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How Severe Is Your Loneliness? Take This Quiz

March 26, 2024

About half of adults in the U.S. report experiencing loneliness, with higher rates reported among young adults — a concerning trend that started before the pandemic.1 In 2023, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy called loneliness an “epidemic” and recognized it as a public health crisis.

Loneliness, according to the CDC, is “feeling like you do not have meaningful or close relationships or a sense of belonging.”2 In a recent ADDitude survey of 4,170 adults with ADHD, nearly two-third of respondents aged 18 to 29 reported feeling lonely “always or often.” Many readers cited executive dysfunction, rejection sensitive dysphoria (RSD), masking, and low self-esteem among several ADHD-related sources of loneliness.

Answer the following questions to gauge your own feelings of loneliness. Share your results with a licensed mental health professional. Find resources to combat loneliness at the end of this self-test.

If you or someone you know is in crisis and needs help, dial or text 988 to connect to a trained counselor from the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Call 911 if you or someone you know is in immediate danger.

This self-test was drafted by ADDitude editors and informed, in part, by the UCLA Loneliness Scale (Version 3), the Campaign to End Loneliness Measurement Tool, and the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale. This self-test is designed to measure loneliness and it is intended for personal use only. This self-test is not a diagnostic tool.

I often feel “out of tune” with the people around me.






I feel that I lack companionship.






I feel isolated from others.






I don’t have many people to whom I feel comfortable turning at any time.






My relationships are not as satisfying or meaningful as I would like them to be.






I feel a general sense of emptiness.






I don’t feel like I’m part of a group (like friends) or a community.






I often feel rejected or left out.






I don’t feel close to anyone.






I feel like no one knows me — the real me — that well.






(Optional) Would you like to receive your symptom test results — plus more helpful resources — via email from ADDitude?







Can’t see the self-test questions above? Click here to open this test in a new window.

How to Deal with Loneliness: Next Steps

Sources

1 Our epidemic of loneliness and isolation: the US Surgeon General’s advisory on the healing effects of social connection and community. 2 May 2023. US Department of Health and Human Services. www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf.

2 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Loneliness. https://www.cdc.gov/howrightnow/emotion/loneliness/index.html

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