Loneliness is a universal human emotion that is both complex and unique to each individual. Loneliness, according to experts is not necessarily about being alone, rather it is feeling alone and isolated.
While some definitions of loneliness describes it as a state of solitude on being along, other have it as actually a state of mind.
Loneliness causes people to feel empty, alone and unwanted.
According to Dr. Rebecca Band, people can feel lonely for different reasons – even if they are surrounded by lots of people. Loneliness refers to dissatisfaction with one’s personal relationships.
A write up in Medical News Today stated that loneliness is a universal human experience that can affect us as badly as any physical ailment.
Also, according to Fanny Howe, an American writer, loneliness is an uninvited and uncreated companion that “slips in beside you” without notice.
Loneliness is the absence of imperative social relations and lack of affection in current social relationship.
Studies indicate that roughly 205 of the general population suffer from chronic loneliness at any given time.
In an interview with Tim Adams, John Cacioppo noted that loneliness is contagious, heritable, affects one in four people and increases the chances of early death by 20%
CAUSE OF LONELINESS
According to research by Dr . John Cacioppo and his team, loneliness is strongly connected to genetics. Other contributing factors include situational variables, such as physical isolation, moving to new location, and divorce.
The death of someone significant in a person’s life can also lead to feeling of loneliness.
According to Guy Winch, loneliness is determined by quality of our relationship and not their objective quantity, and not just by whether we happen to be living with a spouse.
Human beings are social species which require safe and social surrounding to survive and impairment of these social relations can lead to loneliness, according to a study in Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research.
Loneliness can occur when people grieve the loss of someone closely attached to them. Various studies report that 865 of widows experience loneliness, however it decreases with increasing number of children and support system.
Children who are abused tend to have feeling of loneliness, according to a study conducted by Dhal et al, two third of the children are reported high level of loneliness and one third reported lower level of loneliness.
Weiss et al, reported that emotional loneliness is defined by the absence of an attachment figure while social isolation is characterized by absence of social network.
The reasons for feeling of loneliness is change in your life that make s you feel different about your relationship.
WHAT CAN LONELINESS LEAD TO -
Many studies have pointed out that loneliness can lead to various psychiatric disorders and various physical disorders.
Numerous study have linked excessive feeling of loneliness to health issues such as difficult breathing, feeling of isolation, brain fog, stress, and obsessive behaviors.
HOW CAN WE DEAL WITH LONELINESS -
John Cacioppo, director of the University of Chicago’s center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience, changing your mindset – a psychological strategy called “social cognitive retraining” – can be employed to combact loneliness or even to head it off before it becomes a problem. Researchers found loneliness can be passed from parents to child.
According to a researcher and assistant Professor at Harvard Business School, Ashley Whillan, sharing stories with people around about the change to being somewhere new might help normalize the feeling of making life changes hard, thereby promoting wellbeing.
According to Cacioppo, employing different relaxation techniques while alone can help you deal with and overcome the feeling. He also highlighted four steps that should be followed in dealing with loneliness which are Exend yourself, Action plan, Selection, Expect the best.For further reading on the steps in dealing with loneliness:Human nature and Need for Social connection by John Cacioppo.
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Sources: Psychologytoday.com/squeaky - wheel
Verywellmind.com/loneliness
Lifehack.org/10 things when you feel lonely
Businessinsider.con/how to deal with loneliness
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