{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,8]],"date-time":"2026-06-08T21:59:24Z","timestamp":1780955964645,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":68,"publisher":"Oxford University Press (OUP)","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,8]],"date-time":"2026-06-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1780876800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/pages\/standard-publication-reuse-rights"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Amid reports on social isolation and loneliness\u2019s (SIL) link to poor health and mortality, the former U.S. Surgeon General and others declared SIL a public health priority and encouraged healthcare professionals to act. The medicalization of SIL differs from previous cases because it focuses on a social ill instead of a supposed disease, reflecting concurrent efforts by U.S. government and healthcare organizations to address social determinants of health through healthcare. Drawing on trends in journalistic, medical, and academic publications, content analysis of written materials, and interviews with professionals working on SIL, I examine how researchers, medical professionals, interest groups, government, and healthcare organizations medicalized SIL after 2010. I find that these groups\u2019 roles complicate previous narratives of medical imperialism, consumer advocacy, and pharmaceutical greed in medicalization. My findings also shed light on how the medicalization of social ills is made possible by the perceived legitimacy of physical health and the \u201clogical leap\u201d made from the knowledge that a condition affects health to the assumption that it should be addressed through healthcare. Finally, I observed ambivalence about medicalizing SIL and signs of demedicalization. The conclusion discusses the implications of the medicalization of SIL and social ills more broadly.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1093\/socpro\/spag034","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,1]],"date-time":"2026-05-01T12:17:12Z","timestamp":1777637832000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["The medicalization of loneliness: Addressing social ills through healthcare"],"prefix":"10.1093","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3230-9371","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sofia","family":"Hiltner","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Sociology, University of Michigan , Room 3115 LSA Building 500 S. State Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1382 ,","place":["United States"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"286","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref1d","author":"AHIP"},{"issue":"2","key":"2026060817205918600_ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"407","DOI":"10.1111\/1468-0009.12390","article-title":"Meanings and Misunderstandings: A Social Determinants of Health Lexicon for Health Care Systems","volume":"97","author":"Alderwick","year":"2019","journal-title":"The Milbank Quarterly"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref1b","author":"AMA"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref1c","article-title":"Social Determinants of Health | American Medical Association","author":"AMA"},{"issue":"8","key":"2026060817205918600_ref1a","first-page":"6","article-title":"Congratulations, award winners","volume":"44","author":"APA","year":"2013","journal-title":"Monitor on Psychology"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.7208\/chicago\/9780226049854.001.0001","volume-title":"Risky Medicine: Our Quest to Cure Fear and Uncertainty","author":"Aronowitz","year":"2015"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref2a","author":"Baird"},{"issue":"8","key":"2026060817205918600_ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1067","DOI":"10.1016\/s0277-9536(98)00155-5","article-title":"A Ship upon a Stormy Sea: The Medicalization of Pregnancy","volume":"47","author":"Barker","year":"1998","journal-title":"Social Science & Medicine"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref3a","article-title":"Experiencing Loneliness? Steps to Feel Better","author":"Arizona","year":"2024"},{"issue":"2","key":"2026060817205918600_ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"186","DOI":"10.1093\/oxfordjournals.aje.a112674","article-title":"Social Networks, Host Resistance, and Mortality: A Nine-Year Follow-Up Study of Alameda County Residents","volume":"109","author":"Berkman","year":"1979","journal-title":"American Journal of Epidemiology"},{"issue":"6","key":"2026060817205918600_ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"618","DOI":"10.1001\/jamainternmed.2023.0276","article-title":"Novel Estimates of Mortality Associated with Poverty in the US","volume":"183","author":"Brady","year":"2023","journal-title":"JAMA Internal Medicine"},{"issue":"2","key":"2026060817205918600_ref6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"238","DOI":"10.1177\/1745691615570616","article-title":"Loneliness: Clinical Import and Interventions","volume":"10","author":"Cacioppo","year":"2015","journal-title":"Perspectives on Psychological Science: A Journal of the Association for Psychological Science"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref7","volume-title":"Can Loneliness Be Cured with a Pill? Scientists Are Now Asking the Question","author":"Carney","year":"2020"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref7a","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","volume-title":"Journal of the American Heart Association","author":"Cen\u00e9","DOI":"10.1161\/JAHA.122.026493"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref8","volume-title":"The Loneliness Epidemic Persists: A Post-Pandemic Look at the State of Loneliness among U.S. Adults","author":"Cigna Corporation","year":"2022"},{"issue":"1","key":"2026060817205918600_ref9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3","DOI":"10.1177\/002214650504600102","article-title":"The Shifting Engines of Medicalization","volume":"46","author":"Conrad","year":"2005","journal-title":"Journal of Health and Social Behavior"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.56021\/9780801885846","volume-title":"The Medicalization of Society: On the Transformation of Human Conditions into Treatable Disorders","author":"Conrad","year":"2007"},{"issue":"4","key":"2026060817205918600_ref11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"559","DOI":"10.2307\/3097135","article-title":"From Hyperactive Children to ADHD Adults: Observations on the Expansion of Medical Categories","volume":"47","author":"Conrad","year":"2000","journal-title":"Social Problems"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref12","volume-title":"Deviance and Medicalization: From Badness to Sickness","author":"Conrad","year":"1992"},{"issue":"106751","key":"2026060817205918600_ref13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ypmed.2021.106751","article-title":"Healthcare Lobbying on Upstream Social Determinants of Health in the US","volume":"153","author":"Counts","year":"2021","journal-title":"Preventive Medicine"},{"issue":"6","key":"2026060817205918600_ref13a","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"520","DOI":"10.1001\/jama.2021.0100","article-title":"Social Isolation and Loneliness: Imperatives for Health Care in a Post-COVID World","volume":"325","author":"Escalante","year":"2021","journal-title":"JAMA"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref14","volume-title":"An Epidemic of the \u2018Epidemic of Loneliness,\u2019 Part 1: There Probably Is No Epidemic and It May Not Be Loneliness","author":"Fischer","year":"2023"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.26419\/ppi.00016.001","volume-title":"Medicare Spends More on Socially Isolated Older Adults","author":"Flowers","year":"2017"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref16","volume-title":"When and How Do We Intervene to Address Health-Related Social Needs?","author":"Frakt","year":"2019"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref17","volume-title":"Profession of Medicine: A Study of the Sociology of Applied Knowledge","author":"Freidson","year":"1988"},{"issue":"1","key":"2026060817205918600_ref18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1207","DOI":"10.1186\/s12889-024-18370-8","article-title":"Addressing Loneliness and Social Isolation in 52 Countries: A Scoping Review of National Policies","volume":"24","author":"Goldman","year":"2024","journal-title":"BMC Public Health"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref19","volume-title":"Loneliness Can Kill, Literally","author":"Granek","year":"2015"},{"issue":"S1","key":"2026060817205918600_ref20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"110","DOI":"10.1111\/1467-9566.13623","article-title":"Diagnosing Social Ills: Theorising Social Determinants of Health as a Diagnostic Category","volume":"46","author":"Gutin","year":"2024","journal-title":"Sociology of Health & Illness"},{"issue":"2","key":"2026060817205918600_ref21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"186","DOI":"10.1177\/1363459311403947","article-title":"Recognizing Medicalization and Demedicalization: Discourses, Practices, and Identities","volume":"16","author":"Halfmann","year":"2012","journal-title":"Health"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref21b","article-title":"Let\u2019s plant the seeds of change","author":"HHS"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref21a","article-title":"The Biden-Harris Administration Takes Action to Improve Health and Wellbeing by Addressing Social Determinants of Health","author":"HHS Press Office"},{"issue":"1","key":"2026060817205918600_ref22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"193","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev-publhealth-052020-110732","article-title":"Social Connection as a Public Health Issue: The Evidence and a Systemic Framework for Prioritizing the \u2018Social\u2019 in Social Determinants of Health","volume":"43","author":"Holt-Lunstad","year":"2022","journal-title":"Annual Review of Public Health"},{"issue":"1","key":"2026060817205918600_ref23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"41","DOI":"10.1177\/23727322221150204","article-title":"National Health Guidelines for Social Connection: What Is the Evidence in Support and What Might the Guidelines Say?","volume":"10","author":"Holt-Lunstad","year":"2023","journal-title":"Policy Insights From the Behavioral and Brain Sciences"},{"issue":"3","key":"2026060817205918600_ref24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"193","DOI":"10.1056\/NEJMp2208029","article-title":"Social Isolation and Loneliness as Medical Issues","volume":"388","author":"Holt-Lunstad","year":"2023","journal-title":"New England Journal of Medicine"},{"issue":"6","key":"2026060817205918600_ref25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"517","DOI":"10.1037\/amp0000103","article-title":"Advancing Social Connection as a Public Health Priority in the United States","volume":"72","author":"Holt-Lunstad","year":"2017","journal-title":"The American Psychologist"},{"issue":"7","key":"2026060817205918600_ref26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e1000316","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pmed.1000316","article-title":"Social Relationships and Mortality Risk: A Meta-Analytic Review","volume":"7","author":"Holt-Lunstad","year":"2010","journal-title":"PLoS Medicine"},{"issue":"1","key":"2026060817205918600_ref27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"41","DOI":"10.1177\/2156869310393986","article-title":"Creating an Age of Depression: The Social Construction and Consequences of the Major Depression Diagnosis","volume":"1","author":"Horwitz","year":"2011","journal-title":"Society and Mental Health"},{"issue":"2","key":"2026060817205918600_ref28","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"125","DOI":"10.2307\/3090192","article-title":"Understanding Social Factors and Inequalities in Health: 20th Century Progress and 21st Century Prospects","volume":"43","author":"House","year":"2011","journal-title":"Journal of Health and Social Behavior"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref28a","author":"Humana"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref29","volume-title":"Opinion: \u2018We Tire Very Quickly of Being Told That Everything Is on Fire\u2019","author":"Interlandi","year":"2024"},{"issue":"6","key":"2026060817205918600_ref29a","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"553","DOI":"10.1001\/jamapsychiatry.2020.0027","article-title":"Battling the Modern Behavioral Epidemic of Loneliness: Suggestions for Research and Interventions","volume":"77","author":"Jeste","year":"2020","journal-title":"JAMA Psychiatry"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"101331","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ssmph.2022.101331","article-title":"US Trends in Social Isolation, Social Engagement, and Companionship \u2013 Nationally and by Age, Sex, Race\/Ethnicity, Family Income, and Work Hours, 2003\u20132020","volume":"21","author":"Kannan","year":"2022","journal-title":"SSM - Population Health"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.7208\/chicago\/9780226179292.001.0001","volume-title":"Not Tonight: Migraine and the Politics of Gender and Health","author":"Kempner","year":"2014"},{"issue":"4","key":"2026060817205918600_ref32","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1216","DOI":"10.1093\/socpro\/spad003","article-title":"On Our Own: Social Distance, Physical Loneliness, and Structural Isolation in the COVID-19 Pandemic","volume":"71","author":"Klinenberg","year":"2024","journal-title":"Social Problems"},{"issue":"S1","key":"2026060817205918600_ref33","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"61","DOI":"10.1111\/1468-0009.12619","article-title":"The Perils of Medicalization for Population Health and Health Equity","volume":"101","author":"Lantz","year":"2023","journal-title":"The Milbank Quarterly"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.7208\/chicago\/9780226806600.001.0001","volume-title":"Listening to People: A Practical Guide to Interviewing, Participant Observation, Data Analysis, and Writing It All Up","author":"Lareau","year":"2021"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref35","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"727","DOI":"10.1016\/j.bbi.2023.11.022","article-title":"Social Isolation, Loneliness, and Inflammation: A Multi-Cohort Investigation in Early and Mid-Adulthood","volume":"115","author":"Matthews","year":"2024","journal-title":"Brain, Behavior, and Immunity"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref36","first-page":"1","article-title":"A Case for Refocusing Upstream: The Political Economy of Illness","volume":"1","author":"McKinlay","year":"1975","journal-title":"IAPHS Occasional Classics"},{"issue":"10129","key":"2026060817205918600_ref37","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1480","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(18)30577-4","article-title":"Beware the Medicalisation of Loneliness","volume":"391","author":"McLennan","year":"2018","journal-title":"The Lancet"},{"issue":"3","key":"2026060817205918600_ref38","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"333","DOI":"10.1111\/1467-9566.12485","article-title":"\u2018Sometimes, It\u2019s Easier to Write the Prescription\u2019: Physician and Patient Accounts of the Reluctant Medicalisation of Sleeplessness: Sociology of Health & Illness","volume":"39","author":"Moloney","year":"2017","journal-title":"Sociology of Health & Illness"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref39","volume-title":"The Politics of Loneliness","author":"Murphy","year":"2024"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref40","volume-title":"Working and the Loneliness Epidemic: Reducing Isolation at Work Is Good for Business","author":"Murthy","year":"2017"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref41","volume-title":"Our Epidemic of Loneliness","author":"Murthy","year":"2020"},{"issue":"6","key":"2026060817205918600_ref42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"653","DOI":"10.1177\/00333549211045425","article-title":"COVID-19 Pandemic Underscores the Need to Address Social Isolation and Loneliness","volume":"136","author":"Murthy","year":"2021","journal-title":"Public Health Reports"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref42a","volume-title":"Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults: Opportunities for the Health Care System","author":"National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine","year":"2020"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref43","volume-title":"Integrating Social Care into the Delivery of Health Care: Moving Upstream to Improve the Nation\u2019s Health","author":"National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine","year":"2019"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref43a","article-title":"2021 Pinnacle Awards Go to Caresource, Anthem","volume-title":"2021 Pinnacle Awards Go to Caresource, Anthem","author":"Ohio Association of Health Plans"},{"issue":"14","key":"2026060817205918600_ref44","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1078","DOI":"10.1001\/archinternmed.2012.1993","article-title":"Loneliness in Older Persons: A Predictor of Functional Decline and Death","volume":"172","author":"Perissinotto","year":"2012","journal-title":"Archives of Internal Medicine"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref45","volume-title":"Why We Need a Minister for Loneliness","author":"Purcell","year":"2021"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref45a","article-title":"\u201cAbout Us.\u201d Reducing Loneliness via Member Engagement and SDOH Screening Tools","author":"Health","year":"2024"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref45b","article-title":"\u201cSmall Managed Care Organizations and Community Plans.\u201d Reducing Loneliness via Member Engagement and SDOH Screening Tools","author":"Health","year":"2024"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref46","first-page":"48","volume-title":"Reassessing Foucault","author":"Rose","year":"1994"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref47","volume-title":"Rescission of Guidance on Health-Related Social Needs","author":"Synder","year":"2025"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref47a","author":"UnitedHealthcare"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref47b","author":"UnitedHealthcare"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref48","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1525\/california\/9780520288065.001.0001","volume-title":"The Zero Trimester: Pre-Pregnancy Care and the Politics of Reproductive Risk","author":"Waggoner","year":"2017"},{"key":"2026060817205918600_ref49","volume-title":"WHO Commission on Social Connection","author":"World Health Organization (WHO)"},{"issue":"4","key":"2026060817205918600_ref50","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"487","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-954X.1972.tb00220.x","article-title":"Medicine as an Institution of Social Control","volume":"20","author":"Zola","year":"1972","journal-title":"The Sociological Review"}],"container-title":["Social Problems"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/socpro\/advance-article-pdf\/doi\/10.1093\/socpro\/spag034\/68489147\/spag034.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"syndication"},{"URL":"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/socpro\/advance-article-pdf\/doi\/10.1093\/socpro\/spag034\/68489147\/spag034.pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,8]],"date-time":"2026-06-08T21:21:09Z","timestamp":1780953669000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/socpro\/advance-article\/doi\/10.1093\/socpro\/spag034\/8703869"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,8]]},"references-count":68,"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/socpro\/spag034","relation":{},"ISSN":["0037-7791","1533-8533"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0037-7791","type":"print"},{"value":"1533-8533","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,8]]},"article-number":"spag034"}}