Loneliness Experienced by People with Chemical Addiction: its Characteristics

Abstract

Nowadays, people can feel completely lonely, even being in different forms of relationships. The article uses the principles and categories of a systemic approach to view loneliness as the only system whose integrity is ensured by the fact that the experience of loneliness depends on the interaction of psychological components (emotional, behavioural, motivational-volitional). Feeling constant pressure of negative feelings, related to loneliness, one can depart from reality by taking various narcotic substances, which is very common today. Psychological methods were used to study psychological components of loneliness experience among people with chemical addiction. Importantly, the article should solve the following applied tasks: to analyze structural elements of loneliness experience among people with chemical addiction; to describe the internal structure of loneliness experience among people with chemical addiction. A detailed analysis of the obtained data has proved the importance of emotional-axiological and behavioural components of loneliness experience among people with chemical addiction. Their perception of such an experience is associated with a lack of close relationships and good communication skills, so they tend to be alone. Furthermore, the obtained results suggest that the prevailing dissociated type of loneliness among people with chemical addiction is caused by one’s feeling of loneliness, alienation and, thus, anxiety.