What is loneliness?: Loneliness Awareness Week Blog

This week is Loneliness Awareness Week (15-19th June 2026).

Loneliness is a common feeling-it’s something we all feel at times in our lives. Loneliness is different to being alone, however.

Loneliness is about whether or not we feel we belong, not just with others, but also with ourselves. Loneliness is a mismatch between the sense of belonging we would like to have, or what we might imagine or hope for, and what we actually experience. This subjective mismatch is experienced as an unpleasant feeling.

Conversely, being alone is an actual, objective, absence of social connection which can be measured and may not be experienced as a mismatch in expectations and experience. For some of us, some of the time, solitude can be a positive experience. It can be an opportunity to explore ourselves and our relationship with those around us. We can even experience connection or belonging to others on a deeper level.

We satisfy hunger by eating. Loneliness is in many ways a similar human reaction, this time to the hunger for connection. The paradox with loneliness is that it affects our ability to solve the problem of connection ourselves. We can become more avoidant of social rejection in response to loneliness, less confident, and less willing to be ourselves in a social context. As a result, we become lonelier.

And when this feeling of alienation is prolonged or intense, it can have significant negative effects on our wellbeing. There is concern that for a range of reasons this is becoming an escalating problem in our society, especially for young people, but also for society as a whole.

Over the week, I'll be writing about the effect of loneliness and what we can do about it.

Thank you for reading!

Angelo