CASE STUDY

Case Study

Case Study

The behavior of Jim is not normal thus it is classified into abnormal behavior. Jim wants to be lonely and out of the social circles of life. From the case study it is proven that the behavior of Jim is making other people comfortable in the social circle. Jim doe not visit his parent or family and that is the major reason behind this abnormal behavior.

Despite general agreement over its definition, loneliness is conceived in a number of ways. One theory of loneliness holds that deficiencies in specific provisions of social relationships contribute to specific types of lonely feelings. For instance, lack of engagement in a social network is associated with feelings of social loneliness such as aimlessness, boredom, and exclusion. On the other hand, absence of a reliable attachment figure (e.g., spouse) is associated with feelings of emotional loneliness such as anxiety, desolation, and insecurity. More recent studies have shown that these types of lonely feelings are not uniquely associated with certain relationships, however (Boomsma, 2005).

Marriage, for example, serves a broad social integrative function that diminishes feelings of both social and emotional loneliness, especially for women. Another theory holds that loneliness arises from social skill deficits and personality traits that impair the formation and maintenance of social relationships (Brewer, 1996). Social skills research has shown that loneliness is associated with more self-focus, poorer partner attention skills, a lack of self-disclosure to friends, especially among females, and less participation in organized groups, especially among males. Personality research has shown that loneliness is associated with shyness, neuroticism, and depressive symptoms, as well as low self-esteem, pessimism, low conscientiousness, and disagreeableness.

Associations among these characteristics have sometimes led to conceptual confusion between loneliness and depressed affect, poor social support, introversion, and/or neuroticism. Research indicates, however, that loneliness, although related, is independent of these characteristics both conceptually and operationally (i.e., the measurement tools for each of these characteristics are relatively specific for the corresponding traits).

Moreover, the effects of loneliness on physical health and physiology are generally not explained by the behavioral and personality characteristics with which loneliness is associated, indicating that loneliness may be a unique psychosocial risk factor whose effects are distinguishable from some combination of poor social support, depression, and personality traits (Cacioppo, 2006).

Loneliness is aversive, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. An evolutionary conceptualization of loneliness holds that the aversive feelings are ...