Living alone?

['Abd-al Latif]

:salamext:

What kind of psychological effects can a person suffer from if he lives alone?

This could be anybody such as people in prison, an orphan, or even a person living alone in an apartment etc.

 

[Ummu Sufyaan]

:wasalamex
i dont think it necessarily has to do with living alone per se, but rather the interaction one has with others.
so if one lives alone and doesn't socialize and see anybody, then yes i think that could be problematic as it could lead to social anxiety disorders where one feels scared and intimidated of people and has trouble socializing and communicating with them.

 

['Abd-al Latif]

:wasalamex
i dont think it necessarily has to do with living alone per se, but rather the interaction one has with others.
so if one lives alone and doesn't socialize and see anybody, then yes i think that could be problematic as it could lead to social anxiety disorders where one feels scared and intimidated of people and has trouble socializing and communicating with them.

Yeah, the socializing part was what I meant since prisoners don't really have anybody visiting them apart from maybe their spouses or close friends, if that.

What kind of effects can this have on the mind of an individual?

 

[Ummu Sufyaan]

What kind of effects can this have on the mind of an individual?

just note, im not a psychologist or anything but these are my random thoughts.

i think it'll affect a persons psychology in that it'll make a person notice things about themselves that weren't there and that would really affect their mental well being as a result. for example (i know this may seen far fetched )sometimes weird thoughts and opinions about ourselves may creep up upon us if we have too much time on our hands. its like when you have nothing to do and suddenly you find yourself cleaning the house even though it may be already clean.

so, an indiviual in isolation may notice, or more like image negative aspects about them, that weren't there to begin with, due to the fact that they have nothing else to do to preoccupy themselves with.

imagine that you had nobody to talk to and are in isolation. the next best thing would be to talk to yourself, right? the human mind works 24/7! and in isolation it wont be any different. the only difference will be is the way these thoughts, emotions and feelings are expressed and manifested.

but sometimes being alone is the best though as it will awaken your soul to do more ibaadah...

Social isolation is the pervasive withdrawal or avoidance of social contact or communication. It can contribute toward many emotional, behavioural and physical disorders including anxiety, panic attacks, eating disorders, addictions, substance abuse, violent behaviour and overall disease.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_isolation

for more info, just type in "isolation+psychological affects"into google.

 

[Somaiyah]

Salam,
I am living alone in an apartment...or well I have my hamster as a company And since I talk to this hamster as if he was a real person everyday I guess I must suffer from some serious psychological problems... Otherwise it goes great, I live alone because I am studying far away from where my parents live. I had no option. Besides I am 19 years and it goes great, my sister lives in another apartment 1 minute away from me so if we need eachother we're close. But so far everything goes fine and it's easy to live alone. I have more freedom alone since my family aren't Muslims...

 

[cat eyes]

Salam,
I am living alone in an apartment...or well I have my hamster as a company And since I talk to this hamster as if he was a real person everyday I guess I must suffer from some serious psychological problems... Otherwise it goes great, I live alone because I am studying far away from where my parents live. I had no option. Besides I am 19 years and it goes great, my sister lives in another apartment 1 minute away from me so if we need eachother we're close. But so far everything goes fine and it's easy to live alone. I have more freedom alone since my family aren't Muslims...

lol but your lucky you have your sis living near Alhamdulilah not every1 is that lucky and also its your age. its when you get older thats when it really scares a person when they come into your twenties you will see yourself, for some reason it has an effect in human. i mean you can go and see your friends when there free but at the end of the day your coming home to an empty house :'( its scary feeling.

 

[Salahudeen]

it ain't nice waking up and not seeing any1s face or talking to some 1, till you go out. When your living with family you can moan at them to hurry up in the bathroom lol.

 

['Abd-al Latif]

Interesting.

But doesn't living alone ever give you the time to contemplate over the feeling that you're missing something in your life? A feeling incompleteness perhaps?

 

[obedient-muslim]

I would love to live alone and experience atleast once how does it feel like but I am sure after a while I'll be packing my goods to go back home due to the loneliness.

 

[alcurad]

if for too long, permanent mental damage, if not for too long, the usual ie. depression etc.

 

[Ummu Sufyaan]

Interesting.

But doesn't living alone ever give you the time to contemplate over the feeling that you're missing something in your life? A feeling incompleteness perhaps?

i think it would depend on the person and what (if anything) he/she would preoccupy themselves with. i mean if you have nothing to do, then yes you probably would feel that something is missing.

 

[Somaiyah]

lol but your lucky you have your sis living near Alhamdulilah not every1 is that lucky and also its your age. its when you get older thats when it really scares a person when they come into your twenties you will see yourself, for some reason it has an effect in human. i mean you can go and see your friends when there free but at the end of the day your coming home to an empty house :'( its scary feeling.

Sure sometimes I feel very lonely, but when I have been out all day at university and in the city or seeing people, it feels great to come home to a totally quite and empty place and just be alone. That's how I see it. At the same time I am not against marriage lol, but it would affect the studies I believe. What I mean is simply that there are positive and negative sides of both living alone and not living alone. In a couple of years sure I don't want to live alone anymore.

 

['Abd-al Latif]

Sure sometimes I feel very lonely..

Could you describe why this is?

 

[Somaiyah]

Could you describe why this is?

It's not always funny to have nobody to speak to if something had happened who can't answer you or give advices. Or nobody to cheer you up if you're down or nobody to do funny things with if you're bored. Another person can often help you if something happened or if you're down or bored, but when you're alone you have to deal with everything yourself and just try to be positive anyway. And for me I have some special private problems the past month because I am a convert which I don't really want to tell, but when some things happen all I have is Allah (swt) to talk to or Internet to be on. But sometimes you need contact with a human being who can talk to you back for real and not on Internet.

 

[transition?]

There was literary work called the "Necessity of Loneliness." by Gao, translated into English. I feel like we need loneliness to an extent.

That sense of incompleteness, the sense of missing something or someone, the sense of not belonging.....
isn't that what this Dunya is about? The world around isn't the perfect place for us, our final destination is the Jannah (InshaAllah). That when we're alone, we realize what we do have.... Allah (swt). Allah Alone Suffices us. There are good and bad things about the dunya and we will come in contact with the bad things, but we can overcome it, by faith, because we never are alone. We always have Allah (swt).

 

['Abd-al Latif]

Interesting masha'Allah.

So heres a big question. Can human beings live alone and do we really need each other to survive?

 

[Salahudeen]

^I think I'd start talking to myself and having conversations with myself, "how are you today squiggle?" "I am well how are you" LOL talking is a great stress relief for me.

 

[ژاله]

i would love to live alone for a while if i get a chance, but not for too long like a year or so, that would make me nuts.

 

[Somaiyah]

^I think I'd start talking to myself and having conversations with myself, "how are you today squiggle?" "I am well how are you" LOL talking is a great stress relief for me.

Yeah I do that from time to time, and I have just lived alone for one month :statisfie

 

[transition?]

Interesting masha'Allah.

So heres a big question. Can human beings live alone and do we really need each other to survive?

To certain extent we do depend on this dunya to survive. Islam's purpose is in a way to balance this dunya and the Hereafter. Muslims, in fact, are meant create a civilization, a caliphate, on Earth.


It reminds me of Maslow's hierarchy of needs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mazlow's_Hierarchy_of_Needs.svg

But in Islam, when we are lacking in something, we depend on Allah (swt). At moments of imbalance, we keep our "self actualization" or faith(dependence on Allah (swt)) and then we have sabr until Allah creates ease after our hardship.