US Surgeon General: Loneliness is at the heart of a growing mental health crisis

Widespread loneliness in the US poses deadly health risks, US Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy said in declaring the latest public health epidemic.

As Minority Mental Health Month comes to the end, the problems caused by isolation and loneliness remain, especially among Asian American and Pacific Islander elders.

The mass shootings in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay were committed by older Asian American men are tragic reminders that many AANHPI elderly are not receiving the care they need.

While loneliness affects elders of all ages, language and cultural barriers and fear caused by the anti-Asian hate attacks exacerbates the problem among AANHPI senior citizens, who would rather sweep the feeling under the rug than to talk to strangers about it.

To bring attention to the issue rarely talked about in the AANHPI communities, Surgeon General Murthy, an Indian American medical professional, issued the following opinion article:

By Vivek H. Murthy
United States Surgeon General

Mental health is the defining public health crisis of our time, and for many Americans, loneliness is at the heart of that crisis. At any given moment, about one out of every two of our fellow citizens is experiencing measurable levels of loneliness. It is not something we talk about or easily see: Loneliness is a condition that is hidden in the shadows.

More than just a bad feeling, loneliness is a corrosive condition with grave consequences. Social disconnection puts us at increased risk for depression, anxiety and suicide, as well as heightening our risk for stress-related physical ailments like heart disease, stroke and dementia. Its impact on our risk of premature death is on par with smoking 15 cigarettes daily.

Why is this so? It is because we evolved to live in community. As hunter-gatherers, we found safety in togetherness. Being isolated from the group put the individual at elevated risk — from predators, from starvation, from exposure — and that created stress. Our survival depended on being a part of something larger than just ourselves.

As much as our circumstances are very different today than they were in our hunter-gatherer days, that basic truth remains: We are hardwired to live in community. Connection is the essential glue of our lives. It is what brings us happiness and fulfillment. We need social connection for our survival and collective well-being.

This epidemic of loneliness has been building over many years. The pandemic made it worse, to be sure, but it is a crisis that has been evolving for a half-century or more. During that time, there has been declining participation in communal life. Fewer people belong to churches or synagogues or other religious institutions or are engaged with civic organizations. We, as a society, move around more. We change jobs more frequently. We don’t put down roots in the same ways as our parents and grandparents.

RELATED: White House hosts AANHPI mental health summit

Too often, we imagine loneliness as a condition of the elderly living in isolation with no one to support them. While that can be true, loneliness in the United States is not limited to older Americans. There are people in marriages who are lonely, CEOs of major companies who are lonely, seemingly happy people posting pictures of their fabulous vacations on social media who are lonely. And far too many young people who are lonely. From the outside, everything looks fine. But inside, they are struggling.

Addressing this national crisis is a profound challenge. We all want to be seen and understood. Sometimes all we need is acknowledgment of our worth and value. This is something we can do for each other — and for ourselves. Taking just 15 minutes a day to reach out to someone you care about can make a huge difference in how connected we feel.

There is nothing more fundamental to the health and well-being of people in our country than ensuring that we are building a moral and spiritual foundation that guides how we interact with each other. Toward that goal, service is one of the greatest antidotes to loneliness. When we help somebody else, two things happen. One is we forge a connection with them. The second is that we remind ourselves that we have value, and that can help us in times of our own loneliness. The less worthy we feel, the harder it is to reach out to other people.

I know this from my own experience. When my first stint as Surgeon General ended abruptly in 2017, I felt profoundly lonely. During my time as Surgeon General, I threw myself into the job at the expense of my friendships. When the job ended, I was left without those relationships that had sustained me before. I was lonely, and also ashamed. I believed it was my fault because I had neglected those relationships. It was a choice I had made, and I felt embarrassed to call my friends and say, “Hey, I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you for the last two-and-a-half years.” It took the urging of my wife, who recognized what was happening to me and that I was withdrawing more and more, to reach out to reconnect.

One of the best definitions of a friend that I ever heard was when I was in college: A friend is somebody who reminds you of who you are when you forget. And we all do forget from time to time. We all go through periods in our life when we feel unworthy or that we fall short. That is when we need our friends to step in. That is why I think that at a time such as we are now experiencing, when as a community we are struggling so much with our mental health, we need these connections in our lives.

Yes, we do need more psychiatrists and better access to psychiatric care to address the mental health crisis that confronts our country. Yes, we do need more psychologists. Yes, we need the technology to bring the care that is needed to people in their homes.

"We need to come up with ways to tip the balance toward love and away from fear, to rebuild the public square so that we can once again speak rationally with each other."

But we also need each other. We need to turn our attention to reinforcing the caring, supportive institutions, communities and relationships that give our lives purpose and meaning. We need to come up with ways to tip the balance toward love and away from fear, to rebuild the public square so that we can once again speak rationally with each other. To address this crisis of loneliness, we need to return to the core values of kindness, generosity and friendship that are so essential to the social fabric of our communities.

Ultimately, it comes down to one thing: Embrace love. It has the extraordinary capacity to heal and is the force we need to reach for each and every day in our lives. Love is our oldest medicine.

FYI: This column is adapted from a conversation Dr. Murthy had with Oprah Winfrey at UCLA’s Royce Hall in May during the 2023 WOW (Wisdom of Wellness) Mental Health Summit to benefit the Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA and the Stewart and Lynda Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow me at Threads.net/eduardodiok, @DioknoEd on Twitter or at the  blog Views From the Edge.

People of color growing impatient waiting for Biden's Cabinet picks to look like America

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra nominated to head Health and Human Services as
AAPI leaders patience is wearing thin.

Members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus met Monday (Dec. 7) with the Biden-Harris transition team to express their concern about adequate representation in the incoming Biden administration.

Biden is under increasing pressure from groups that feel that Blacks, Hispanics and Asians are not being appointed to premiere positions in the incoming administration.

Thus far, the only Asian Americans -- Neera Tandem and Vivek Murthy have been nominated for Office of Management and Budget director and Surgeon General. respectively -- have been nominated. While these are important. roles, they are considered not in the top tier.

“Look, it’s each one of these groups’ jobs to push their leaders to make sure there’s a greater diversity,” Biden said at a news conference Friday. “What I can promise you is when this is all said and done, you see everyone that I’ve announced – and it was going to be in the next several weeks, we’ll have it all out there – you’re going to see significant diversity. I’m not going to tell you now exactly what I’m going to do in any department, but I promise you it will be the single most diverse Cabinet based on race, color, based on gender, that’s ever existed in the United States of America.”

As if to underscore his commitment to diversity, on Friday Biden announced that retired General Lloyd Austin, an African American, is his nominee for Secretary of Defense.

On Monday, Biden followed up by naming a Latino, Xavier Becerra, California's Attorney General, to head Health & Human Services, which will be in the forefront of the fight against the coronavirus.

Two weeks ago, Alejandro Mayorkas, a Cuban American, was picked to head the Department of Homeland Security.

Both Defense, HHS, and DHS are considered top-level positions.

Last week, Biden nominated Cecilia Rouse, a Black woman, to chair the Council of Economic Advisers, a position which the President-elect announced will elevate to the Cabinet level.

Meanwhile, while CAPAC met with the transition team on Monday, leaders of civil rights organizations plan to meet today (Dec. 9) with Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris to also discuss how to increase diversity in the appointments to Cabinet-level seats and other top administration posts.

Marc Morial, CEO of the National Urban League, said he and leaders of other civil rights organizations will discuss racial equity and social justice with Biden and Harris.

The high-powered civil rights groups included the National Action Network, NAACP, National Urban League, National Coalition of Black Civic Participation, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

Despite having one of their own members, Kamala Harris, as Vice President-elect, the meeting with CAPAC members apparently didn't extract any concrete results, but their concerns were noted. "I appreciate the time they took to speak with our members on several important priorities for our caucus and the broader AAPI community," said Rep. Judy Chu, chair of CAPAC.

"In the meeting, we highlighted how excited we are that one of our very own CAPAC Members, Kamala Harris, will be the first woman, first Asian American, and first Black Vice President in our nation’s history. We also discussed the critical need to ensure that AAPIs are well represented throughout the entire Biden-Harris Administration, particularly in the Cabinet and other senior roles.

CAPAC members also raised important policy priorities, such as the need to address the disproportionate health and economic impacts of COVID-19 on AAPIs, concerns over growing anti-Asian racism throughout the pandemic, and prioritizing data disaggregation for the AAPI community. 

CAPAC sent a letter to the transition team shortly after Biden triumphed over Trump reminding them of the role AAPI voters played in the election.

“Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are seven percent of the U.S. population and the fastest-growing racial group in the nation, with over 23 million AAPIs living in this country today," said the letter. "AAPIs are also the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. electorate and turned out in record numbers in the 2020 election, with over two-thirds of the AAPI vote supporting your election.

“For over two decades, there has been at least one AAPI appointed to serve in the Cabinet of both Democratic and Republican administrations. In fact, the Obama Administration included a record three AAPI Cabinet secretaries and the Trump Administration included two AAPI women in the Cabinet. In order to ensure your administration is filled with appointees who truly reflect the strength and diversity of our nation, we urge you to continue this trend of appointing AAPI candidates to the Cabinet and prioritizing AAPI representation throughout your administration."

EDITOR'S NOTE: A word of caution, this is news sprinkled with opinion. Readers are encouraged to seek multiple news sources to formulate their own positions.

Biden wants Vivek Murthy to return as his Surgeon General

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President-elect Joe Biden, right, named Vivek Murthy, left, to be his Surgeon General.

President-elect Joe Biden named the individuals who he wants to combat the coronavirus, his No. 1 priority when he takes office. Former Solicitor General Vivek Murthy, an Indian American, will take on the role again with expanded duties.

Murthy, 43, is the second Asian American Biden has named to high profile positions in his administration, that also includes Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. Last week, he named Neera Tanden to head the Office of Management and Budget.

The selection of Murthy appears to be a no-brainer. He is already advising Biden as the chair of his Covid-19 task force. His name was brought up as a possible head of Health and Human Services, but it was felt that he shouldn't be spending all his time managing the huge HHS Department with 80,000 employees with a a $1-trillion budget.

While not a Cabinet position, Murthy will take on the role as Surgeon General where his medical expertise can best be used advising Biden on the health policies that would be implemented by HHS. Under Biden's administration, Murthy's role will be expanded with a "broader portfolio," according to one source close to Biden with the initial emphasis -- perhaps the first year -- handling the pandemic crisis. After the coronavirus is under control, Murthy would handle systemic health care issues including subastance abuse, mental health and racial disparities in health care.

He will be assisted by Marcella Nunez-Smith, a co-chair of Biden’s Covid-19 advisory board, She will also take a key role in the administration’s coronavirus response, focused on health disparities.

As Murthy moves into the role of Solicitor General, Transition co-chair and former Obama administration official Jeff Zients will take over the position as the White House’s Covid-19 coordinator. The distribution of coronavirus vaccines -- a huge logistical task -- will fall under Zients.

While praise for Murthy is almost bipartisan, not so for Zients, who was the head of the Obama administration’s National Economic Council, largely responsible for a federal rule that would prevent financial advisers from taking advantage of retirees. He won praise from progressives for fending off fierce resistance from Wall Street and for fighting for consumer protections which automatically makes him personal non grata among the investment and business sector.

Ironically, those same progressives in the Democratic Party could squelch his nomination because during the Trump administration, Zients was CEO of Cranemere, an investment firm. In the eyes of the Dems' left wing, anybody with business ties or with a reputation for cost-cutting, is suspect.

EDITOR'S NOTE: A word of caution, this is news sprinkled with opinion. Readers are encouraged to seek multiple news sources to formulate their own positions.

U.S. Surgeon General refused to resign, so he was 'relieved' from the post

Dr. Vivek Murthy

INDIAN/AMERICAN physicians were "shocked and saddened" by the departure of Dr. Vivek Murthy as the U.S. Surgeon General.

Last Friday (April 21), the Trump administration asked Murthy to resign even though he had a year and-a-half to go on his 4-year term. When he refused, he was "relieved" from his post that he held since 2014.

"Many have asked why I chose not to resign as Surgeon General when I was asked to do so," said Murthy on his Facebook page. "My reason was simple: because I would never willfully abandon my commitment to my Commissioned Corps officers, to the American people, and to all who have stood with me to build a healthier and more compassionate America."

The American Association of Physicians of Indian-origin were caught by surprise, but issued a statement. "On behalf of the AAPI, I want to applaud the many contributions and initiatives of Dr Vivek Murthy, our AAPI member, in the healthcare sector in very short span of about two years since he became U.S. Surgeon General in 2014," said AAPI president Ajay Lodha.

Murthy also served as co-chair with former Education Secretary John King of the White House Initiative on Asian American Pacific Islanders was housed in the Department of Education.

When Donald Trump took office, unlike other appointees of President Obama, Murthy chose to assist in the transition and to continue his work as Surgeon General.

“Although it’s not unprecedented, it’s highly unusual for a surgeon general’s four-year term to be cut short,” explained Daniel Politi at Slate. “What is known is that the gun lobby was no fan of Murthy, who has for years insisted that gun violence should be classified as a public health threat.”

Back in 2014, when former President Barack Obama nominated him to be the next surgeon general, the National Rifle Association wrote a strongly-worded letter opposing Murthy’s confirmation. Murthy had argued that the gun control debate was a public health issue and he pushed for more common-sense gun control regulation. 

Back in 2014, when former President Barack Obama nominated him to be the next surgeon general, the National Rifle Association wrote a strongly-worded letter opposing Murthy’s confirmation. Murthy had argued that the gun control debate was a public health issue and he pushed for more common-sense gun control regulation. 

He came to the post of “America’s Doctor” following a narrow 51-43 vote of confirmation from a Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate.

"While that decision to stand on principle resulted in my termination prior to the end of my four-year term, I know that the Office of the Surgeon General is greater than any one person and its mission must continue," Murthy said. "The new Acting Surgeon General, Rear Admiral Sylvia Trent-Adams, is the right person to step into this role. She has dedicated the past 30 years to our nation serving in the Army and in the U.S. Public Health Service. Her deep wealth of experience is matched only by the immense size of her heart. I know she will serve with distinction."

He will continue to serve in the USPHS Commissioned Corps in another capacity.

In another Facebook post, he said, "For the grandson of a poor farmer from India to be asked by the president to look out for the health of an entire nation was a humbling and uniquely American story," he wrote. "While I had hoped to do more to help our nation tackle its biggest health challenges, I will be forever grateful for the opportunity to have served."

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