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Jacqueline Olds and Richard Schwartz discuss the previously un-reported American epidemic of living in social isolation in their new book, The Lonely American: Drifting Apart in the 21st Century.

Why do 25% of Americans report that they have talked to no one about anything important in the last six months? How do contemporary American lifestyle and work place demands lead to social isolation? What are the negative affects - on children, physical health, the environment - of so many people living lonely lives? Are there remedies?

Jacqueline Olds and Richard Schwartz are both Associate Clinical Professors of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Olds teaches child psychiatry and Dr. Schwartz teaches adult psychiatry at McLean and Massachusetts General Hospital. They both are psychoanalysts and have written two other books, Overcoming Loneliness in Everyday Life and Marriage in Motion. Married to each other and with two grown children, they each maintain a private practice in Cambridge, MA.