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According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, > 1 in 10 veterans have been diagnosed with substance use disorder (SUD). Additionally, 7 out of every 100 veterans will have posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at some point in their life, per research from the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). However, a common and perhaps unsuspected parallel is found in those statistics: loneliness.
Of the 4069 veterans who participated in the 2019-2020 National Health and Resilience in Veterans Survey, 56.9% reported they felt lonely sometimes or often, while 1 in 5 reported feeling lonely often.
An Epidemic
In his 2023 advisory, Former US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called it an epidemic noting that when he spoke with veterans during a cross-country listening tour, he heard how they felt “isolated, invisible, and insignificant.” About 1 in 2 adults in America experience loneliness, even before the COVID-19 pandemic isolation.
Loneliness can have individual and synergistic ill effects, including a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety, and premature death. It also can both trigger and exacerbate substance use and PTSD.
A study using data from the RAND Health and Retirement Study Longitudinal File 2020 (N = 5259) found significant associations between loneliness and being unmarried/unpartnered, and greater depressive symptoms for both veterans and civilians, as well as significant negative associations between loneliness and greater life satisfaction and positive affect. Health conditions that limited an individual's ability to work was a “unique risk factor for loneliness among veterans.”
The National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study found that those aged ≤ 50 years were 3 times more likely to screen positive for PTSD compared to older veterans. In a survey of 409 veterans, many who engaged in problematic substance use during the COVID-19 pandemic reported that despite having social supports they still felt lonely. In regression analyses, higher levels of loneliness were associated with more negative impacts of the pandemic, greater substance use, and poorer physical and mental health functioning.
Addressing Loneliness
Researchers believe an answer to some mental health and substance abuse problems may lie in addressing loneliness. Positive psychology is providing promising results in the treatment of SUD. Bryant Stone, from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, emphasizes focusing on well-being and quality of life rather than solely on abstinence with “positive psychological interventions,” or activities and behavioral interventions that target positive variables to promote adaptive functioning.
Veterans can face tough challenges as they rejoin civilian life. How successfully they meet and conquer those challenges, especially if they include drug problems, may directly relate to their general feeling of well-being.
The PERMA model outlines 5 core elements to assess well-being: Positive emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment. A study based on that model found loneliness to be a “particularly significant factor” among key variables influencing the prevention and treatment of SUDs. The study of 156 veterans with self-reported mental health conditions found the ability to engage in social roles and activities was positively correlated with overall well-being and negatively correlated with degree of problems related to drug abuse.
Rural Veterans
The estimated 4.4 million veterans living in rural communities may benefit most from interventions that tackle isolation. Compared with urban counterparts, they’re more likely to be older, have more complex medical issues, have a service-connected disability, and be unemployed. Those factors, compounded by geographical and social isolation, can have a substantial impact on well-being.
A study centered on the initial validation of a short (5-item) version of PERMA found that individuals who scored higher on the short form tended to report higher levels of optimism, resilience, and happiness. Thus, the short form may be particularly useful for rural veterans who do not always have easy access to health care.
VA has instituted a variety of programs to encourage and support social connection. During the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth interventions targeted social support and loneliness among veterans—albeit with mixed results. VA CONNECT, a 10-session group telehealth intervention that integrated peer support, did not show significant changes in loneliness, but did significantly reduce perceived stress.
Another initiative, Compassionate Contact Corps, trained volunteers made weekly phone calls aimed at reducing loneliness and fostering social connection. Started in Columbus, Ohio, in 2020, > 80 sites had adopted the initiative by 2021, with 310 volunteers, 5320 visits, and 4757 hours spent with veterans.
In 2014, VA peer specialists developed and co-hosted Veterans Socials through community partnerships between VA, veteran-serving organizations, and veteran community leaders. As of 2025, 178 known Veterans Socials were spread across 26 states and territories.
The researchers say their case examples collectively demonstrate that Veterans Socials have the potential to serve as a vital platform for peer support, resource sharing, and health service use among veterans. Virtual Veterans Socials also provided hosts with a channel to reach potentially isolated veterans who might not otherwise access services while simultaneously offering veterans an opportunity for social connection.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, > 1 in 10 veterans have been diagnosed with substance use disorder (SUD). Additionally, 7 out of every 100 veterans will have posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at some point in their life, per research from the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). However, a common and perhaps unsuspected parallel is found in those statistics: loneliness.
Of the 4069 veterans who participated in the 2019-2020 National Health and Resilience in Veterans Survey, 56.9% reported they felt lonely sometimes or often, while 1 in 5 reported feeling lonely often.
An Epidemic
In his 2023 advisory, Former US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called it an epidemic noting that when he spoke with veterans during a cross-country listening tour, he heard how they felt “isolated, invisible, and insignificant.” About 1 in 2 adults in America experience loneliness, even before the COVID-19 pandemic isolation.
Loneliness can have individual and synergistic ill effects, including a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety, and premature death. It also can both trigger and exacerbate substance use and PTSD.
A study using data from the RAND Health and Retirement Study Longitudinal File 2020 (N = 5259) found significant associations between loneliness and being unmarried/unpartnered, and greater depressive symptoms for both veterans and civilians, as well as significant negative associations between loneliness and greater life satisfaction and positive affect. Health conditions that limited an individual's ability to work was a “unique risk factor for loneliness among veterans.”
The National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study found that those aged ≤ 50 years were 3 times more likely to screen positive for PTSD compared to older veterans. In a survey of 409 veterans, many who engaged in problematic substance use during the COVID-19 pandemic reported that despite having social supports they still felt lonely. In regression analyses, higher levels of loneliness were associated with more negative impacts of the pandemic, greater substance use, and poorer physical and mental health functioning.
Addressing Loneliness
Researchers believe an answer to some mental health and substance abuse problems may lie in addressing loneliness. Positive psychology is providing promising results in the treatment of SUD. Bryant Stone, from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, emphasizes focusing on well-being and quality of life rather than solely on abstinence with “positive psychological interventions,” or activities and behavioral interventions that target positive variables to promote adaptive functioning.
Veterans can face tough challenges as they rejoin civilian life. How successfully they meet and conquer those challenges, especially if they include drug problems, may directly relate to their general feeling of well-being.
The PERMA model outlines 5 core elements to assess well-being: Positive emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment. A study based on that model found loneliness to be a “particularly significant factor” among key variables influencing the prevention and treatment of SUDs. The study of 156 veterans with self-reported mental health conditions found the ability to engage in social roles and activities was positively correlated with overall well-being and negatively correlated with degree of problems related to drug abuse.
Rural Veterans
The estimated 4.4 million veterans living in rural communities may benefit most from interventions that tackle isolation. Compared with urban counterparts, they’re more likely to be older, have more complex medical issues, have a service-connected disability, and be unemployed. Those factors, compounded by geographical and social isolation, can have a substantial impact on well-being.
A study centered on the initial validation of a short (5-item) version of PERMA found that individuals who scored higher on the short form tended to report higher levels of optimism, resilience, and happiness. Thus, the short form may be particularly useful for rural veterans who do not always have easy access to health care.
VA has instituted a variety of programs to encourage and support social connection. During the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth interventions targeted social support and loneliness among veterans—albeit with mixed results. VA CONNECT, a 10-session group telehealth intervention that integrated peer support, did not show significant changes in loneliness, but did significantly reduce perceived stress.
Another initiative, Compassionate Contact Corps, trained volunteers made weekly phone calls aimed at reducing loneliness and fostering social connection. Started in Columbus, Ohio, in 2020, > 80 sites had adopted the initiative by 2021, with 310 volunteers, 5320 visits, and 4757 hours spent with veterans.
In 2014, VA peer specialists developed and co-hosted Veterans Socials through community partnerships between VA, veteran-serving organizations, and veteran community leaders. As of 2025, 178 known Veterans Socials were spread across 26 states and territories.
The researchers say their case examples collectively demonstrate that Veterans Socials have the potential to serve as a vital platform for peer support, resource sharing, and health service use among veterans. Virtual Veterans Socials also provided hosts with a channel to reach potentially isolated veterans who might not otherwise access services while simultaneously offering veterans an opportunity for social connection.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, > 1 in 10 veterans have been diagnosed with substance use disorder (SUD). Additionally, 7 out of every 100 veterans will have posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at some point in their life, per research from the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). However, a common and perhaps unsuspected parallel is found in those statistics: loneliness.
Of the 4069 veterans who participated in the 2019-2020 National Health and Resilience in Veterans Survey, 56.9% reported they felt lonely sometimes or often, while 1 in 5 reported feeling lonely often.
An Epidemic
In his 2023 advisory, Former US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called it an epidemic noting that when he spoke with veterans during a cross-country listening tour, he heard how they felt “isolated, invisible, and insignificant.” About 1 in 2 adults in America experience loneliness, even before the COVID-19 pandemic isolation.
Loneliness can have individual and synergistic ill effects, including a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety, and premature death. It also can both trigger and exacerbate substance use and PTSD.
A study using data from the RAND Health and Retirement Study Longitudinal File 2020 (N = 5259) found significant associations between loneliness and being unmarried/unpartnered, and greater depressive symptoms for both veterans and civilians, as well as significant negative associations between loneliness and greater life satisfaction and positive affect. Health conditions that limited an individual's ability to work was a “unique risk factor for loneliness among veterans.”
The National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study found that those aged ≤ 50 years were 3 times more likely to screen positive for PTSD compared to older veterans. In a survey of 409 veterans, many who engaged in problematic substance use during the COVID-19 pandemic reported that despite having social supports they still felt lonely. In regression analyses, higher levels of loneliness were associated with more negative impacts of the pandemic, greater substance use, and poorer physical and mental health functioning.
Addressing Loneliness
Researchers believe an answer to some mental health and substance abuse problems may lie in addressing loneliness. Positive psychology is providing promising results in the treatment of SUD. Bryant Stone, from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, emphasizes focusing on well-being and quality of life rather than solely on abstinence with “positive psychological interventions,” or activities and behavioral interventions that target positive variables to promote adaptive functioning.
Veterans can face tough challenges as they rejoin civilian life. How successfully they meet and conquer those challenges, especially if they include drug problems, may directly relate to their general feeling of well-being.
The PERMA model outlines 5 core elements to assess well-being: Positive emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Accomplishment. A study based on that model found loneliness to be a “particularly significant factor” among key variables influencing the prevention and treatment of SUDs. The study of 156 veterans with self-reported mental health conditions found the ability to engage in social roles and activities was positively correlated with overall well-being and negatively correlated with degree of problems related to drug abuse.
Rural Veterans
The estimated 4.4 million veterans living in rural communities may benefit most from interventions that tackle isolation. Compared with urban counterparts, they’re more likely to be older, have more complex medical issues, have a service-connected disability, and be unemployed. Those factors, compounded by geographical and social isolation, can have a substantial impact on well-being.
A study centered on the initial validation of a short (5-item) version of PERMA found that individuals who scored higher on the short form tended to report higher levels of optimism, resilience, and happiness. Thus, the short form may be particularly useful for rural veterans who do not always have easy access to health care.
VA has instituted a variety of programs to encourage and support social connection. During the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth interventions targeted social support and loneliness among veterans—albeit with mixed results. VA CONNECT, a 10-session group telehealth intervention that integrated peer support, did not show significant changes in loneliness, but did significantly reduce perceived stress.
Another initiative, Compassionate Contact Corps, trained volunteers made weekly phone calls aimed at reducing loneliness and fostering social connection. Started in Columbus, Ohio, in 2020, > 80 sites had adopted the initiative by 2021, with 310 volunteers, 5320 visits, and 4757 hours spent with veterans.
In 2014, VA peer specialists developed and co-hosted Veterans Socials through community partnerships between VA, veteran-serving organizations, and veteran community leaders. As of 2025, 178 known Veterans Socials were spread across 26 states and territories.
The researchers say their case examples collectively demonstrate that Veterans Socials have the potential to serve as a vital platform for peer support, resource sharing, and health service use among veterans. Virtual Veterans Socials also provided hosts with a channel to reach potentially isolated veterans who might not otherwise access services while simultaneously offering veterans an opportunity for social connection.