Critical Analysis Paper Understanding Loneliness Using Attachment and Systems Theories & Developing an Applied Intervention

Being alive means being in a body-a body separated from all other bodies. And being separated means being alone. This is true of every creature, and it is true of man more than any other creature. He is not only alone; he also knows that he is alone. Aware of what he is, he therefore asks the question of his aloneness. He asks why he is alone and how he can overcome his being alone. He cannot stand it; but cannot escape it either. It is his destiny to be alone and to be aware of it. Not even God can take away this destiny from him. From the early writings of Weiss (1973) through to more modern publications (Rotenberg & Hymel, 1999), numerous authors have lamented the fact that loneliness is a very pervasive, yet little researched phenomenon. For example, Rotenberg (1999a) writes, " Given the apparent universality of loneliness and its link to psychosocial maladjustment, it is truly surprising that research on loneliness has emerged rather recently in the history of psychology…primarily within the past 25 years " (p. 4). Both Rotenberg (1999a) and Perlman and Landolt (1999) acknowledge that research and publications on loneliness have been increasing rapidly over the past few years. With the increasing publications and research, comes also an increasing need to understand previous theories concerning loneliness, and also to generate new theories of loneliness. This paper is an attempt to look back at theoretical work on loneliness and suggest new ways of conceptualizing loneliness. The phenomenon of loneliness will be analyzed from three different theoretical perspectives, namely attachment theory, systems theory, and applied intervention within four main sections. There will be special emphasis on the period of adolescence and adulthood in the attachment theory section, and on the adolescent period in the systems theory section. The first section will describe an adapted version of three dimensions of loneliness put forward by de Jong-Gierveld and Raadschelders (1982). The second section utilizes attachment theory as a theoretical foundation within which to explain possible developmental origins of loneliness. have suggested that adolescent and adult loneliness may have some of its origins in the historical attachment relationship between the lonely person and his/her caregivers. The third section employs systems theory, and in particular Olson's (1993) Circumplex Model of marital and family systems, to explore how different family systems can create environments, which can sustain feelings of loneliness …