DOI: 10.17072/2078-7898/2018-3-420-428

Loneliness as an interdisciplinary problem

Natalya V. Mikhailova
Ph.D. Student of the Faculty of Social Psychology

Humanitarian University,
19, Studencheskaya str., Ekaterinburg, 620049, Russia;
e-mail: natalja.makhmutova@yandex.ru
ORCID: 0000-0002-4247-471X

The article is devoted to the phenomenon of loneliness at the basis of domestic and foreign works analysis. The interdisciplinary study of loneliness problem is carried out by researchers of various humanities: sociologists, philosophers, psychologists. However, in contrast to Western studies, in Russian psychology, there are not enough papers devoted to this problem. The authors examines and analyzes different points of view on the phenomenon of loneliness, including contemporary approaches, in particular, studies devoted to the state of loneliness. The reflection and explanation of the loneliness phenomenon, from the ancient period to our days are different: from the realization of its necessity to comprehending it as a negative phenomenon, and there is still no unified definition of this phenomenon. A review of the monographs and articles permits to conclude that Russian psychology focused on the state of loneliness primarily through the negative experience. The exception from this tendency may be found in the works of such authors as E.N. Osin and D.A. Leontiev: in these works loneliness defines as an integral part of human life. Such definition is rather close to the scientific view of the foreign researchers who practice existential approach . According to the opinion of many authors, contemporary Russian psychology has a lack of fundamental theoretical and empirical studies devoted to the state of loneliness. E.N. Osin and D.A. Leontiev stressed that it is necessary to develop scales for measuring of negative loneliness and positive solitude as well for the comprehensive study of this phenomenon. These authors developed a questionnaire aimed at studying positive loneliness for the first time in Russian psychology.

Keywords: loneliness, existentialism, the need for communication, lack of communication, the need for confidential and warm relations, depression, anxiety.

References

Abulkhanova-Slavskaya, K.A. (1980). O putyakh postroeniya tipologii lichnosti [About ways of construction of typology of the person]. Moscow: Institute of psychology of RAS, 213 p.

Abulkhanova-Slavskaya, K.A. (1993). Psikhologicheskie i zhiznennye poteri (k probleme ekologii cheloveka) [Psychological and life losses (to the problem of human ecology)]. Psikhologiya lichnosti v usloviyakh sotsialnykh izmeneniy [Psychology of personality in conditions of social changes]. Moscow: Institute of psychology of RAS, pp. 7–21.

Ambraumova, A.G. (1985). Analiz sostoyaniy psikhologicheskogo krizisa i ikh dinamika [Analysis of the state of the psychological crisis and their dynamics]. Psikhologicheskiy zhurnal [Psychological journal]. No. 6, pp. 107–115.

Ambraumova, A.G. and Postovalova, L.I. (1987). Motivy samoubiystva [Motives for suicide]. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. No. 6, pp. 53–55.

Ananyev, B.G. (1980). Izbrannye psikhologicheskie trudy: v 2 t. [Selected psychological works: in 2 vols]. Moscow: Pedagogika Publ., vol. 1, 220 p.

Andrusenko, V.A. (1993). Slovar dushevnykh i dukhovnykh terminov [Dictionary of soul and spiritual terms]. Ekaterinburg, 30 p.

Berdyayev, N.A. (1993). Opyt filosofii odinochestva i obscheniya [Experience of the philosophy of loneliness and communication]. Moscow: Republic Publ., 390 p.

Berdyayev, N.A. (1993). O naznachenii cheloveka [About the mission of a man]. Moscow: Republic Publ., 130 p.

Berdyayev, N.A. (1994). Ya i mir obektov [Me and the world of objects]. Moscow: Republic Publ., 190 p.

Berdyayev, N.A. (1994). Filosofiya svobodnogo dukha [Philosophy of the free spirit]. Moscow: Republic Publ., 260 p.

Camus, A. (1990). Mif o Sizife. Esse ob absurd. Per. s fr. [The Myth of Sisyphus. Trans. from French]. Sumerki bogov [The twillight of gods]. Moscow: Politizdat Publ., pp. 222–318.

Florensky, P.A. (1990). Stolp i utverzhdenie istiny [Pillar and the affirmation of truth]. Moscow, vol. 1. 350 p.

Frankl, V. (1980). Chelovek v poiskakh smysla [A man in search of meaning]. Moscow: Digest Publ., 358 p.

Freud, Z. (1991). Vvedenie v psikhoanaliz. Lektsii. [Introduction to Psychoanalysis. Lectures]. Moscow: Nauka Publ., 456 p.

Fromm, E. (1990). Begstvo ot svobody [Escape from Freedom]. Moscow: Digest Publ., 272 p.

Fromm, E. (1993). Chelovek dlya samogo sebya. Psikhoanaliz i etika [Man for himself, an inquiry into the psychology of ethics]. Moscow: Republic Publ., 350 p.

Fromm, E. (1996). Chelovek odinok [The man is lonely]. Inostrannaya literatura [Foreign Literature]. No. 1. pp. 230–233.

Fromm, E. (1992). Dusha cheloveka [The Heart of Man]. Moscow: Republic Publ., 430 p.

Fromm, E. (1991). Iskusstvo lyubvi [The Art of Loving]. Minsk: Polyfact Publ., 90 p.

Golovin, S.Yu. (1997). Slovar prakticheskogo psikhologa [Dictionary of practical psychologist]. Minsk: Harvest Publ., 580 p.

Hegel, G. (1970). Raboty raznykh let [Works of different years]. Moscow, 310 p.

Heidegger, M. (1997). Kant i problema metafiziki [Kant and the problem of metaphysics]. Moscow: Logos Publ., 143 p.

Horney, K. (2000). Nashi vnutrennie konflikty [Our Inner Conflicts]. Moscow: April-Press Publ., 560 p.

Horney, K. (1993). Nevroticheskaya lichnost nashego vremeni [The Neurotic Personality of our Time]. Moscow: Digest Publ., 217 p.

Ilin, I.A. (1993). Put k ochevidnosti [The way to evidence]. Moscow: Republic Publ., 120 p.

Kierkegaard, S. (1993). Strakh i trepet [Fear and trembling]. Moscow: Republic Publ., 109 p.

Kon, I.S. (1986). Mnogolikoe odinochestvo [Many-sided loneliness]. Znanie — sila [Knowledge is power]. No. 12, pp. 15–42.

Kon, I.S. (1978). Otkrytie «Ya» [Opening the «I»]. Moscow, 90 p.

Kon, I.S. (1989). Psikhologiya ranney yunosti [Psychology of early adolescence]. Moscow: Education Publ., 252 p.

Kon, I.S. (1979). Psikhologiya yunosheskogo vozrasta [Psychology of adolescence]. Moscow: Education Publ., 170 p.

Konyukhov, N.I. (1996). Slovar-spravochnik po psikhologii [Dictionary-reference book on psychology]. Moscow, 160 p.

Korchagina, S.G. (2005). Genezis, vidy i proyavleniya odinochestva [Genesis, types and manifestations of loneliness]. Moscow, 196 p.

Lossky, N.O. (1994). Bog i mirovoe zlo [God and world evil]. Moscow: Republic Publ., 318 p.

Malysheva, S.V. and Rozhdestvenskaya, N.A. (2001). Osobennosti chuvstva odinochestva u podrostkov [Features of loneliness in adolescents]. Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seriya 14: Psikhologiya [Moscow University Psychology Bulletin]. No. 3, pp. 63–68.

Maslow, A. (2008). Motivatsiya i lichnost [Motivation and personality]. Saint Petersburg: Piter Publ., 352 p.

Mijuskovic, B. (1989). Odinochestvo: mezhdistsiplinarnyy podkhod [Loneliness: an interdisciplinary approach]. Labirinty odinochestva: per. s angl. [Labyrinths of Solitude: Trans. from Eng.]. Moscow: Progress Publ., pp. 52–87.

Nemov, R.S. (1994). Psikhologiya [Psychology]. Moscow: Prosveschenie Publ., Vlados Publ., 496 p.

Nemov, R.S. and Kirpichnik, A.G. (1988). Put k kollektivu: kniga dlya uchitelya o psikhologii uchenicheskogo kollektiva [The way to the collective: a book for the teacher about the psychology of the student collective]. Moscow, 144 p.

Nietzsche, F. (1993). Zlaya mudrost. Izbrannye proizvedeniya [Wicked Wisdom. Selected works]. Moscow: Prosveschenie Publ., 573 p.

Osin, E.N. and Leontiev, D.A. (2013). Odinochestvo kak predmet psikhologicheskogo issledovaniya [Loneliness as a subject of psychological research]. Psikhologiya. Zhurnal Vysshey shkoly ekonomiki [Psychology. Journal of Higher School of Economics]. Vol. 10, no. 1. pp. 55–81.

Perlman, D. and Peplau, L.A. (1989). Teoreticheskie podkhody k odinochestvu [Toward a Social Psychology of Loneliness]. Moscow: Progress Publ., pp. 152–168.

Petrovsky, A.V. and Yaroshevsky, M.G. (1990). Psikhologiya: Slovar [Psychology: Dictionary]. Moscow: Politizdat Publ., 494 p.

Pokrovsky, N.E., Ivanchenko G.V. (2008). Universum odinochestva: sotsiologicheskie i psikhologicheskie ocherki [Universum of loneliness: sociological and psychological essays]. Moscow: Logos Publ., 408 p.

Rogers, C. (1961). The loneliness of contemporary man as seen in the «Case of Ellen West». Annals in Psychiatry. No. 3, pp. 22–27.

Rogers, C. (1970). The lonely person and experiens ib encounter group. New York, 172 p.

Rogers, C. (1986). K nauke o lichnosti [To the science of personality]. Istoriya zarubezhnoy psikhologii [History of foreign psychology]. Moscow, pp. 200–230.

Rogers, C. (1994). Vzglyad na psikhoterapiyu. Stanovlenie cheloveka [On Becoming a Person: A Therapist’s View of Psychotherapy]. Moscow: Digest Publ., 480 p.

Rook, K.S. and Peplau, L.A. (1989). Perspektivy pomoschi odinokim [Perspectives on helping the lonely]. Labirinty odinochestva [Labyrinths of loneliness]. Moscow: Progress Publ., pp. 512–551.

Sadler, W. and Johnson, T. (1989). Ot odinochestva k anemii [From loneliness to anemia]. Labirinty odinochestva [Labyrinths of loneliness]. Moscow: Progress Publ., pp. 21–52.

Sartre, J.-P. (1989). Ekzistentsializm eto gumanizm [Existentialism is Humanism]. Sumerki bogov [Twilight of the Gods]. Moscow: Politizdat Publ., pp. 319–344.

Serma, V. (1989). Nekotoryye situativnyye i lichnostnyye korrelyaty odinochestva [Some situational and personal correlates of loneliness]. Labirinty odinochestva [Labyrinths of loneliness]. Moscow: Progress Publ., pp. 227–242.

Shvalb, Yu.M. and Dancheva, O.V. (1991). Odinochestvo: sotsialno-psikhologicheskie problemy [Loneliness: socio-psychological problems]. Kiev, 270 p.

Solovev, V.S. (1994). Smysl lyubvi [The Meaning of love]. Moscow, 534 p.

Trubetskoy, E.N. (1994). Smysl zhizni. Antologiya [The Meaning of Life: Antology]. Moscow: Progress-Kultura Publ., 592 p.

Weis, R. (1989). Voprosy izucheniya odinochestva [Questions of studying loneliness]. Labirinty odinochestva: per. s angl. [Labyrinths of loneliness. Trans. from Eng.]. Moscow: Progress Publ., pp. 114–128.

Young J. Odinochestvo, depressiya i kognitivnaya terapiya: teoriya i yeye primeneniye [Loneliness, depression and cognitive therapy: theory and application]. Labirinty odinochestva [Labyrinths of loneliness]. Moscow: Progress Publ., pp. 552–593.

 

Received 18.03.2018

For citation:

Mikhailova N.V. Loneliness as an interdisciplinary problem // Perm University Herald. Series «Philosophy. Psychology. Sociology». 2018. Iss. 3. P. 420–428. DOI: 10.17072/2078-7898/2018-3-420-428