Loneliness

How to Deal With Loneliness

Loneliness is the dirty little secret of our outgoing culture. Loneliness in urban cities is a new realtiy. There's rise of bloggers who've come together to share their loneliness and ways to beat it. Even the blogs are bogged by the blues. It's a phenomenon that hits the best of us. In her book, Loneliness: Learning to live with Solitude, Emily While writes: "I'm not saying that loneliness isn't hard, or that long-term loneliness isn't awful. Loneliness can be gruelling." 

Affects everyone
Psychiatrist Gregg Krech says, "We're witnessing the rise of loneliness. Especially during festival time. For many, this is a time for loneliness, sadness, anxiety, depression, and family conflict. The most vulnerable persons are the lonely, including empty-nesters and the recently-widowed. Recently, Thomas Dumm's "Loneliness as a Way of Life" portraits loneliness as sombre and sometimes quite hard to take. The lonely are, refugees from others and strangers to themselves. Their isolation causes them to doubt everyone and everything.

Meet Sonali Khanna, 40, doctor, trying to beat the loneliness blues. ``It's been a while, since I have been able to get excited about anything. I just feel down-in-the-dumps during the days. I find myself thinking a lot about my dad who died just before Christmas five years ago. Death does have a way of putting a damper on the holidays, I thought that each year would be easier and it's not really. I find myself angry over his unnecessary death. Things like he'll never see me get married, never know my children... the list goes on and on. This is a time, when I feel the sadness in my life.'' 

Socialise!
In her blog on Loneliness, Laura's writes, how socialising is the best way to beat loneliness. And it's essential to recognise the symptoms: sadness, loss of interest or pleasure in usual activities, social anxiety disorder. "People experience an intense fear of being scrutinised by other people in social or performance situations as well as being fearful of negative evaluation. Even going to a mall to buy a gift can be a stressful and emotionally challenging activity for someone with this condition," says psychiatrist Dr Avdesh Sharma. 

Says Seema Prakash, Director, Sanjeevani, "We get a lot of calls from the age-group of 18-to-35 youngsters. Single women call up with their relationship problems, teenagers call with exam-stress, somehow at the end of the year, they feel they can't cope with the stress. There are desperate almost suicidal calls from some people during this time. The change of weather leads to change of hormones in some people, less activity, fatty-food intake all increase an individual's vulnerability to depression.'"

Go easy on the sugar
According to Kathleen DesMaisons, the author of Potatoes Not Prozac, sugar can play havoc with your blood sugar system. You might get a quick `lift' from some cookies. But it may not be long before you find yourself craving a cup of coffee or a piece of pie just to help you feel a bit more alert. And as your blood sugar levels crash so does your energy level and your spirits. "Eating nuts and cakes can make you sluggish,'' adds Dr Avdesh Sharma. Be it drifting into past or future planning, most emotional trauma is a result of worrying about our past or thinking what-will-happen-next. 


Image and Article Credit: Idiva.com