Two Types Of Loneliness

Types of loneliness Several theorists proposed distinct types of loneliness. They articulated different quality of experiences of loneliness in service to define the experience. Gleaning from various qualities of experience described by those scholars, loneliness is a complex human experience as it has many aspects. Fromm-Reichmann (1959) asserted that there are several different types of loneliness. She distinguished culturally determined loneliness, self-imposed aloneness, compulsory solitude, isolation, and real loneliness. She noted that those experiences are not well distinguished from one another. She placed a particular attention to the concept she referred as real loneliness on her article published in 1959. According to Fromm-Reichmann …show more content…
May (1983) discussed social influence’s contribution to loneliness. He identified epistemological loneliness, which is a particular experience of loneliness that is the result of society’s efforts to separate people (subject) from the world (object). As a result, he noted that people dissociate from their own body. May considered that such separation is the result of modern Western culture. Therefore, resolving this loneliness requires a fundamental social change (May, 1983). Moreover, Beck and Young (1978 in Young 1982) identified 3 distinct types of loneliness involving temporal considerations. Those are transient loneliness, situational loneliness, and chronic loneliness. Transient loneliness refers to a common everyday loneliness. Situational loneliness refers to loneliness followed by a crisis. Chronic loneliness refers to loneliness experienced for 2 or more years. Young (1982) suggested that it involves a “long-term cognitive and behavioral deficits” (p.383) in social relationships. He observed that chronically lonely people have only few friends and close relationships, if any, and that they are more apprehensive regarding interpersonal communication (Young, …show more content…
Cacioppo, Grippo, London, Goossens, and Cacioppo (2015) clarified that a person can be alone without feeling lonely. Mendelson (1990) suggested that a difference between aloneness and loneliness is that latter is unhappy about solitude. Indeed, some people prefer to be alone (Rufus, 2003) and some are able to enjoy aloneness while, others are paralyzed by it (Fromm-Reichmann, 1959). It is suggested that involuntary aloneness may intensify loneliness (Buechler,