Loneliness & Friendship
These articles on loneliness and friendship highlight the value of platonic connection in a culture that too often favors self-sufficiency or couplehood. They explore strategies for supporting people struggling to make connections, giving friendship its proper due in clinical work, and acknowledging the difference between being "alone" and being lonely. The stories here offer narratives and reflections on the loneliness epidemic, defining friendships, and other sources of belonging. Broaden your understanding of the role of friendships in your clients' lives and learn to help them seek and build these platonic connections.
Facing the Challenges of Platonic Love
What Therapists Should Stop Ignoring about Friendship
Making friends isn’t easy. But amid unprecedented levels of anxiety, depression, and trauma, and in the middle of what the Department of Health and Human... Read more
In "Close," director Lukas Dhont illustrates what can happen when society squashes the beautiful, empathic relationships that come naturally to boys. Read more
Watch this interview with Mark Greene about why male friendships seem so difficult for men to get and how therapists can help. Read more
There are no formalized rituals, rules, or obligations to ground or support a friendship. Should therapists change that? Read more
Grown men don’t say things like “I’ve got nobody to play with.” Or do they? A journalist explores what therapists are seeing across the country: the... Read more
Navigating the potential discomfort of opening ourselves up to others is a skill we all have to learn through trial and error. Read more
By asking the right questions in therapy, we can help make the road to adulthood less lonely for high school and college-age kids. Read more
A nightmare camping trip exposes the limits—and possibilities—of male bonding. Read more
Author and researcher Bella DePaulo says it’s time to start seeing the growing population of single adults as something more than just people unable to find... Read more
A man learns shocking news via Facebook about an old flame, which brings back romantic memories of his youth. Read more
High lonesome is a type of music in the bluegrass tradition that captures the mood of isolation many people feel today, as we turn away from one another and... Read more
More than any other positive emotion, love resides within connections. It extends beyond personal boundaries to characterize the vibe that pulsates between and... Read more
In Emotional First Aid, Manhattan psychologist Guy Winch provides an instructional manual for handling the bumps and bruises of life. Read more
A young woman who's on her own for the first time discovers the difference between being alone and being lonely. Read more
We're pairing up later, splitting up faster, remarrying less often and increasingly deciding to avoid the whole quagmire by staying permanently single. In... Read more
Cutting through the isolation of our self-declared tribes Read more
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