Loneliness is a condition that must be addressed, otherwise it could lead to serious and even fatal consequences.

Although you may occasionally experience episodes of loneliness, feeling the urge to isolate yourself, or to be alone, this is not a problem when it is a passing episode.

But if it is a permanent condition, and symptoms begin to appear that pose a risk to your mental and physical health, preventing you from living a functional life, then it is best to seek professional help as soon as possible.

Loneliness is defined as absence, which can be real or perceived, and prevents the development of satisfactory social relations.

In fact, studies have determined that people who are affected by loneliness are three times more likely to die within nine years of the onset of loneliness problems.

Similarly, a person with loneliness problems has a higher risk of inflammatory diseases.

Found that those with good social relationships are also more likely to live longer.

That’s why it’s important that if you have symptoms that indicate problems with loneliness, you see a psychologist who can help you overcome them and establish good social relationships.

An online psychologist is a good option; it is a professional who will guide you to develop tactics or strategies to combat the symptoms of loneliness and develop interaction with your family and friends.

Symptoms of loneliness

The seriousness of the problems of loneliness is that it is not just a feeling, but in many cases, when these have evolved and become permanent they move to the physical plane.

Loneliness prevents you from having a quality of life, because it affects your social performance, behavior and deprives you of having satisfactory and motivating experiences.

That’s why you need to identify when you’re having trouble with this condition. Here are the symptoms:

• Depressed mood most of the day, becoming more and more permanent. Even people close to you are telling you this.
• Disinterest in social activities, apathy
• Weight gain, due to inactivity and sedentariness.
• Insomnia or hypersomnia, problems that become more frequent
• Psychomotor agitation or slowdown.
• Fatigue
• Feelings of worthlessness or excessive guilt
• Decreased ability to concentrate or think
• Indecision
• Recurring thoughts of death
• Suicidal ideation

Causes of Loneliness

As for the causes of loneliness and its problems in your mood and even in mental and physical health, these can be varied.

There are causes that are linked to personality, which can be defined as risk factors, such as making it difficult to relate or poor social skills.

Similarly, there are also dysfunctional cognitive patterns that are responsible for problems of loneliness.

In that sense, defense mechanisms related to traumatic situations are causes.

On the other hand, there are also external causes or situations that put you at risk of suffering from loneliness and the problems it brings, such as the lack of economic and social resources.

Problems such as alcoholism and drugs, incite to loneliness because addiction isolates them, so the conditions are there to start suffering the symptoms.

Terminal illnesses also produce loneliness, much more so when they cause a depressive state in the person.