Types of loneliness should be known by you all for a better understanding of the lonely phase you are going through. Further reading will enlighten you on this topic.
Loneliness is in the air!
Loneliness is also in the heir.
It too lingers in the pair.
Loneliness hides behind the care.
Some cry when people don’t hear.
Others don’t have that much of a dare.
Some curse it for not being fair.
Others placidly bear.
Now I know it’s not mere rather it’s everywhere.
People who don’t experience Loneliness are rare.
SIMRA SAJID
The above poem depicts several types of loneliness that are there in our lives like:
- Loneliness in the air is ‘Existential Loneliness.’
- In the heir is ‘Inheritable Loneliness.’
- In pair is ‘Emotional Loneliness.’
- Behind the care is ‘Social-contagion Loneliness.’
- When people don’t hear is ‘Transient Loneliness.’
- When the sufferer doesn’t dare is ‘Chronic Loneliness.’
- Cursing for not being fair is ‘Social-Media Loneliness.’
- Those who placidly bear is ‘Self-Perpetuating Loneliness.’
And so on and so forth. I hope you can now relate to it even more.
Loneliness blesses us with a mess.Yeah, it’s getting into our nerves with each passing breath.Loneliness is neither a novel word nor a feeling.It is asubjective experience.Itscauses and consequencesvary fromperson to person.
But in this article, we’ll talk abouttypes of lonelinessin detail. Apparently, we know about it but hardly do we make attempts to know its types for devising the desired solution of the type of loneliness we are suffering with.
What benefit do you have by knowing the types of loneliness?Well, the answer is abetter understanding of the issue, its root causes, effects, its consequences, and the much-needed solution.
Underneath is a list of all the types of loneliness. Read them for having a better comprehension.
Let’s get started and check out the types of loneliness.
Types Of Loneliness
Below are some major types of loneliness. Look at each of them for knowing the type you are suffering from.
1 – Existential Loneliness
Loneliness to an extent is unavoidable by human beings because it is a deep-rooted subjective emotion that arises time and again within a being. Every person suffers from aloneness at least once in their entire life.
Loneliness to a degree is appreciable because it enables beings to value certain things, people, and emotions in one’s life.
In existential loneliness, a person doesn’t feel lonely because of a lack of close companions in their lives rather it is a type thatsurrounds the individual’s own existence and purpose in the larger games of life.
Existential loneliness happens when you lose your sense of purpose and belonging.It’s scary because it hints towards apersonality crisis emerging due to your own lack of a bigger purpose that stirs your soul up.
2 – Inheritable Loneliness/Genetic Loneliness
In thesame given situation, some people may beadequately satisfied by the kinds of relationships they hadand, some people may bemuch more lonely than expectedand thisdrastic dissimilarity is due to genes.
In the latest research, Abraham Palmer, PhD, professor of psychiatry and vice chair for basic research at UC San Diego School of Medicine and his team examined genetic and health information from 10,760 people aged 50 years and older and found that loneliness is 14 to 27 per cent genetic.
Hence, it is to a degree, inheritable.
3 – Social Loneliness
Social loneliness is driven by lacking profound and meaningful social connections and communications.People do havedifferent personality types that henceforth decide their interaction in a social environment.
Some people areintroverted with qualities like social awkwardness and shynessthat turn out to berepelling features while connecting with other human beings.
Theylack a broader social circle that instils in them afeeling of irrelevance, desertion, and alien to a social networkhence branding them under the category ofsocial isolation.
4 – Emotional Loneliness
Emotional Lonelinessiscaused by feeling emotionally empty and unattended by close relatives due to lacking in-depth and satisfying relationships.It is one of themajortypes of loneliness.
It isdeeper inner turmoil provoked by deprivation of close meaningful relationshipslikeproper attention of parents, partner, and other trauma and life changesthatplagues your soul and makes you emotionally troublesome and lonely.
Seneca the Younger, a Roman Philosopher,rightly said,
“Man is a social animal.”
Thus, we need strong attachments and affiliations to feel and sense emotional stability.
In1997, Enrico DiTommaso and Barry Spinner separated emotional lonelinessintoRomanticandFamily loneliness.
We’ll see both types below.
5 – Family Loneliness
Family loneliness is caused due to lacking serious and significant family connections. Family is an integral partof an individual’s life but if the very family of a personfails to make that person feel safe and home then that’s a big disappointment.
Even astudy of 1,009 studentsfound that itis linked with the raised frequency of self-harm.
6 – Romantic Loneliness
Romantic loneliness is faced by people who are involved in an emotionally cold relationship with their romantic partner. Adolescents who lack committed romantic relationships and close bonds with their partners do feel lonely and depressed.
Ifrelationships provide proper emotional intimacythen the personinvolved in romantic relationships feels less lonelythan the ones who aresingle.
7 – Cultural Loneliness
Culture is not only customs and traditions of a society and community you belong to, its pieces also take a root in your heartsthus,making you yearn for it once you part with your culture.It is sort of ahome-sickness.
It keeps younostalgic and yearning, therefore,cultivating the feelings of cultural loneliness.
“We as humans dread foreign feelings let alone foreign lands.”
Immigrants experience cultural seclusion in a non-native land with a stranger atmosphere.
Researchshows it isstrong especially for studentswithcollective cultureswho go tostudy in individualist cultural countries.
8 – Situational Loneliness
Isolation caused by different kinds of situations is known as situational loneliness.Yes,situations and circumstances do affect us differently.There is anabundance of situations that cause us to be lonely because of shifts in our level of ease and satisfaction.Below are somecommon triggers for them:
- Shifting to a new location
- Getting into a new relationship
- Becoming a new mother
- Bumping into unfavourable situations
- Poor mental health conditions
These are a few examples of situationalloneliness.
9 – Chronic Loneliness
It is an everlasting kind of aloneness that becomes a way of life. It becomespermanent for the person because of its longevity and density.
Isolation for a longer period of time without any outside hindrance can lead to cynicism and suspicion.
The person getscaught in this eternal cycle of lonelinessand loses theirpeace and life.
It is correlated with ahigh risk of obesity, cardiovascular issues, cholesterol, suicidal thoughts, and death.
10 – Transient Loneliness
The aloneness which exists for a short period is called transient loneliness. It is a temporary feeling of loneliness that is often linked with beneficial outcomes like strong relationships and better appreciation of your blessings.
11 – Self-Perpetuating Loneliness
Ifloneliness persists for a longer periodin anyone’s life then the person becomessocially inept or dorky. The individual mightface various types of inadequate social apprehension like hyperalertness.
The person itself becomes the catalyst of his own lonely state that’s why it is termed self-perpetuating lonelinessand it’s abig obstruction in building new relationships and maintaining existing relationships.
Thus,making oneself lonelierandgetting into a type of eternal isolation cycle.
12 – Social Media Loneliness
Ironically, Social Media has been made to interact, to connect, and to be a healthy pastime. But Social Media and loneliness move hand in hand now.
Miserably, the data we are getting regarding Social Media playing a pivotal role in lonely beings is increasing.
Over 4.48 billion peopleuse social media worldwide and ithas been reported 71% in heavy social media users and 51% in light social media users.
The top reasons for being lonely among social media users are fear of missing out (FOMO), cyberbullying, and the illusory ideal self.
Social media is a platform that rather than connecting people together is making them lonelier.
People see the pictures of others and feel a sense ofinferiority-complexthat is,“I am not good enough.”
There is also a highrisk of cyber threatsandbullying.
13 – Social-Contagion Loneliness
It can be contaminated as well.It cantransfer from one person to another in a group too.
John Cacioppo, psychologist of the University of Chicagoand one of thenation’s leading scholars of lonelinesssaid,“We detected an extraordinary pattern of contagion that leads people to be moved to the edge of the social network when they become lonely”.
There can also be chances thatif a person loses one of his friendshemight become unusually suspicious of his other friendsandmight lose them too in the process, thus making them lonely too.
So,social-contagionis alsoone of the solidtypes of loneliness.
14 – Lockdown Loneliness
In case oflockdown caused by any emergency situations as the COVID-19 pandemic,loneliness can creep into our lives.Lockdown isolation can be caused bysocial distancing and disconnections from your loved ones for a longer period of time.
Ouremotions were left untouched if we got disconnectedand, acontinuous lingering of fear makes us more vulnerable toloneliness.
15 – Mental Health Loneliness
Ourmental health is extremely significantandin-tunewithour whole periphery.
Mental health loneliness is abyproduct of various types of mental health issueslikedepression, anxiety, bipolarandmany more.
It is caused as anoutcome of suffering from any kind of mental illness.
Loneliness caused as a result of other mental health issues is known as mental health loneliness.
Above are15 fundamental types of loneliness. They always have been sure-footed in our lives and literature.
It isalways better to know the different types of loneliness, for preparing ourselves to fight it off in the best possible manner.
We all should make sure that our time, energy, and efforts be inclined and channelized at the right thing.
Loneliness often pounces upon us in our emptiness. It is always better to have a greater purpose in life to hold on to so as not to become disappointed at small disappointments.
I hope the clubbing ofall types of lonelinesswill help you in your respective lives byfurnishing a useful insight.
Do let me know if you or any of your acquaintances are suffering from any of the above types of loneliness down in the comment box. Kindly drop your valuable feedback to improve my work even more.
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Thank You!
