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Unpleasant emotional response to perceived isolation
- Loneliness is an unpleasant emotional response to perceived isolation. Loneliness is also described as social pain – a psychological mechanism which motivates individuals to seek social connections. It is often associated with a perceived lack of connection and intimacy.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loneliness
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Is Loneliness a real thing?
Does anyone want to be lonely?
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Is Loneliness the same as being alone?
- Younger people feel lonelier than older people. When you picture someone who’s lonely, the stereotype is often an older person who lives alone and hardly sees anyone.
- 41% of people think loneliness can be positive. This finding fits in with the ideas of people such as the late neuroscientist John Cacioppo, who believed that we evolved to experience loneliness because it can be useful, even though it’s so unpleasant.
- People who feel lonely have social skills that are no better or worse than average. Sometimes it’s assumed that people feel lonely because they’ve found it hard to make friends and help with improving social skills would make a difference.
- Winter is no lonelier than any other time of year. In the run-up to Christmas, you often see campaigns from charities who help the elderly featuring picture of isolated old people.
- Loneliness is an aversive experience. People describe loneliness as being like a “nasty disease,” and a state they would rather avoid. Even worse, people don’t want to discuss their loneliness with others out of fear of seeming negative.
- Loneliness has emotional features. As the authors noted, “the emotions that came alongside loneliness were a key aspect of the experience” (p. 11). This theme, referred to above, included the host of unpleasant feelings that people report but also included guilt and jealousy.
- Loneliness has cognitive and perceptual features. People who are lonely engage in self-blame and feel inferior to others. Lonely people also perceive time as passing too quickly, too slowly, or to stop altogether.
- Loneliness is affected by personality and identity. Lonely people can come to define themselves as isolated and weak, and at the same time, link their loneliness to something about their personalities (e.g.
- New-situation loneliness. You’ve moved to a new city where you don’t know anyone, or you’ve started a new job, or you’ve started at a school full of unfamiliar faces.
- I’m-different loneliness. You’re in a place that’s not unfamiliar, but you feel different from other people in an important way that makes you feel isolated.
- No-sweetheart loneliness. Even if you have lots of family and friends, you feel lonely because you don’t have the intimate attachment of a romantic partner.
- No-animal loneliness. Many people have a deep need to connect with animals. If this describes you, you’re sustained by these relationships in a way that human relationships don’t replace.
- Chronic Illness
- Sleep Quality
- Depression
- Stress
A 2017 reviewTrusted Source of 40 studies on social isolation and loneliness found evidence to link these states to a higher risk of early death, cardiovascular issues, and worsened mental health. Another 2017 studyTrusted Sourcelooked at results from the 2012 Swiss Health Survey, and found evidence to link loneliness to increased risk for: 1. chro...
Results of a 2017 studyTrusted Sourcelooking at more than 2,000 twins suggest that young adults who felt lonely tended to have a lower quality of sleep. The study also found evidence to suggest that experiencing violence could worsen feelings of loneliness. A 2010 studyTrusted Sourcelooking at 215 adults supports the link between loneliness and poo...
A 2016 studyTrusted Sourcelooking at the link between loneliness and social isolation in 1,116 twin pairs found evidence to suggest lonely people often had depression. According to a 2018 reviewTrusted Sourceof 88 studies looking at loneliness and depression, loneliness had a “moderately significant” impact on depression risk.
Results of a 2017 studyTrusted Sourcelooking at 8,382 adults age 65 and older suggest both loneliness and depression increase risk of cognitive decline.
- Crystal Raypole
Mar 13, 2023 · “Loneliness is a feeling, while being alone is a situation or state of being, which is not inherently negative,” says Nina Vasan, M.D., psychiatrist and professor at Stanford University School of...
Loneliness is an unpleasant emotional response to perceived isolation. Loneliness is also described as social pain – a psychological mechanism which motivates individuals to seek social connections. It is often associated with a perceived lack of connection and intimacy. Loneliness overlaps and yet is distinct from solitude. Solitude is ...
Aug 8, 2024 · Chronic loneliness occurs when someone experiences loneliness over a long period. It is associated with adverse health effects such as depression, stress, poor sleep, chronic illness, high blood pressure, diabetes, and more.
