Loneliness.

Source-‘Foundations in Psychology’ Nicky Hayes (ed.), 1998, Nelson Books. Additions in italics by the student, with author’s notes where useful.

It is important to distinguish between Chronic loneliness and Situational loneliness.
Cutrona (1982), points out that it is the quality of social contact that eliminates loneliness, and not the quantity. Situational loneliness, occurs when someone has moved house, split up from a partner etc., and Chronic loneliness occurs when a person is unable to develop quality relationships with others, for whatever reason.
Williams and Solaro (1983), showed that lonely people become reluctant to engage in self disclosure, which is an important element of forming new relationships. It may prevent them from having anything more than formal friendships.

(See also Relationships).
Jones, Hobbs and Hockenbury (1982), found that training in conversational and partner attention skills helps to overcome the lack of interaction and improve the chances of creating valuable friendships.

Therapy with assertiveness and self- esteem may also be useful. The reaction of society to those that may appear 'socially unacceptable' is clearly also likely to cause alienation, the support of a family network may therefore be crucial.

Harowitz, French and Anderson (1982), found that lonely people may experience a form of 'learned helplessness', whereby they seem to think that the interpersonal difficulties they were having were fixed, stable and dispositional (part of a person's make up).

It is important to emphasise to these people that it is a temporary state and that their loneliness has not been written in stone.

Chronically lonely people may be those with personal attention skills deficits and poor social skills generally, and they may therefore not recognise their situation, and indeed not consider themselves as lonely. In studies it is important that such people are not overlooked. Most, but not all, people may therefore recognise this state, but be unable to correct it.
Shaver and Hazan (1985) argued that lonely people are therefore more likely to experience 'limerence' rather than a stable, fulfilling love, since interest in them may be rare, and magnified into obsession and infatuation. (See also Love and Limerence).

It is worth noting that it is possible to be lonely within a marriage, if similar characteristics are present.
A balanced and productive character emerges from correct upbringing, and a psychiatrist called Fromm pointed out that only man, as distinct from animals, has the choice of freedom and all that it entails, rather than behaving solely in the interests of security. Loneliness is one of the experiences that freedom provides.