The Link Between Loneliness and the Psychotic Spectrum

Loneliness can have a devastating effect on the average person. So, how does it affect people with psychosis? Find out here.

Written and verified by the psychologist Gorka Jiménez Pajares.

Last update: 27 April, 2023

Unwanted loneliness can leave us without hope. Those on the psychotic spectrum are even more susceptible to experiencing it. In fact, for these individuals, its effects can be heartbreaking.

Loneliness usually signifies isolation. It’s like a cruel pair of scissors that cuts the threads that connect us with other people, depriving us of everything that a solid circle of support can provide.

Unwanted solitude

Gabriel García Márquez said that “solitude, when unwanted, poisons the heart.” This could well be true. Indeed, loneliness is a public health problem in a good part of the planet, especially in the more developed countries. Moreover, despite its seriousness, it’s often ignored.

The effects of loneliness on the body and mind are disastrous (Luo et al., 2012). For instance, sufferers are more likely to experience depression, die prematurely, or develop symptoms on the psychotic spectrum.

As we mentioned earlier, individuals with psychotic disorders experience loneliness more severely. This is due to the fact that they often exhibit impoverished social structures because their social networks are ephemeral and scarce or even non-existent.

In fact, this is the bleak landscape that people on the psychotic spectrum (at least one percent of the world’s population) face on a daily basis. Evidence suggests that eight out of ten patients report this emotion (Lim et al., 2017). It’s a suffocating and desolate experience.

Social defeat

The social defeat hypothesis posits that social difficulties are a risk factor for people on the psychotic spectrum (Hawkley et al., 2010). Experts have also found associations between loneliness and the following elements (Lim et al., 2018):

• Paranoia.
• Negative symptoms.
• Negative beliefs about the world.

In the context of psychosis, feeling lonely is often related to positive symptoms. For example, hallucinations and delusions.  Researchers have studied the social media contacts (mainly family and friends) of these people. The results are quite sad.

It seems that individuals with psychosis who habitually and savagely experience loneliness, are likely to have friends who are also lonely. This suggests that loneliness is a ‘sticky’ emotion that attracts, like a magnet, other people who are its captives.

According to induction theory, loneliness acts as a ‘black hole’. It influences the level of loneliness of the individuals with whom the sufferer interacts, feeding back this emotion and increasing it (Cacciopo et al., 2009).

The impact of loneliness on the psychotic spectrum

In the psychotic context, the consequences of this devastating emotion are reproduced exponentially. In fact, there are many studies that have investigated this link. Today, we’re going to focus on a study conducted by Dr. Michelle H. Lim (2018). She states that:

• Loneliness is closely related to auditory hallucinations.
• It produces stigma. Patients report feeling less socially supported. Thus, they’re often perceived as incompetent.
• They feel extremely dissatisfied with life. This is due to the fact that they’re suffering psychotic symptoms as well as the hopelessness of loneliness.
• They frequently attend the hospital. Indeed, if they have little or no social network, they might think that the only resource left for them is to be cared for by health professionals.
• Loneliness multiplies the risk of suffering from a cocktail of clinical entities. For instance, depression and suicidal behaviors.
• When a sufferer perceives and knows that they have support and extensive networks of friends, their levels of well-being increase. Therefore, interventions focused on promoting the social universe of sufferers could prove interesting.
• As long as sufferers continue to experience high levels of loneliness, they’re unlikely to get better. Recovery is linked to large support networks. They have the potential to lessen an individual’s perception of loneliness.

Loneliness, anxiety, and the psychotic spectrum

In addition to the aforementioned depressive symptoms, there are more links. As a matter of fact, loneliness can be a vehicle that leads the sufferer of psychosis to experience high levels of anxiety. In turn, this is linked to paranoid delusions.

As we mentioned earlier, the effects of loneliness can be heartbreaking. As a matter of fact, they can even be devastating for individuals who aren’t on the spectrum. However, their pernicious effects multiply rapidly in those who are.

From society’s perspective, we must review the stigma given to sufferers.  Mental health professionals can help them via interventions that promote the generation of broad, rich, and functional social networks. In fact, these can put the brakes on loneliness and prevent it from intensifying and tormenting them.