“Do you ever feel alone?”
“Just around people.”
-Scene from “Thin Red Line”
I think that lonliness can lead to mind numbing bordom which could lead to insanity. Case in point. I live alone. This would normally not be a problem when I was working because between work and going out with my friends or girlfriend, my appartment would be a nice refuge of peace and quiet.
Unfortuneately, since I lost my job, I now spend my entire day couped up in my appartment. Now fortunately I have a good friend who lives next door (also out of work), some other friends nearby and my lady friend, and I live in a city of 10 million people so that helps mitigate some of the “sad feelings”.
I could not imagine if I was stuck moving back with my parents (in my early thirties) in the freakin suburbs where I would not know anyone or have access to a New York social life. I think that might drive me to insanity.
You’re correct, no one has said that. I didn’t say anyone did. My first point was that one should be careful to not mistake the symptoms of a disorder as its cause. My second point was that you can’t make generalizations about human psychology. I did not say any judgments were made.
Also, I believe this is the monkey study you’re referring to. This study didn’t really demonstrate the effect of loneliness and isolation on a baby monkey, but rather the effect of a lack of mother figure and peers during its early years and how it affected its social skills later in life. Those without a real mother figure turned out a little socially inept, but were able to recover. Those who lacked a mother AND peer interaction, on the other hand, were markedly more socially handicapped, to the point where they had difficulty mating when they became sexually mature. Sine I assume we’re discussing adults here, the study is not really a good example of the effects of loneliness and not really applicable to the OP’s question.