Loneliness

Introduction:

The term loneliness was first used by Sigmund Freud in 1939 to describe the inner
structure of the person that could be completely changed after an experience of loneliness.
Years later, Sullivan elaborated on Freud's description of loneliness; he proposed that humans
are social animals with a need for contact and that loneliness is the result of this unfulfilled
need (Copel, 1988; Sullivan, 1953).New York Times, 25th March 2009 quoted “loneliness
leads to poorer physical and mental health”. Similarly, BBC news on January 31st, 2011
pronounced loneliness as a “hidden killer” of elderly (Indian J Psychiatry. 2013). A
subjective sense of social isolation produces feelings of loneliness or social pain (Cacioppo &
Patrick, 2008). This distressing constellation of feelings and emotions results from a
discrepancy between one’s actual and desired social relationships. Thus, lonely individuals
are not satisfied with the quality of their actual social relationships, leaving them lacking a
sense of social inclusion and belonging. Not to be confused with objective social isolation or
a low quantity of social relationships, individuals can feel lonely when alone just as much as
they can feel lonely when surrounded by a sea of people. Identifying individuals who suffer
from loneliness is important, since over time loneliness can seriously impair physical,
cognitive, and psychological health.

Loneliness is the unpleasant emotional and cognitive experience of seeing a gap

between how much interpersonal closeness we would like to have versus how much we
actually have (Peplau & Perlman, 1982). It is important to zero in on how loneliness involves
both thinking and feeling. To understand why this matters, we can turn to a lyric from
American singer Jamila Woods, who says in her song Holy, “I’m not lonely, I’m alone”.
What does she mean by this? She’s highlighting how we can be alone and feel lonely, or be
alone and not feel lonely – it’s all in how we perceive our situation.

Loneliness is often defined as the feeling that one's desired quantity or quality of
social connections is unfulfilled (Peplau and Perlman, 1982; Hawkley and Cacioppo, 2010).
Loneliness is universal and may have evolved in our species as a signaling mechanism to
change behavior and avoid dangerous isolation (Cacioppo and Patrick, 2008). However,
loneliness is also strongly subjective, involving a judgement of the meaning and adequacy of
one's social connections that necessarily presupposes an individual's cognitive framework of
values and expectations. This is why similar social configurations (e.g., being single, having
few friends, working alone, etc.) in different people, cultures, or even historical periods often
give rise to very different feelings of loneliness (Peplau and Perlman, 1982; Rokach et al.,
2001; Klinenberg, 2016; Snell, 2017).

Loneliness is often a catch-all term for how people feel when there is a gap between
their actual and desired levels of social relationships and connection. However, some
approaches differentiate between types of loneliness (Gierveld et al., 2018; Weiss,
1973).Loneliness is an emotional state in which an individual is aware of the feeling of being
apart from another or others, along with the experience of a vague need for individuals
(Copel, 1988). Loneliness is unwelcome feeling of lack of companionship and a wish for
interaction different from that being experienced (Francis, 1976).

Younger (1995) noted that loneliness is the feeling of being alone in spite of longing
for others, while Portnoff (1988) defined loneliness as the experience of isolation,
disorientation, or "lostness" within a dimensional domain of meaning. Ryan and Patterson
(1987) pointed out that in contemporary literature, loneliness is defined as the unpleasant
experience that occurs when a person's network of social relationships is deficient either
qualitatively or quantitatively. Loneliness is a pervasive, depressing, debilitating condition
that can affect all of one's life" (Killeen, 1998). It is described by the lonely as an "emptiness"
or "hollow feeling" (Austin, 1989). Also, Killeen (1998) suggests that loneliness is unique for
every individual and called it "the difficult-to -define concept."

Loneliness is a complex emotional state characterized by a perceived lack of

meaningful social connections or relationships. It can manifest as feelings of isolation,
emptiness, and a sense of being disconnected from others. Loneliness can be detrimental to
one's mental and physical health (Hawkley& Cacioppo, 2010). Loneliness is a complex
psychological phenomenon characterized by a subjective Sense of being socially
disconnected, accompanied by a yearning for meaningful connections And a sense of
belonging. (Cacioppo & Patrick, 2008). Loneliness is not merely a fleeting Emotional state
but a pervasive condition with far-reaching consequences.

For example, in "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger, the protagonist, Holden
Caulfield, experiences profound loneliness throughout the novel. He constantly feels
alienated and disconnected from the people around him, which leads to his sense of isolation
and emotional turmoil. In one passage, he reflects on his loneliness, saying, "I'm the most
terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It's awful. If I'm on my way to the store to buy a
magazine, even, and somebody asks me where I'm going, I'm liable to say I'm going to the
opera. It's terrible."

Loneliness is a function of how much I have met my fundamental need to belong

socially in that moment (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). This is a universal need, present across
all cultures, and it drives so many of our thoughts about our lives. If we go back far enough in
time, or we look at how hunter-gatherer societies continue to function, we can see how social
belonging is evolutionarily absolutely essential for our survival. This is why it can sometimes
seem like life and death when we hear we have not been invited to a party, might have to
miss a family member’s wedding, or learn that our best friend seems to be developing a close
relationship with somebody new.

it is not enough for us to be around other people for us not to feel lonely – the quality
of our social contact matters, too (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). We have all probably had a
moment when we felt like we were “alone in a crowded room”; this is an expression of
loneliness. Some research has found that people who are lonely and people who are not
lonely are not actually that different, on average, in their social habits – they spend similar
amounts of time with other people and engaged in activities they enjoy (Wheeler et al., 1983).
Instead, it is about how meaningful that time with other people actually is for each person. So
people who are lonely despite spending lots of time with other people are, for one reason or
another, having a hard time feeling close to those people.

Across over 100 countries included in one study, around ten percent of adolescents
often feel lonely; rates are somewhat lower for adults (Surkalim et al., 2022). In this study, at
least, the rates of loneliness seemed to increase as people get older, although this is not
always the case across the [Link] people who are feeling lonely, there are real
ramifications in terms of physical and mental health. Loneliness is associated with feeling
more irritable and depressed, and even with an increased likelihood of dying earlier than
expected given one’s demographics (Miller, 2011). This makes chronic loneliness a public
health problem.

Loneliness may be pathognomic of depression in old age. It is reported to be more

dangerous than smoking (Derbyshire, 2010).High degree of loneliness precipitates suicidal
ideation and Para-suicide, Alzheimer's disease, and other dementia and adversely affects the
immune and cardio-vascular system ( Hawkley & Cacioppo, 2003) .It is a generally accepted
opinion that loneliness results in a decline of well-being and has an adverse effect on physical
health, possibly through immunologic impairment or neuro-endocrine changes (Donald &
West1986). Loneliness is thus, among the latent causes of hospitalization and of placement in
nursing homes (Mor-Barak & Miller1991).

It is generally accepted that loneliness frequently results in a decline of well-being

and may cause depression, suicidal behavior, sleep problems, disturbed appetite, and so on.
The pathological consequences of loneliness are found more among those adults who develop
personality and adaptation disorders, such as overconsumption of alcohol, loss of self-esteem,
extreme forms of anxiety, powerlessness, and stress (Jones & Hockenbury 1982). Loneliness
predisposes a person to physical diseases too as it has an adverse impact on immune,
cardiovascular, and endocrine system (Nerviano & Gross1976). Consistent, overwhelming
and pervasive loneliness develops stress and ultimately culminates into serious physical
disease

. Feeling of loneliness and being alone were found to be independent predictors of

motor decline in old age (Buchman et al., 2010) .Loneliness was also found to be an
independent predictor of mortality and functional decline after controlling for depression
(Brooks 2012) .It also leads to memory impairment and learning difficulties, and makes the
person prone to Alzheimer's disease (Qiu & von Straus2009).A Dutch study reports that
people who feel lonely are more likely to develop clinical dementia over a period of 3 years
compared to those who do not experience loneliness (Harison, P.2012).

Nobody likes feeling lonely, but there must be a reason the sensation has stuck
around. Good old evolution must have a purpose for loneliness! Indeed, just like hunger tells
us we need food, it is thought that loneliness tells us we need more (meaningful) social
contact in our lives (Cacioppo et al., 2006). If we did not have an internal signal that told us
we were disconnected from others, we might end up dangerously isolated – especially back in
our hunter-gatherer days, when our dependence on being part of a group was absolute. So we
must have evolved the experience of loneliness to motivate us to pursue more connection and
to ultimately stay alive (Cacioppo et al., 2006).

At the same time – and this is where loneliness starts to seem less adaptive –
loneliness seems to come with a host of other unpleasant and impairing symptoms, such as
anxiety, sadness, and lowered self-esteem (Cacioppo et al., 2006). These feelings in turn
seem to discourage us from seeking connection with others, or at least make it harder to take
that step and get back into connection. Kind of like even when we are hungry, we still distrust
certain foods, we might come to believe over time that, even though I am lonely, it is not safe
to try to connect with others right now, or right here (Cacioppo et al., 2014). And just as our
tongues have developed far more sensitivity to tastes that indicate a food might be poisonous,
our brains are quite adept at noticing potential social threats. While it is probably safer to stay
lonely than to try to connect with a dangerous person, this safety mechanism in our social
processing can also keep us isolated when we really, deeply need social connection.

Loneliness may also be caused by situations that reduce our social connections – a
breakup or being single, having few social activities, and having a depressed mood (Dahlberg
et al., 2022). It is a relatively safe bet to assume that a person with minimal social
connections is not going to be meeting their internal need to belong, and will be feeling
lonely as a result.