Loneliness can leave people feeling isolated and disconnected from others. It is a complex state of mind that can be caused by life changes, mental health conditions, poor self-esteem, and personality traits. Loneliness can also have serious health consequences including decreased mental wellness and physical problems.
The fear of being alone can be caused by by different things. Maybe you were or felt abandoned in life before, for example you were an abandoned child or your partner broke up with you. And so, you came to associate being alone with being unloved. A fear of being alone can also be related to a lack of self-confidence.
Also known as autophobia, isolophobia, or eremophobia, monophobia is the fear of being isolated, lonely, or alone.
What is scopophobia? Share on Pinterest Eugenio Marongiu/Getty Images. Scopophobia is a persistent fear of being watched or stared at. While many people may feel some level of anxiety when they are the center of attention, these feelings are exaggerated and out of proportion to the situation for people with scopophobia ...
A person with megalophobia experiences intense fear and anxiety when they think of or are around large objects such as large buildings, statues, animals and vehicles. They often avoid situations or places that have large objects.
What is chronic loneliness? Chronic loneliness occurs when feelings of loneliness and uncomfortable social isolation go on for a long period of time. It's characterized by constant and unrelenting feelings of being alone, separated or divided from others, and an inability to connect on a deeper level.
Recent research from ReachOut has shown that one in five young people reported feeling lonely 'most of the time' or 'always'. So just because you're feeling lonely, it doesn't mean that you are different or 'weird': in fact, it means that you have more in common with the people around you than you realise.
There are a few reasons for feeling lonely even when surrounded by friends and family: You hide your true self. You have a history of being misunderstood or judged. Perhaps you feel insecure about certain aspects of your personality.
Introverts rely on alone time to recharge their social batteries, self-reflect, and process the experiences they have with others. Without proper amounts of alone time, introverts can begin to experience irritability, fatigue, poor sleep, and trouble concentrating.
Some people naturally prefer time alone and that can be fine. Roughly 50% of the population can be categorized as introverts, meaning they get the most value in life out of time spent on their own.
There are different types of loneliness: emotional, and social and existential loneliness.
A brain imaging study showed that feeling ostracized actually activates our neural pain matrix. In fact, several studies show that ostracizing others hurts us as much as being ostracized ourselves. We can hypothesize that, similarly, loneliness is associated with the pain matrix.
If you've experienced ongoing feelings of loneliness, it can have negative effects on your physical health. It could lead to weight gain, sleep deprivation, poor heart health, and a weakened immune system. Loneliness can also put your body under more stress than normal.
Research has linked social isolation and loneliness to higher risks for a variety of physical and mental conditions: high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, a weakened immune system, anxiety, depression, cognitive decline, Alzheimer's disease, and even death.
Loneliness affects people in different ways, and for this reason there are four distinct types of loneliness identified by psychologists: emotional, social, situational and chronic.
"Loneliness can change the neurochemistry of the brain, turning off the dopamine neurons, which trigger the reward response, and causing some degeneration in the brain when the reward response is not activated," says Katherine Peters, MD, PhD, FAAN, associate professor of neurology and neurosurgery at Duke University.
There is early evidence that cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), mindfulness and positive psychology can reduce loneliness in later life. These three approaches share key principles. They identify the automatic negative thoughts and feelings which can become overwhelming over time and influence behavior.
1. Arachibutyrophobia (Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth) Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth. While the phenomenon has happened to everyone at one point or another, people with arachibutyrophobia are extremely afraid of it.
Symptoms of Ergophobia
Fear of work or the workplace may manifest in frequent job change, pauses between jobs, missing work, and irrational concerns about evaluation and interactions with coworkers or bosses. Common symptoms of ergophobia include: Sweating. Racing heart or heart palpitations.
Signs of glossophobia may include avoiding speaking in public at all costs, over-preparing for social interactions, fearing judgement, experiencing extreme stress during a presentation, and only engaging in activities that do not require public speaking.