Do you have fear of loneliness or being alone? Have you ever thought that you will be alone forever or never will find THE ONE for you? The fear of loneliness, like other fears or phobias, has a special name, Monophobia, and it is very common in our society.
It needs to understand the root cause of fear and be able to overcome it. For instance, chronic loneliness can have a damaging effect on one’s physical and mental health. One meta-analysis found that such conditions have been present in an increase.
So, humans are very prestigious creatures on earth and they are not meant to be alone forever or live life with the fear or phobias that may diminish their productivity or creativity by snatching their mental energies. That’s why this piece of writing is going to help you to understand the root cause of loneliness, how to overcome it, what its triggers are, and many more. So, let’s jump to it!
What is Fear of loneliness called?
Social isolation and fear of being alone is a subjective feeling or deep personal because it is not really like many other phobias or fear. It is very common in society because many people experience the fear of loneliness, that’s why the term, Autophobia or Monophobia is used to define this unrealistic fear.
This is the fear of being alone that causes an extreme feeling of anxiousness when a person is alone, like you may feel afraid of being unloved, unhelpful in stressful situations, or afraid of strangers.
Sometimes, people in a crowd also experience monophobia because they think people will leave them alone, and in the end, they will live alone forever.
Loneliness vs. Fear of loneliness
When you live alone and feel unhappy about the quantity or quality of your social circle, then it is loneliness. Loneliness helps you focus on scrutinizing
the best social relationship you want around you. Conversely, you feel anxiety when you think to be alone while you may have many loved ones or friends, but still, you feel anxious that they will leave you and you will never have your “best one” with you. Fear of loneliness does not let you enjoy the present moment with your friends or loved ones because of fear of leaving.
Fear of loneliness manifests in various ways, including fear of living alone, being alone in a dangerous situation, sense of feeling isolated in public or at home.
Why do we fear Loneliness?
Fear of loneliness, like much other fear, has its root causes associated with childhood experiences and traumatic conditions. We may have fear of loneliness because of being ignored or unloved in our childhood. However, fear of loneliness has biological, environmental, and genetic causes as well.
Biologically: Sometimes, our brain reacts in an unexpected way and makes us believe our brain that we have potential danger from this person or situation.
Environmentally: Childhood trauma, the anxiety-inducing experience can cause fear of being alone
Family-Oriented problem: Few people inherently get fear of being alone that’s transferred genetically.
Ageism/Aging and Loneliness
Loneliness is a major danger to older people’s well-being. In recent years, various studies demonstrate a strong relationship between aging and loneliness, and it is because of two factors. First, unfortunately, it is socially increasing among older people. While the second reason is that late-life loneliness has detrimental physical and mental health effects.
Several processes start with life and continue throughout life to make a cycle of aging. Older age is the final stage of life, a time when the person reflects on their experiences, reflects on their prior successes, and starts to wrap up their life’s journey.
As age grows and comes close to the ending period of lifespan, the fear of loneliness increases in a person. It further increases the risk of chronic mental and physical illness and is related to mortality.
However, there is strong evidence that older people might get into a few health risk behaviors because of fear of loneliness or fear to be alone for the rest of life.
Few serious health risky conditions involve:
- Fear of loneliness with increased age can cause premature death, physical inactivity, smoking, and obesity.
- A sense of solitude increases the 50% risk of dementia in older people and further, loneliness feeling increases the aging process.
Loneliness/ Social isolation causes Depressive Symptoms
Loneliness causes depressive symptoms in people, especially in older adults. A study on 55 older people was examined using sociability, loneliness, and depressive scales, and it was observed that loneliness had a strong relationship with depression.
Socialization is the effective dose for depressive people, and when people live alternatively in isolated situations, they welcome the depressive symptoms, like laziness and fatigue, and negative thoughts.
Loneliness or fear of being alone causes depression in people because of not having close ties or connections with family or friends. Failure of the heart, anxiety, and depression is closely related to loneliness.
Ways to Overcome Loneliness
Socialization is a part of human lives, so it is crucial to grind the fear of loneliness by changing lifestyle and habits.
Concentrate on Yourself
Focus on the things that you can control, and do not run behind the things that are out of control. Live life with the things that you have and just wait; nature will send all the things timely to you that are meant for you. Make a habit to spend quality time with yourself to evaluate your weakness and strengths.
Focus on your fear to understand its cause
Fear of loneliness or monophobia occurs because of our limiting beliefs. To eliminate this fear, first, look inside and be flexible to accept the truth about yourself and your surroundings.
Question to Your Blueprint of life
Everybody in his life has set certain milestones to achieve and it causes fear or a sense of solitude if someone doesn’t achieve those milestones. So, before feeding your fear, think about your set of milestones, or what if you have set these on your limiting beliefs or society’s expectations? These questions will broaden your mind to think widely and eliminate your fears.
Let yourself free from past regrets/losses & Set New Standards
A few conditions, like unfulfilling relationships, death of loved ones, and many more and these all things feed the fear of loneliness until we leave to live in the past memories. So, let go of your past hurtful memories and set your life standards. The best life standard helps you raise your self-esteem and self-confidence, which can help you to overcome the fear of being alone forever.
Moreover, expand your socialization and live with positive social relations because it will keep you healthy.
Expand your Positive Social Circle: Benefits of Socializing
Socializing boosts mental and physical health and increases the feeling of wholeness instead of loneliness.
When people have support and strong social relations, then they may raise their self-esteem, which helps them reduce their depressive symptoms.
Chronic stress weakens the immune system. Thus, a positive social circle boosts the person’s immune system and physical health because healthy socialization reduces stress.
Social interaction/ socialization and motivation can enhance memory encoding and retrieval while also defending the brain against neurodegenerative disorders.
It is the probability that you will pay attention to your eating, exercising, and other lifestyle-related habits if you have strong people around you who have a healthy routine lifestyle and inspire you.
Use your time wisely to maximize your productivity & Creativity when you’re Alone.
Loneliness and Productivity
Consider the situation when you’re surrounded by people. For instance, you’re always trying to be liked, attempting to fit in, and fending off criticism of your ideas or behavior. That’s a characteristic of social life. When you’re by yourself, it’s simpler to access your intuition, distinctive viewpoint, or vision.
So, loneliness increases creativity because when you are alone, your brain trains to be more imaginative and creative than in a social circle. That’s the positive point of being alone, use your time wisely and produce creative ideas to make your life stand out from crowds of others who just see their loneliness as being social rejection.
When you are alone, you are less concerned with others’ points of view or criticism. Freedom and unconventional thinking are crucial to be creative & productive, and loneliness makes it possible.
When a person spends their loneliness wisely, then this isolation lets the
person be connected with various emotions. So, use this time wisely because the connection with intuition can heal the person’s mental health conditions and offer him to be more creative and productive.
The Bottom line
We, humans, are social animals, and we require social relationships for our physical and mental health. So, doing the act opposite to the nature of someone is like killing him before his actual death, and that is what happens with people who have fear of loneliness or think about living alone.
Socializing is something very much ingrained in us and as a result, loneliness can easily become a concern. However, there are many things that can help overcome it not just for yourself but for your loved ones as well. The best way to combat this fear is to boost self-esteem, self-confidence, and personal values. Thus, focus on the things you have and don’t blindly follow your irrational thinking patterns.
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