Some Counter-Intuitive Facts about Loneliness. | Psychology Today

An interesting blog post over at Psychology Today on the effects of loneliness.

--Loneliness “sets us apart by making us more fragile, negative, and self-critical.”
--“When people feel lonely they are actually far less accepting of potential new friends than when they are socially contented.”
--“Lonely students have been shown to be less responsive to their classmates during class discussions, and to provide less appropriate and less effective feedback than non-lonely students.”
--“When people feel rejected or excluded they tend to become more aggressive, more self-defeating or self-destructive, less cooperative and helpful, and less prone simply to do the hard work of thinking clearly.”
--Bonus loneliness tidbit: “People with insecure, anxious attachment styles are more likely…to form perceived social bonds with television characters.”
Loneliness makes us so anxious and worried about rejection that it distorts our thinking and our behavior."
Some Counter-Intuitive Facts about Loneliness. | Psychology Today:

Loneliness is not merely unpleasant - it is very bad for us physically and spiritually.