The Routledge History of Loneliness takes a multidisciplinary approach to the history of a modern emotion, exploring its form and development across cultures from the seventeenth century to the present. Bringing together thirty scholars from various disciplines, including history, anthropology, philosophy, literature and art history, the volume considers how loneliness was represented in art and literature, conceptualised by philosophers and writers and described by people in their personal narratives. It considers loneliness as a feeling so often defined in contrast to sociability and affective connections, particularly attending to loneliness in relation to the family, household and community. Acknowledging that loneliness is a relatively novel term in English, the book explores its precedents in ideas about solitude, melancholy and nostalgia, as well as how it might be considered in cross-cultural perspectives. With wide appeal to students and researchers in a variety of subjects, including the history of emotions, social sciences and literature, this volume brings a critical historical perspective to an emotion with contemporary significance.

Loneliness is everybody’s business. Neither a pathology nor a rare affliction, it is part of the human condition. Severe and chronic loneliness, however, is a threat to individual and public health and appears to be on the rise. In this illuminating book, anthropologist Chikako Ozawa-de Silva examines loneliness in Japan, focusing on rising rates of suicide, the commodification of intimacy, and problems impacting youth. Moving from interviews with college students, to stories of isolation following the 2011 natural and nuclear disasters, to online discussions in suicide website chat rooms, Ozawa-de Silva points to how society itself can exacerbate experiences of loneliness. A critical work for our world, The Anatomy of Loneliness considers how to turn the tide of the “lonely society” and calls for a deeper understanding of empathy and subjective experience on both individual and systemic levels.

Taking an eraser to loneliness will not erase it. Trying to drink loneliness away will not quench its thirst. Shaming loneliness will not disempower it. In The Gospel of Loneliness, author and pastor Dwight Wolter offers the encouragement that loneliness is an exploration and a teacher to make room for—not to avoid. Wolter examines the expressions of loneliness in our lives: revisiting biblical stories and fables, listening to pop music, studying its dynamic in the pews, and exploring the future of artificial companionship.

Despite 21st-century fears of a modern "epidemic" of loneliness, its history has been sorely neglected. A Biography of Loneliness is the first history of its kind to be published in English, offering a radically new interpretation of loneliness as an emotional language and experience. Usingletters and diaries, philosophical tracts, political discussions, and medical literature from the eighteenth century to the present, historian of the emotions Fay Bound Alberti argues that loneliness is not an ahistorical, universal phenomenon. It is, in fact, a modern emotion: before 1800, itslanguage did not exist.As Alberti shows, the birth of loneliness is linked to the development of modernity: the all-encompassing ideology of the individual that has emerged in the mind and physical sciences, in economic structures, in philosophy and politics. While it has a biography of its own, loneliness impacts onpeople differently, according to their gender, ethnicity, religion, outlook, and socio-economic position. It is, Alberti argues, not a single state but an "emotion cluster", composed of a wide variety of responses that include fear, anger, resentment and sorrow. In spite of this, loneliness is notalways negative. And it is physical as well as psychological: loneliness is a product of the body as much as the mind.Looking at informative case studies such as Sylvia Plath, Queen Victoria, and Virginia Woolf, A Biography of Loneliness charts the emergence of loneliness as a modern emotional state. From social media addiction to widowhood, from homelessness to the oldest old, from mall hauls to massages,loneliness appears in all aspects of 21st-century life. Yet we cannot address its meanings, let alone formulate a cure, without attention to its complex, protean history.

In recent years its medical implications have brought loneliness to the centre of attention of mass media, government agents, and the general public. However, as this volume demonstrates, loneliness is not merely a psychological, individual, or health issue. In multiple ways, it is a serious social problem as well. Yang urges fellow researchers and scientists to broaden the existing definition and classification of loneliness, to measure loneliness with greater accuracy, and to establish more specifically the connection between loneliness and particular illness. Drawing on vast sources of data including literary works, case studies, and large-scale sample surveys covering a broad spectrum of countries (Europe and beyond), the empirical research of this study produces and presents simple but effective evidence for the social nature and variations of loneliness. Examining loneliness at higher levels, including ethnic groups, classes, national cultures, and societies, Loneliness will appeal to students and researchers interested in areas such as sociology, pyschology, and mental health.

"To be alone is to be different. To be different is to be alone, and to be in the interior of this fatal circle is to be lonely. To be lonely is to have failed" (Susan Schultz, 1976) Loneliness carries a significant social stigma, as lack of friendship and social ties is socially undesirable, and social perceptions of lonely people are generally unfavourable. Lonely people often have very negative self-perceptions, believing that the inability to establish social ties is due to personal inadequacies or socially undesirable attributes. This book is divided into three parts. The first part reviews loneliness in general, describing what it is and how it affects us. The second part examines loneliness throughout the life cycle, analysing how it affects us in childhood, adulthood and as we age. The final part explores the connection between loneliness and other conditions such as arthritis, eating disorders and depression. Loneliness Updated offers the latest research on how loneliness can affect us in our daily lives, and how it is expressed as we travel through life from childhood to old age. It will be a highly interesting read for scholars, students and researchers of clinical psychology, particularly those interested in further exploring the effects and consequences of loneliness. This book was originally published as a special issue of The Journal of Psychology.

Did you know loneliness is a part of God's Kingdom Purpose for your life? Frankly, whether you believe it or not, loneliness is not a curse... it's a blessing in disguise. I can totally relate if you grew up in the same era as me, seeing all these young adults and teens out there living their best lives. The only difference is...they're a part of the world, and you're not. You're from this world, not of the world. If you're lonely, you may want these burning questions answered: -How does loneliness cause sin and psychological illness? -Did anyone from the Bible suffer with loneliness? -Was Jesus ever lonely and how would he advise me to deal with this? -How can I embrace the lonely? -When does loneliness strike into people's lives? -What is the opposite of loneliness?