Not Just Social Isolation: Loneliness Comes in Many Forms

"Traditionally, loneliness has been defined in terms of lacking companionship or social isolation. In an eight-country study, Abdalla and colleagues (2026) found that nearly half of young persons aged 18 to 24 years responded "yes" to the question "Have you felt alone at any time during the past 12 months?" As loneliness was found to be strongly associated with depression and anxiety, studies such as this are the tip of the iceberg on a global public health concern, a pandemic that shows no signs of ebbing."

"Loneliness can be experienced by sociable folks even when they are surrounded by people at an event, and it can be experienced in the context of an intimate relationship, such as a marriage (just ask a couples therapist). While the emphasis on the social aspect of loneliness in psychology persists, other aspects of loneliness also exist."

"Have you ever broached a topic with a friend, partner, co-worker, or a fellow attender at a social event and gotten no verbal response? People with sufficient social and communication skills can have experiences such as this when they cannot find a willing, able converser. This experience of feeling separate and alone in spaces and relationships-when you have the requisite skills but just no one to share with-is referred to as epistemic loneliness (Alvarado, 2025)."

"It's not just wanting "deep conversations." It's about wanting an exchange that's not hemmed in or prematurely foreclosed by someone else's urgent need to come quickly to "the one right answer." It's about having con"

Loneliness has become a global public health concern and can carry mental and physical health consequences. Loneliness can appear in multiple forms beyond simple social isolation, including situations where people are surrounded by others yet still feel alone, and even within intimate relationships such as marriage. Traditional definitions focus on lacking companionship, and large studies show substantial proportions of young adults reporting feeling alone over the past year. Researchers have developed more nuanced understandings, including epistemic loneliness, a cognitive form of isolation experienced when someone has sufficient social and communication skills but cannot find a willing, able person to exchange ideas with. It involves wanting an open exchange rather than one constrained by another person’s need for a single immediate answer.

Read at Psychology Today