Being one of the most powerful human feelings, lonelinessit can profoundly affect the way we perceive the world around us.
A study carried out by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, revealed the impact of loneliness on people and how it changed their view of life.
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A relevant factor in this investigation is the different perception of the world that lonely people have compared to others. However, significant variations are also presented in the way that solitary individuals read their reality.
Interpreting the world your way
With non-invasive brain scans, psychologist Elisa Baek and her team explored the neural activity of those who feel isolated.
The findings indicate that these people have a unique perception of the world. This can result in the feeling that they are misunderstood, something that is closely related to loneliness.
(Image: Adobe Stock/Reproduction)
In the past, studies have suggested that such a sensation in non-lonely people activates brain areas related to social connection and reward processing. In contrast, those who feel misunderstood show more activity in areas linked to negative emotions.
The researchers explored the “Anna Karenina principle”, based on the work of Leo Tolstoy, which states: “All happy families are the same; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”
By applying this concept to research, it is suggested that individuals without feelings of loneliness interpret the environment in a similar way, while each solitary person experiences a unique perception of the world.
Brain analyzes further revealed that non-lonely individuals had remarkably similar brain responses, quite different from someone more alone.
Subjects thus have significantly different neurological patterns among themselves and in relation to connected individuals. This indicates that each solitary participant in this research has a unique interpretation of life and the world.
According to researcher Elisa Baek, having a different perspective from others intensifies the feeling of isolation, since these people tend to be less understood.
The feeling of loneliness is not necessarily linked to the lack of social activity, since not all research participants demonstrated an inactive social life.
In summary, distinct neural patterns were observed compared to non-solitary individuals, even among those who reported a satisfactory level of social interaction in the survey, with friends and participation in events social.
The study underscores the importance of addressing loneliness as a matter of mental health, in addition to promoting the need to create strategies and policies capable of dealing with this feeling, encouraging healthy social connections.
