Aug 20, 2026 · 34 min · 11 segments
For years, Dr. James Ellis treated patients who were doing everything they were supposed to do, yet some still weren't getting better. The clinical psychologist noticed something important: The people…
It seems to me, if you look at that historical timeline, you know, we lived in tribes and we had our different roles, um, There was an article I read in December of 19, and I refer to it all the time.
Two young editors at the Washington bureau, the wall street journal wrote an article that I reread every few months called, uh, boomers, the loneliest generation.
And they posited.
And I agreed that Oz, my boomer generation was the first generation post world war II, uh, that did a few things embrace divorce in large numbers.
Yes.
became diabetic, so therefore unhealthy in large number, in percentage terms, who didn't live with multi-generational families and would move to the other side of the country because California is cool.
And I separate myself from my family and my social network and my school network at all voluntarily, or travel to move to Colorado for work.
And now I'm separated.
Oh, and by the way, we're living longer.
So we live longer, we're not as healthy, we outlive our money sometimes, we're estranged from our family because of a divorce, and wow, are we surprised that we're lonely.
I would argue that successive generations have tried to outdo the boomers in terms of loneliness.
Indeed, precisely.
But it was those consequences of where I grew up, I grew up in Queens, South Queens, I would say more than half the homes on the block that I lived on were multi-generational.
Yeah.
I didn't know of anyone in a nursing home.
I didn't know anyone who lived in a 55 plus community because there weren't any.
And I think all of those things, to your point, contribute to what I think is an epidemic of loneliness.
It seems to me, if you look at that historical timeline, you know, we lived in tribes and we had our different roles, um, There was an article I read in December of 19, and I refer to it all the time.
Two young editors at the Washington bureau, the wall street journal wrote an article that I reread every few months called, uh, boomers, the loneliest generation.
And they posited.
And I agreed that Oz, my boomer generation was the first generation post world war II, uh, that did a few things embrace divorce in large numbers.
Yes.
became diabetic, so therefore unhealthy in large number, in percentage terms, who didn't live with multi-generational families and would move to the other side of the country because California is cool.
And I separate myself from my family and my social network and my school network at all voluntarily, or travel to move to Colorado for work.
And now I'm separated.
Oh, and by the way, we're living longer.
So we live longer, we're not as healthy, we outlive our money sometimes, we're estranged from our family because of a divorce, and wow, are we surprised that we're lonely.
I would argue that successive generations have tried to outdo the boomers in terms of loneliness.
Indeed, precisely.
But it was those consequences of where I grew up, I grew up in Queens, South Queens, I would say more than half the homes on the block that I lived on were multi-generational.
Yeah.
I didn't know of anyone in a nursing home.
I didn't know anyone who lived in a 55 plus community because there weren't any.
And I think all of those things, to your point, contribute to what I think is an epidemic of loneliness.
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