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Loneliness

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Loneliness

In science, loneliness describes the subjectively perceived discrepancy between the desired and the actually existing social relationships, i.e. the subjective feeling of being alone. Loneliness is differentiated into three categories:

Emotional loneliness (intimate loneliness).
Concerns very close relationships such as partner, close friend.

Social loneliness (relational loneliness).
Concerns the larger circle of friends & other personal relationships.

Collective loneliness
Concerns the global sense of belonging or the lack of belonging to society.

To the loneliness to separate is the social isolation, under which the objective condition of the being alone is to be understood. Many people like to be alone without it being an emotional burden on them. And conversely, there are people who feel lonely even though they objectively live in a large social network.

When does loneliness harm health?

Feeling lonely occasionally is perfectly normal and not pathological. However, when the feeling of loneliness becomes chronic, it can have a negative impact on your health. There is no measurement of when that point is reached, but important warning signs are:

 - Are you avoiding contact with others?
 - Do you make excuses to turn down invitations?
 - Do you push others away to protect yourself?
 - Do you act as if you are being attacked?
 - Do you actively seek contacts or have you already resigned yourself to your fate and given up?
 - Do you feel that you are suffering enormously from the situation?

If this is the case for you, you can turn to the following places:

    Psychological counseling center TU KL www.studierendenwerk-kaiserslautern.de/kaiserslautern/beratung/psychologische-beratung/anmeldung/
    Telephone counselling: 0800 1110111 (around the clock) telefonseelsorge.de

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Video by funk: Loneliness (German)
Tips

- Structured daily routine - for example, set your alarm clock at the same time every day instead of just living in the day and make a plan for what you want to do today.

- Keep in touch - Use your phone to talk or write to friends or family again.

- Make someone happy - When was the last time you sent a postcard or package? Use the time to make others and yourself happy.

- Start a new project - maybe you've always wanted to learn a new language or learn to knit? There are endless new things to discover that are great to do on your own. Now is the perfect time!

- (Online) Game Night - Get together with your friends online to play games together.

- Reminisce about nice moments - With old photos, videos or even music you can reminisce and recall nice moments. You can also share your memories with others!

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