Before I was married I experienced what it was like to live alone, sometimes you are grateful for the time you have to yourself, you can do jobs around the house or in the garden with no one telling you what to do and to a certain extent pets like dogs and cats fill the loneliness, however, nothing can beat the feeling of having someone in your life who you can share your life with. Lonleliness can affect all ages and the feeling of isolation can be experienced by all, no matter what your background or social standing.
Mother Theresa recognised that loneliness and isolation are problems for our age and to back this up doctors in the last few years have recognised that loneliness and isolation can lead to mental illness.
Obviously not all people who live on their own if they have an outgoing life are victims of this condition, however, in todays fast paced individual world loneliness and isolation are becoming a big factor. Where communities by and large keep themselves to themselves and rarely if ever at all, check on one another as neighbours used to in days gone by.
It is a fact that people living on their own are twice as likely to die than people who are married or mix with people in whatever capacity. Retired people and people in general who move away from familiar surroundings and move to a place that they think is going to be an idylic can suffer with feelings of isolation as they suddenly realize that the place they have moved to is unfamiliar and they start to miss their friends or family or job they had where they originally came from.
It is noted that psychotherapy can help and no doubt in many instances it is successful but there is a downside where by the the therapist can be seen by the client as more than just a therapist who suggests coping mechanisms for loneliness and isolation and when the therapy comes to an end as it surely must, the lonely person finds this difficult to deal with.
It is recommended that sometimes group meetings are better to deal with loneliness than one to one sessions, where someone suffering from loneliness can be amongst like minded people with a medical professional in charge of the group in a relaxed atmosphere where by clients can express themselves without being judged and share experiences with similar people and perhaps make friends or join activity groups to continue possibly with their mental healing back into Society.
Another factor creating loneliness is say a married couple and one person dies and if that surviving person doesn't have any close family or friends or does not lead an outgoing life say with a job or some other activity or social life than life can be very lonely.
It is a sad fact that in the 21st century that loneliness and isolation which can lead to such mental disorders as depression and anxiety is now a common factor in the UK of today and no doubt in other countries too.
