Loneliness as a universal psychological phenomenon

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Ivano-Frankivsk National Technical University of Oil and Gas

Loneliness as a universal psychological phenomenon

Malimon V.I.

Introduction

Loneliness is a universal human experience recognized since the dawn of time, yet it is unique for every individual. Understanding what might lead people to feel lonely and what keeps some people stuck in loneliness is crucial for the development of well targeted successful interventions to prevent and mitigate the effects of loneliness [13]. The factors that influence the extent to which people feel lonely are, broadly speaking, those that affect desired or actual social relationships.

Loneliness is universal and may have evolved in our species as a signaling mechanism to change behavior and avoid dangerous isolation. 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.

Loneliness isn't a straight forward experience. Like a diamond, loneliness has many faces, aspects, nuances and it shows up in so many ways. From this perspective, loneliness is a profoundly humane experience [18].

An influential early perspective on the phenomenon in adults came from Weiss who distinguished the phenomenon of loneliness from the feeling of «aloneness». He postulated that loneliness could be associated with either social or emotional isolation. Weiss himself argued that «insofar as the loneliness of emotional isolation represents the subjective response to the absence not so much of a particular other but rather of a generalised attachment figure, it is a state which is probably not experienced until adolescence» [19, p. 89].

Defining loneliness is more subtle than it might appear. The late University of Chicago psychologist John Cacioppo and his co-author Louise Hawkley defined it as «perceived social isolation» [6]. Another slightly more elaborated definition is that loneliness is «the distressing feeling that accompanies discrepancies between one's desired and actual social relationships» [3].

The mentioned definitions of loneliness show some of the different understandings of the phenomenon loneliness. Some are theory based definitions, while others focus on empirical hypotheses as understandings of loneliness. In 1989 the second core book on loneliness was published by Mohammadreza Hojat & Rick Crandall. In this book, the focus had moved away from collecting and differentiates between theories, towards empirical supported theories. More and more researchers were focusing on empirical data collection to support their theories of loneliness. This meant that the main theoretical approaches where being narrowed down to theories that could be supported by data. This exercise has left the research field of loneliness with two main constructs; an affective component, encompassing the negative emotional experience of loneliness, and a cognitive component, encompassing the discrepancy between achieved and desired social relations [14].

Loneliness has been measured in a wide variety of ways, from single-item measures to lengthier scales. Since the 1970s, a variety of instruments have been developed to study individual differences in loneli ness, but by far the most commonly used is the UCLA Loneliness Scale -- first introduced in 1978, revised in 1980, and revised again in 1996; this last version is widely used today.

According to researcher Ya. Bashmanivska, the modern information society creates conditions for the spread of social ties, but the paradox is that people feel lonely precisely because they are lost in these social relationships, are unable to identify themselves with a certain social group and their values [4, p. 26].

Presentation of the basic material

One may think of loneliness as a modern condition, born of urbanization and technology, and further intensified by postmodern trends. Yet, the desire for companionship (or cooperation) versus the fear of social rejection (or hostility) undoubtedly operated in prehistoric times. Themes of aloneness can be found in Greek mythology and drama. For instance, Jung and others have interpreted Prometheus's stealing fire from the Gods as symbolic of his raising himself above and thereby alienating himself from his fellow humans. Although the Odyssey focuses on Homer's geographical wanderings, this tale implies that he was socially adrift as well. In their analytic writings, Greek philosophers had similar concerns: Aristotle saw humans as social animals, needing friendship. In the seventeenth century, Hobbes characterized human life not only as «nasty, brutish, and short» but also as «solitary». Since then philosophers such as Descartes, Nietzsche, and Sartre have written extensively on social isolation and solitude [12].

A psychodynamic understanding of loneliness is based on the infant's attachment to the mother. Through this attachment the child experiences emotional bonds and how to connect with others, but also the feeling of loneliness when significant others are out of sight: «Loneliness, which is the exceedingly unpleasant experience connected with inadequate discharge of the need for human intimacy, for interpersonal intimacy ... It begins in infancy with an integrating tendency that we only know by inference from pathology material later. a need for contact with the living» [15, p. 290].

The evolutionary theory of loneliness (ETL) posits that experiencing loneliness is an inherited adaptation that signals that salutary social relations are endangered or damaged and prompts people to reconnect to significant others.

According to the ETL, the perception of being socially isolated (i.e., feeling lonely), even in the company of others, serves as a biological warning system, found across all social species, that signals that salutary social relations are endangered or damaged. The aversive nature of loneliness motivates one to repair or replace deficient salutary bonds, and the negative affect relief that results from doing so is rewarding. Moreover, salutary social interactions are positive and rewarding experiences in themselves. The aversive nature of loneliness and the positive rewarding value of social contact result in a two-fold motivation to resolve loneliness. social relation loneliness psychology isolation

According to the existential model (C. Moustakas, V. Frankl, I. Yalom and others) solitude and loneliness are integral to human being; moreover, people are lonely by nature. V. Frankl stresses the need of division of concepts «to be lonely» and «to feel lonely». He understands the feeling of loneliness as experience of the fear to be really lonely. To be really lonely is conditioned by the very factor of human being, that we are given to stand in existential situations such as birth, death, doom. The author believes that it is impossible to consider loneliness only from a negative point of view because it itself can be a source of creative attitude to life. C. Moustakas considers the fear of loneliness as a display of defense mechanisms. He claims that «people who feel fear are fail in solving their own life assignments. They either drain themselves superficial relationships with other or do some fruitless and unconstructive soul-searching» [11, p. 19]. The author stresses the meaning of difference between «vanity of loneliness» and «true loneliness». Vanity of loneliness as a system of defense mechanisms moves a person away of solving important life issues, constantly encourages him/her to strive for activity for the activity with other people. True loneliness arises from a particular reality of lonely being and person's facing with border life circumstances (birth, death, life changing, tragedies), that s/he deals alone with, points to a positive aspect of living through loneliness, which gives us an opportunity to look at the situation from a new angle, to change values, to find a meaning of own life, to make appropriate decisions concerning own behavior and to get to know the other you.

Existential loneliness is an intrinsic and organic reality of human life in which there is both pain and triumphant creation emerging out of long periods of desolation. In existential loneliness man is fully aware of himself as an isolated and solitary individual while in loneliness anxiety man is separated from himself as a feeling and knowing person [10, p. 24].

T. Brennen [5] distinguishes such types of manifestation of loneliness, as general loneliness, emotional loneliness that is related to weakening, collapse or threat of loss the relationship with someone close; social loneliness that is related to the inaccessibility or with the loss of social ties in society for one or another reason; the realizing of disparity between real ties and existed inner standards, that are formed in relationships with someone close, is of a great importance; spiritual loneliness is related to searching of own identity and the meaning of life.

Persons with a very small number of relationships are socially isolated but they are not necessarily lonely, and vice versa. The relationship between objective social isolation and subjective experiences of loneliness is mediated by factors such as the characteristics of the relationships that are available and of the relationships that are not (or no longer) available; the saliency of the relationships that are missed; the time perspective, and the possibilities one sees to upgrade and enlarge one's network of relationships; personality characteristics such as shyness, social skills and assertiveness; and the concept of self. The subjective evaluation of the network is the intermediating factor between the descriptive, objective characteristics of the network and loneliness. Additionally, the social norms and values of a society concerning an optimal set of relationships may influence the risk of becoming lonely, as well as the personal capacities to adjust one's norms and values concerning an optimal set of relationships to changing circumstances [1].

Many think of loneliness as isolation, but it feels more like abandonment. Our fear of abandonment goes back to our earliest childhood memories. When a baby thinks its caregiver has left them -- because mom went to grab the mail from the mailbox -- a baby can go from happy to panic in an instant.

And like dominos, this fear of abandonment sets into motion the release of chemicals to the stomach, brain, skin, and heart, often inducing crying, and even hyperventilation.

By the time the caregiver has come back to the crib, the baby is screaming her head off, drenched in tears, skin flushed, and chest pounding [8].

While there is a wealth of research pointing to the psychological downsides of loneliness and social isolation, there is an increasing amount of evidence suggesting that a certain amount of quality time alone is critical to well-being. Some things are just better off being done by yourself without the distractions, opinions, or influences of other people [17].

At the same time, as a complex psychological phenomenon, loneliness has a number of negative components. In modern transitory conditions, loneliness acquires many negative characteristics and transforms into social isolation and emotional and psychological vulnerability. An individual in the global space becomes a defenseless object of various informational and psychological influences and loses basic social identities. Loneliness may also lead to anxiety, alcohol addiction, and even suicide.

In our opinion, the main manifestations of the destructive dimension of loneliness in modern conditions are: 1) the breakdown of social ties at the micro- and macro-level; 2) depersonalization of the individual and his loss of interest in social and cultural life; 3) predominance of negative social and mental attitudes; 4) escaping into the virtual world and constructing one's more or less comfortable reality; 5) decrease in the level of trust in other people and social and political institutions; 6) reducing the level of responsibility for one's life and the lives of other people; 7) various forms of deviant behavior, etc.

Loneliness is multidimensional in content, a phenomenon inherent in all social systems that has existential, social, and personality determinants. The complexity of the interpretation of loneliness is due to the binary, contradictory (individual and social) essence of man, the diversity of forms and reflection of loneliness. The divergence of views is that at present, phenomenology, social and psychological mechanisms of loneliness have not been studied enough. In the interpretation of the phenomenon of loneliness, two main trends are identified, due to the negative and positive orientation. This allows us to consider loneliness in an antinomic: destructive and creative sense. Loneliness is correlated with the concepts of «unity»» and «isolation», which have an etymological identity, but differ in semantics and context. Positions of voluntary or forced loneliness have a diametrical social orientation and are antinomic in content. Voluntary loneliness, bearing a positive orientation, correlates with the concept of «solitude»» and means an individual's choice of a life strategy due to subjective reasons of an existential and cognitive nature [20].

According to K. Abulkhanova-Slavska, the life path of a person has common problems for all people, but the way to solve them is deeply individual, and therefore the life path of each person is individual. From the spontaneous way of life a person can move to one that s/he will determine oneself. But the essence of this definition is in making decisions about the choice of conditions, direction of life, in choosing the education, the profession that will best meet the characteristics of his/her personality, the desires, the abilities, in building an appropriate life strategy [2, p. 7]. According to the researcher, social life has not prompted the development of social thinking either in terms of deep awareness of social problems or in terms of personal solutions for many years in our society. There was no responsibility for decision-making, which usually broadens the horizons of the individual, allows you to see solutions [2, p. 258].

Nowadays, a person feels lonely regardless of the number of people around him/her: friends, associates, relatives, casual acquaintances. Moreover, the feeling of loneliness, the constant experience of the absence and even the impossibility of establishing close spiritual and intimate relations with other people begin to determine the objective state of a person in society. And the experience of loneliness creates opportunities for a broader vision of old problems, the formation of new life strategies, which contributes to the decision to choose in the direction of self-improvement and change of life situation, or refusal to change.

Thus, loneliness appears as a multidimensional ambiguous phenomenon of human existence, a meaningful component of the structure «man-world»», as a part and manifestation of the spiritual world.

Loneliness of a modern man becomes not only a feeling, but also a conscious strategy of life, full of inner meaning [9].

There are various psychological approaches that can help people gain more awareness and control of their thoughts, feelings and behaviours. Approaches that target the cognitive biases and attributional styles we described in the last chapter can help to change the way those who are lonely think about their social relationships.

1) Cognitive behavioural therapy, also known as CBT, is a psychological approach that enables people to understand their thoughts, feelings and behaviours and helps to change some of these to manage their problems. A key part of this is identifying the negative thinking patterns that people can feel trapped in, helping them to break free from these and to feel better.

CBT focuses on equipping people with the tools to address current problems in their lives and relieve the symptoms they are facing, before making links to the past and how their beliefs started. CBT is widely used in the NHS and is recommended for a number of difficulties including anxiety, depression and panic attacks.

CBT focuses on equipping people with the tools to address current problems in their lives and relieve the symptoms they are facing, before making links to the past and how their beliefs started. CBT is widely used in the NHS and is recommended for a number of difficulties including anxiety, depression and panic attacks. One principle intervention is identifying and challenging people's unhelpful thinking styles. Examples of common unhelpful thinking include:

Catastrophising -- the tendency to blow negative things out of proportion and think the worst of any situation. This thinking error can be one of the most damaging ones because constantly interpreting future events in the worst possible light undermines confidence and can significantly de-motivate.

Black or white thinking -- the tendency to only see the extremes of a situation. There is never a middle ground, and this way of thinking can inhibit the possibility of flexibility in people's responses.

Mind reading -- this is when people imagine that they know what the other person is thinking. The reality is that we can never know, we can only ever guess. This thinking error is at the heart of so many difficulties that people encounter with other people. People can imagine so many hurts and slights visited upon them without a shred of evidence. Identifying these tendencies helps challenge them with more realistic and effective thoughts, and so decreases emotional distress and self-defeating behaviour [16, p. 23].

2) Mindfulness is based on a cognitive philosophy which helps people become more discerning about the workings of the uncontrolled mind.

This awareness is experienced by practicing certain meditation techniques which essentially involves concentration on an object of meditation, commonly the breath. The experience of trying to concentrate in this way enables people to see that thoughts arise outside of their control. It shows that even when concentrating on something else it is very hard, if not impossible, to stop thoughts popping into your head. For most people it also becomes clear how repetitive their thought patterns tend to be. It shows how thoughts can circulate endlessly, with little resolution, except to make people feel worse. Becoming aware of this helps people realise that thoughts are not facts, they are generally uninvited fantasies about the future or partial assumptions or beliefs about the past.

Mindfulness provides a space between the event that produces a thought and how someone then chooses to react to it. In psychological jargon this is referred to as de-centering. It is a very important skill for mental wellbeing because it challenges automatic thought patterns. If these negative thoughts are left to operate outside of awareness, they can dominate consciousness and leave people with little control over their emotional responses. In the context of loneliness it challenges the mind's tendency to ruminate obsessively on fears about, or negative assessments of, a person's ability to engage with others, which can undermine efforts to become more connected [16, p. 24].

3) Positive psychology focuses on producing a state of wellbeing by using techniques to promote positive emotions, with the intention these will override negative emotions. The discipline developed as a reaction to the exclusive focus on mental illness and pathology which previously dominated psychology. In contrast, positive psychology focuses on the factors which promote and maintain wellbeing and make life worth living.

Positive psychology works with the positive events and influences in life, including:

· experiences like happiness joy, inspiration, and love;

· states and traits like gratitude, resilience and compassion;

· topics like character strengths, optimism, life satisfaction, wellbeing, self-esteem, self-confidence, and hope.

Positive psychology teaches people how to harness the power of shifting their perspective on life in order to maximize the potential for happiness in everyday behaviours.

A series of practices and techniques help people fulfil these key elements for wellbeing. They include:

· focusing on what you have to be grateful for in life;

· savouring the lived experience;

· ways to challenge negative thought patterns;

· learning how to be more optimistic when faced with difficulties;

· evidence based strategies to strengthen positive emotions like five ways to wellbeing;

· addressing the barriers to happiness such as being biased towards thinking negatively or comparing oneself to others;

· using your personality strengths to address life changes [16, p. 25].

Conclusions

In our opinion, the phenomenon of loneliness is a characteristic component of human existence. But the psychological path to self-discovery is quite cruel -- a person finds himself face to face with himself. You have to go all the way to the end, meet your own Shadow, the darkest corners of your own soul, overcome the hopeless feeling of loneliness, and overcome many other trials, gaining life experience, trying to achieve harmony with yourself, and realize the realities of the outside world.

Loneliness is a normal emotional response that everyone experiences, most commonly in a new environment or setting. Nowadays, a person feels lonely regardless of the number of people around him/her: friends, associates, relatives, casual acquaintances. Moreover, the feeling of loneliness, the constant experience of the absence and even the impossibility of establishing close spiritual and intimate relations with other people begin to determine the objective state of a person in society.

The study of loneliness as a psychological phenomenon allows us to find out the deep causes of loneliness and to use the achievements of various psychological theories to provide help and reduce the negative manifestations of loneliness.

References

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Одиночество как универсальный психологический феномен

Малимон В.И., Ивано-Франковский национальный технический университет нефти и газа

Вступление. Одиночество - это универсальное человеческое переживание, признанное с незапамятных времен, но оно уникально для каждого человека. Понимание того, что может заставить людей чувствовать себя одинокими и что удерживает некоторых людей в состоянии одиночества, имеет решающее значение для разработки целенаправленных успешных мероприятий по предотвращению и смягчению последствий одиночества [13]. Факторы, влияющие на то, в какой степени люди чувствуют себя одинокими, - это, вообще говоря, те, которые влияют на желаемые или реальные социальные отношения.

Одиночество является универсальным явлением и, возможно, развилось у нашего вида как сигнальный механизм, позволяющий изменить поведение и избежать опасной изоляции. Однако одиночество также в значительной степени субъективно и предполагает оценку значимости и адекватности социальных связей, что обязательно предполагает наличие у индивида когнитивной системы ценностей и ожиданий.

Одиночество - это не простое переживание. Подобно бриллианту, одиночество имеет множество граней, аспектов, нюансов и проявляется по-разному. С этой точки зрения, одиночество - это глубоко гуманный опыт [18].

Вайсс, который отличал феномен одиночества от чувства «уединенности». Он предположил, что одиночество может быть связано как с социальной, так и с эмоциональной изоляцией. Сам Вайс утверждал, что «поскольку одиночество эмоциональной изоляции представляет собой субъективную реакцию на отсутствие не столько конкретного другого, сколько обобщенной фигуры привязанности, это состояние, которое, вероятно, не испытывается до подросткового возраста» [19, с. 89].

Определение одиночества более тонкое, чем может показаться. Покойный психолог из Чикагского университета Джон Качиоппо и его соавтор Луиза Хокли определили его как «воспринимаемую социальную изоляцию» [6]. Другое, несколько более развернутое определение заключается в том, что одиночество - это «тягостное чувство, сопровождающее несоответствие между желаемыми и реальными социальными отношениями» [3].

Приведенные определения одиночества демонстрируют некоторые различия в понимании феномена одиночества. Некоторые из них основаны на теории, в то время как другие основаны на эмпирических гипотезах в качестве понимания одиночества. В 1989 году Мохаммадреза Ходжат и Рик Крэндалл опубликовали вторую основную книгу об одиночестве. В этой книге акцент был сделан не на коллекционировании теорий и проведении различий между ними, а на теориях, подкрепленных эмпирическим опытом. Все больше и больше исследователей сосредотачивались на сборе эмпирических данных, подтверждающих их теории одиночества. Это означало, что основные теоретические подходы были сведены к теориям, которые могли быть подкреплены данными. Это упражнение оставило в области исследований одиночества два основных конструкта: аффективный компонент, охватывающий негативное эмоциональное переживание одиночества, и когнитивный компонент, охватывающий несоответствие между достигнутыми и желаемыми социальными отношениями [14].

Одиночество измерялось самыми разнообразными способами, от единичных показателей до более масштабных шкал. С 1970--х годов было разработано множество инструментов для изучения индивидуальных различий в ощущении одиночества, но на сегодняшний день наиболее часто используется шкала одиночества Калифорнийского университета в Лос-Анджелесе, впервые представленная в 1978 году, пересмотренная в 1980 году и еще раз пересмотренная в 1996 году; эта последняя версия широко используется сегодня.

По мнению исследователя Я. Башмановской, современное информационное общество создает условия для распространения социальных связей, но парадокс заключается в том, что люди чувствуют себя одинокими именно потому, что они потеряны в этих социальных отношениях, неспособны идентифицировать себя с определенной социальной группой и ее ценностями [4, с. 26].

Выводы. На наш взгляд, феномен одиночества является характерной составляющей человеческого существования. Но психологический путь к самопознанию довольно жесток - человек оказывается лицом к лицу с самим собой. Вы должны пройти весь путь до конца, встретиться со своей собственной Тенью, с самыми темными уголками собственной души, преодолеть безнадежное чувство одиночества и преодолеть множество других испытаний, набираясь жизненного опыта, пытаясь достичь гармонии с самим собой и осознать реалии внешнего мира.

Одиночество - это нормальная эмоциональная реакция, которую испытывает каждый человек, чаще всего в новой обстановке. В наши дни человек чувствует себя одиноким независимо от количества людей вокруг него: друзей, коллег, родственников, случайных знакомых. Более того, чувство одиночества, постоянное переживание отсутствия и даже невозможности установления тесных духовных и интимных отношений с другими людьми начинают определять объективное состояние человека в обществе.

Изучение одиночества как психологического феномена позволяет нам выяснить глубинные причины одиночества и использовать достижения различных психологических теорий для оказания помощи и уменьшения негативных проявлений одиночества.

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