John Cacioppo: ‘Loneliness is like an iceberg – it goes deeper than we can see’

Loneliness is contagious, heritable, affects one in four people – and increases the chances of early death by 20% – says US social neuroscientist John Cacioppo. The good news? He thinks it can be treated…Extract: The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone by Olivia LaingFirst person: what people say about being aloneProfessor John Cacioppo has been studying the effects and causes of loneliness for 21 years. He is the director of the University of Chicago’s Cen