaving 2,612 participants.

But how can one tell if someone is lonely? The researchers used a short, three-question scale. Participants indicated how often they felt left out, isolated, or lacking companionship, choosing responses ranging from "hardly ever" to "frequently." Based on these responses, the researchers divided the participants into three groups.

The first group consisted of individuals who hardly ever felt lonely. The second included those experiencing some level of moderate loneliness. The third comprised individuals who reported frequent loneliness. This categorization allowed for a direct comparison of the mental health of people with varying levels of loneliness.

Next, the researchers examined whether these groups also differed in various measures related to mental health. They analyzed, among other things, depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, harmful alcohol use, and suicidal thoughts over the past year. They also investigated histories of suicide attempts and future suicidal thoughts or intentions.

To ensure that demographic differences, military experiences, trauma exposure, or other characteristics did not solely account for the results, the researchers used statistical models that allowed them to consider several of these factors simultaneously. This enabled them to ask a more specific question: even after accounting for these other characteristics, did loneliness remain associated with mental health problems?

The results were concerning. 58.7% of the veterans experienced at least moderate loneliness, with 36.3% classified as moderately lonely and 22.4% as frequently lonely. When the researchers compared these figures with data from 2019 and 2020, they found that frequent loneliness had risen from 19.7% to 22.4%.

The researchers estimated that this difference represents approximately 460,000 additional veterans living with frequent loneliness. In contrast, the proportion of veterans experiencing moderate loneliness did not change in a statistically significant way. It is important to note that this increase cannot be directly attributed to the pandemic or any other specific cause; while the authors raise these possibilities, the study was not designed to determine why loneliness increased.

The link to mental health was even more striking. The higher the level of loneliness, the greater the likelihood of encountering various psychological problems. Among veterans who rarely felt lonely, 3.8% reported suicidal thoughts over the past year.

This figure rose to 14.8% among those experiencing moderate loneliness and reached 32.3% among those who were frequently lonely. After statistical adjustments, the link between loneliness and various issues persisted. Among frequently lonely veterans, certain associations were particularly strong: the likelihood of depression was nearly ten times higher than among those who rarely felt lonely, while the association with future suicidal intent was even stronger.

These figures represent statistical associations, not proof that loneliness directly causes these problems. The study analyzed individuals at a specific point in time; therefore, it cannot determine which came first, loneliness, psychological distress, or both.

Despite this limitation, researchers consider loneliness a potentially important target for mental health prevention and care. The idea is that if loneliness can be identified during clinical encounters, it may be possible to offer interventions before the distress worsens. Options include support groups, veteran-to-veteran contact programs, community activities, and strategies to help people rebuild social ties.

The study does not suggest that simply “having more friends” will solve complex mental health problems, but it reinforces a key point: social connections can play a role in protecting mental health. For a population that may face profound changes after military service, recognizing and addressing loneliness could be a crucial component of a broader strategy to prevent psychological distress and suicide.

READ MORE:

A Growing Epidemic of Loneliness Among US Military Veterans: National Trends, Psychiatric Burden, and Suicide Risk

Robert H. Pietrzak, Ian C. Fischer, and Peter J. Na

J Clin Psychiatry 2026;87(3):26br16494

https://doi.org/10.4088/JCP.26br16494

Abstract: 

Loneliness is prevalent and clinically significant among US military veterans. Nationally representative data from 2019–2020 indicate that 56.9% of US veterans endorsed at least moderate levels of loneliness, with nearly 1 in 5 (19.7%) experiencing frequent loneliness.1 Loneliness is independently associated with substantial health burden and heightened suicide risk,1–5 underscoring its importance as a transdiagnostic risk factor.

Given recent changes in the social context for veterans, including COVID-19 pandemic effects6 and demographic shifts toward younger, female, and racially/ethnically diverse veterans,7 groups at elevated risk for loneliness,1 updated data are needed to inform prevention, treatment, and policy initiatives aimed at reducing loneliness and its consequences.2,8,9  This study used 2025–2026 National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study (NHRVS) data to estimate loneliness prevalence and changes since 2019–2020 and examine the association of loneliness with psychiatric disorders and suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Data were analyzed from the 2025–2026 NHRVS, a nationally representative survey of 2,636 US veterans conducted December 16, 2025–January 12, 2026. Of the 2,636 veterans surveyed, 24 (0.9%) had missing data on the loneliness measure and were excluded from analyses, yielding an effective analytic sample of 2,612. The sample was drawn from KnowledgePanel, a probability-based panel of >50,000 US households.10 Poststratification weights were applied in inferential analyses to enable generalizability to the US veteran population.11 All participants provided electronic informed consent; the study was approved by the VA Connecticut Healthcare System Human Subjects Committee. Loneliness was assessed using a 3-item measure,12 which evaluates the degree to which respondents feel left out, isolated, and lacking in companionship (response options: 1=hardly ever to 3=often). Consistent with prior NHRVS studies,1 loneliness levels were categorized as “hardly ever lonely” (score of 1 on all items), “moderate loneliness” (score of 2 on at least 1 item), or “frequent loneliness” (score of 3 on at least 1 item) to facilitate comparison and clinical interpretability. Other measures are described in the Table 1 footnote.

Prevalence estimates of loneliness were calculated and compared between survey waves (2019–2020 vs 2025–2026) using 2-proportion z-tests. Bivariate analyses compared study variables by loneliness level. Multivariable regression models examined independent associations between loneliness levels and mental health measures. A total of 58.7% (95% CI =56.4%–61.0%; n= 1,467) of veterans reported moderate (36.3%, 95% CI =34.1%–38.6%; n= 961) or frequent (22.4%, 95% CI =20.4%–24.6%; n= 506) loneliness.

Compared with 2019–2020 estimates (37.2% moderate; 19.7% frequent), the prevalence of frequent loneliness increased significantly (z=2.65, P=.008), whereas the prevalence of moderate loneliness did not differ (z=0.74, P=.46). Compared with hardly ever lonely veterans, moderately lonely veterans had significantly greater odds of 5 of 8 mental health measures: depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder, hazardous alcohol use, and past-year suicidal ideation, with odds ratios ranging from 1.6 to 3.3; drug use disorder, lifetime suicide attempt, and future suicidal intent did not differ significantly. Compared with hardly ever lonely veterans, frequently lonely veterans had significantly greater odds of 6 of 8 measures, with the exceptions being drug use disorder and lifetime suicide attempt; odds ratios ranged from 2.0 to 32.1. Finally, relative to moderately lonely veterans, frequently lonely veterans had significantly greater odds of all measures except hazardous alcohol use, with particularly pronounced associations with depression (OR=9.7) and future suicidal intent (OR =15.9; Table 1). Loneliness remains highly prevalent among US veterans, with nearly 6 in 10 reporting at least moderate loneliness and more than 1 in 5 reporting frequent loneliness. The prevalence of frequent loneliness increased from 19.7% in 2019–20201 to 22.4% in 2025–2026, representing an estimated additional 460,000 affected veterans based on population benchmarks.11 This increase may partly reflect enduring effects of the COVID-19 pandemic6; shifts in the demographic composition of the veteran population toward younger, female, and more racially and ethnically diverse groups1,7,13; broader societal and economic stressors; and potential period or reporting effects that may influence willingness to endorse loneliness and emotional distress.14–16 A clear dose-response association was observed between loneliness and mental health measures, with higher loneliness levels associated with greater odds of psychiatric disorders and suicidality. For example, the prevalence of suicidal ideation increased systematically as a function of loneliness levels (3.8% vs 14.8% vs 32.3%), even after adjusting for sociodemographic, military, trauma, and health factors. Although limited by reliance on self-report measures, a cross-sectional design that precludes directional inference, and the possibility that adjustment for psychiatric conditions may have attenuated associations with suicide-related outcomes, these findings suggest that loneliness represents a potentially modifiable intervention target for screening, prevention, and intervention efforts (eg, peer support initiatives, social prescribing, and group-based and community engagement interventions),17–20 with implications for VA clinical practice and population-level policy initiatives.