Year: 2000
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This study investigated the differences between descriptions of the lived experiences of painful loneliness \nand comfortable aloneness. Loneliness, is documented as a modern-day social problem, associated with \npsychic pain and suffering and myriad mental and physical health problems. Uncomplicated, comfortable \nor neutral aloneness, is scarce in the literature, with allusions to the possibility that people may never feel \nlonely. The 'essences' of the experience ofpainfol loneliness have been gathered from the literature, while \nthe 'essences' of the experience of comfortable aloneness have been gathered interviews with five people \nwho are comfortable or ambivalent about their aloneness. The qualitative methods of heuristic and \nphenomenological research have been used to interpret and make sense of the raw data generated. It was \nfound that the subjective experiences of aloneness and loneliness are fundamentally different, and that the \nthoughts, meanings and realities associated with either state are similarly disparate.
Author: Tracy Melanie Lake
Language: English
Subfield: Health
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: Strong
OpenAlex ID: W2257259082