How to Deal With Loneliness

Loneliness is an unpleasant feeling due to social isolation. It usually occurs when our social needs aren’t adequately met by our relationships with others. It involves feelings of anxiety when you feel disconnected from other human beings or lack communication with them. Loneliness is more common than most people think. It could arise as a result of varying factors such as living alone, death of family members or close friends, fallout amongst peers, and chronic illnesses such as cancer.

How to Identify Loneliness

To deal with loneliness, you first have to recognize the signs associated with it and thus proceed with getting help or finding a way to handle it. 

Common signs of loneliness are:

• Spending a Lot of Time Alone. This could be one of the most obvious signs. You find that you may be nervous about initiating contact with other people and may need them to make the first move. 
• You Tend to Dwell on the Negatives. Sharing your problems often reduces their load and being lonely without anyone to share them with causes a buildup of frustration that presents mostly the negative view of life. 
• Lack of Restful Sleep. Through research, loneliness has been discovered to cause interrupted sleep. If you find yourself waking a number of times after going to bed, it could be a sign that it’s time for rehab treatment in Los Angeles.
• You Spend More Time and Effort on Your Social Media Than in Real Interactions with people. The need for validation from people you probably haven’t met is an indication of feelings of social isolation.
• You Value Material Possessions a Lot. Attaching a lot of importance to material things out of the blue may be a sign that you are feeling lonely. 

Effects of Loneliness

As harmless as loneliness may seem, it has quite serious physical and mental effects that may need you to seek help from rehab treatment in Los Angeles.

1. Loneliness Can Lead to Depression. Without anyone to talk to or share experiences with, it is easier to entertain depressing and dark thoughts. 
2. Drug and Alcohol Addiction Could Also Be the Effects of Loneliness. You may try to use drugs or alcohol in place of human interaction to suppress the feelings of loneliness. It may also be a way to escape your bleak reality for a while only to come crashing back when the high wears off. Once you realize this has been happening to you, it is time to contact drug rehab in Los Angeles.
3. Your Chances of Developing Cardiovascular Diseases Will Go Up. Studies show that loneliness and social isolation could put you at risk of getting a stroke or contracting coronary heart disease. 
4. It Makes Handling Stress More Difficult. Tackling the stresses of everyday life can prove more taxing when you are at it alone without the help of others. ‘No man is an island’ the saying goes.
5. Loneliness Can Make You More Vulnerable to Flu Symptoms. Research shows that people who are lonelier tend to exhibit more severe symptoms when exposed to the common cold virus than the average non-lonely person.

How to Cope With Loneliness

Coping with loneliness may seem hard, and you may wonder where to start, but some simple steps, when put into practice, may prove useful. 

Awareness is an important step in combating loneliness. This is where you pay attention to yourself, how your body feels, how you react, and your emotions. This is very important since, in this way, you can identify where these feelings stem from and can move on to find a way to deal with it.

Acceptance is where you acknowledge your loneliness and come to terms with it. It is only after acceptance that you can look for help or come up with methods to cope with it. Compassion is the next step where you give yourself a break, surround yourself with people who support you, and realize that many other people are going through the same thing as you are.

The most effective way to deal with loneliness is to meet new people. One never really has all the friends they will need; this is one of the areas there is no limit. 

Some ways you can meet new people are:

1. Joining a Class. You can sign up for a course in art, dancing, pottery even exercises at a nearby college. This will serve in giving you a new hobby or expanding your interests, and you also get to meet new people.
2. Volunteer at an Orphanage or a Home for the Elderly and experience what it means to give back to society. This allows you to make a meaningful impact in other people’s lives and still be part of a group.
3. You Can Also Find Support Online. A lot of people go through loneliness, and using social networks as a platform to create awareness and help each other through it is an excellent way to alleviate loneliness.

Animals provide a lot of comfort and support, so getting a pet is not such a bad idea after all. They may be a handful sometimes, but the support they provide is worth it. Getting help from rehabilitation centers is a very effective way of dealing with loneliness.

Getting Help from The Detox Center of Los Angeles

The Detox Center of Los Angeles is a top-rated Drug and Alcohol inpatient 24/7 and outpatient rehab in Los Angeles, California. At The Detox Center of Los Angeles, we dedicate our time and skills to addressing all of your needs. 

Our team of qualified therapists is devoted to finding the root cause of your loneliness and developing methods customized just for you to tackle it sufficiently. We employ strategies that allow you to take on a little at a time, making the recovery process gradual, thus enabling you to adjust comfortably without unnecessary difficulty. 

We provide both inpatient and outpatient services. Our inpatient program gives around-the-clock care to clients with more addictive severe orders, while our outpatient program can easily be incorporated into your everyday life. This grants you the freedom to attend to your other responsibilities, such as work and school comfortably.

Conclusion

Loneliness is a negative feeling of anxiety based on social isolation. Common signs of loneliness are; lack of restful sleep, spending a lot of time alone, a pessimistic approach to life, and materialism, to name but a few. 

The effects of loneliness are both physical and mental, some of which is an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases, depression, and drug and alcohol addiction. You can cope with loneliness through awareness, acceptance, exercising compassion towards yourself, meeting new people, and seeking help from rehabilitation centers such as The Detox Center of Los Angeles.

Here at The Detox Center of Los Angeles, we provide you with the support you need to beat loneliness and lead a positive life finally. Our group of qualified personnel strives to establish the causes of your aloneness and come up with tailor-made solutions that work for you.

Our therapies help you open up to others and build a working social structure for your life. Reach out to us today to find out how we can help you overcome loneliness.