Do you feel alone amongst friends and family and separate from the world? You could be experiencing existential loneliness

Existential loneliness is distinct from social isolation — it is a feeling characterised by the awareness that we are fundamentally alone in the world, regardless of how many familial or social relationships we have. Researchers are gradually beginning to understand more about this type of loneliness and how to address it

We can be prone to feeling existential loneliness during times of transition. Photo: Getty

Niamh Jiménez

‘From birth to the end of life, we have this strong drive for social connection. So, it can be troubling, naturally, to feel like you are disconnected from others and you might never be able to form a true connection,” says Phoebe McKenna-Plumley, a psychologist at Queen’s University, Belfast.

For some time, McKenna-Plumley has been interested in a form of loneliness that has captivated philosophers for almost a century but continues to baffle scientists. Seeming to surface randomly and with little regard for the size of a person’s social network, “existential loneliness” remains difficult to characterise precisely because it defies our traditional understanding.