Publications and Research into Loneliness
Below is a list of publications about loneliness. It includes research and theoretical papers about loneliness.
Loneliness, Love, and All That's Between: A Psychological Look At What Makes Us Lonely and What Keeps Us in Love by Ami Rokach
- Loneliness, as old as time itself, is not easy to define. It’s a bit like love – you know when you feel it, but cannot specifically define it. However, no one who ever walked on the face of this earth has gone through life without experiencing the pain of being lonely, alienated, and feeling unconnected to others, unloved, or even rejected. Although we, at the 21st century, pride ourselves as inventors [the Internet, computers, reaching the moon, and biomedical advances] we did not invent this one – loneliness was here way before any of us, and consequently we can find it mentioned in the Bible, literature, art, and philosophy. And, as things appear now – it is here to stay. In addition to addressing loneliness, its causes, and how it affects our health, well being, and quality of life, we also discuss what loneliness anxiety is, and the difference between loneliness and depression; For those two may go together, but are actually different. Ending the book is a chapter on what to do when we face difficulties in our relationships. As the title Loneliness and Love implies, we consulted resources that describe marriage enrichment courses, and included many techniques that we could utilize to better our relationship with our spouse, enrich our already good relationship, and if needed, ‘fix’ wounded or broken relationships. An easy and interesting read, written in everyday language, and is geared for anyone who one time or another may experience loneliness and been in love.
Together and Lonely: Loneliness in Intimate Relationships - Causes and Coping by Ami Rokach and Ami Sha'Ked
- In this book, the authors discuss two of the most fundamental of human experiences: loneliness, and belonging. There have been other publications, over the years, about each of these topics separately, but none about how they interact and influence one another, in one integrated volume. Loneliness is an existential and basic human experience that all those who ever walked on this earth have experienced. Loneliness is always painful, subjective, all consuming, and an experience which we all try to avoid. This book reviews the most updated literature, research, and experimentation involving loneliness, human alienation, and separation. Covered are definitions and an understanding of what is loneliness, loneliness in philosophy, literature and the Bible, loneliness of marginalized populations, the difference between essential and transient loneliness, loneliness of the seriously ill and the dying, what causes loneliness, and how can we cope with it successfully. Addressing humans’ great desire to belong, the book covers that overwhelming wish and need to be part of a community, a family and a romantic dyad, to belong and be valuable.
Loneliness Then and Now: Reflections on Social and Emotional Alienation in Everyday Life by Ami Rokach
- Loneliness, social isolation, and emotional alienation have become all-too-common way of life to millions of North American; to those who succumb to it and become immobilized, to those who are in the midst of their life's race and do not want to admit it, and to many of those who seek psychological intervention for problems which are seemingly unrelated to loneliness. Being so fundamental to human experience, loneliness merits a closer look and examination to its effects on daily living and its relation to time and space. The present paper describes the various facets of loneliness and looks at man's search for refuge from its devastating pain - a search that is as old as the history of man, and which transcends geographical, cultural, and religious boundaries.
The Loneliness Experience of the Dying and of Those Who Take Care of Them by Ami Rokack, Raan Matalon, Artem Safarov, AND Michaela Bercovitch
- The study compared the qualitative aspects of the loneliness experience of the dying, their caregivers, and the general population. The patients were recruited in an oncological hospice in Israel, and, despite being on their deathbed, agreed to participate in the study. Thirty-seven cancer-stricken patients, 78 caregivers, and 128 participants from the general population volunteered to partake in the study. They answered, anonymously, a 30-item questionnaire and were asked to endorse those items that described their experience of loneliness. Results suggested that the three populations did, indeed, differ in their experience of loneliness. More specifically dying patients and their caregivers had significantly higher subscale scores on the Growth and Discovery and the Self-alientation subscales than the general population did. It was also found that the number of hospitalization days was significantly negatively correlated to the Emotional Distress and Self-alienation subscales. The present results indicate that loneliness is experienced differently in or out of the hospice and by the dying patient, his or her caregiver, and the general population. This may be the first study to examine the qualitative aspects of loneliness experienced by the dying and by their caregivers. More research is needed to replicate the present study, using larger samples.
Analysis of the relationship between loneliness, coping strategies, and the Internet.
Understanding Loneliness using Attachment and Systems Theories and Developing an Applied Intervention
Understanding and Helping the Lonely: An Evaluation of the LUV program
Coping with Loneliness: Adolescent Online and Offline Behavior
How Does Culture Influence the Degree of Romantic Loneliness and Closeness?
- Research on collected data from 1,157 online participants. We have posted up some results of Lonely Questionnaire here. Come and see what people have said about how they cope with loneliness! Find out which ways of coping are associated with greater feelings of loneliness! PDF format available here
Understanding Loneliness using Attachment and Systems Theories and Developing an Applied Intervention
- This publication applies popular concepts of Attachment Theory and Systems Theory to loneliness. It looks at how individual characteristics and characteristics of a person's family situation can contribute to feelings of loneliness.
Understanding and Helping the Lonely: An Evaluation of the LUV program
- This publication is my dissertation. It is the evaluation of a loneliness intervention program I developed for college students.
Coping with Loneliness: Adolescent Online and Offline Behavior
- This study looked at the similarities between the way adolescents cope with loneliness both online and offline. There were 429 participants, ranging from 14 to 23 years old, who answered a questionnaire posted on the Internet. There was a strong relationship between avoidant coping strategies offline and Entertainment Internet use. In addition, adolescents who considered Communication as the most important use of the Internet also coped with loneliness through Emotion Expression and Social coping. Results suggest that online and offline coping behaviors are strongly related especially if they are avoidant.
How Does Culture Influence the Degree of Romantic Loneliness and Closeness?
- A culture promoting a strong desire for romantic relationships can greatly influence feelings of romantic loneliness and of closeness. In this study, the authors hypothesized that when not in a romantic relationship, U.S. young adults experience greater degrees of romantic loneliness because of a high desire for romantic relationships, compared with Korean young adults. The authors also predicted that when in a romantic relationship, U.S. young adults experience greater closeness to their romantic partner than do Korean young adults. Results revealed that in a sample of 227 U.S. and Korean students, U.S. students reported significantly higher levels of romantic loneliness than did Koreans when not in a romantic relationship and significantly lower levels of romantic loneliness when in a stable romantic relationship. U.S. students also reported a greater degree of closeness in romantic relationships than did Korean students. The results suggest that Western cultures’ strong emphasis on the importance of romantic relationships may unduly amplify individuals’ levels of loneliness.