Being lonely hurts — it can even negatively impact your health. But the mere act of being alone with oneself doesn’t have to be bad, and experts say it can even benefit your social relationships, improve your creativity and confidence, and help you regulate your emotions so that you can better deal with adverse situations.
Dr. Robert Coplan was recently interviewed by the New York Times to discuss his research into Solitude and Social Withdrawal.
“Historically, solitude has had a pretty bad rap” because it is sometimes used as a form of punishment, said Robert Coplan, a developmental psychologist and professor of psychology at Carleton University.
The problem is that we forget solitude can also be a choice — and it doesn’t have to be full time. Because there is so much research demonstrating that humans are social creatures who benefit from interacting with others, “people will try to dismiss that it’s also important to spend time alone,” he said. “It’s hard for them to imagine that you can have both.”
A reminder that Dr. Coplan will be giving a talk this Thursday as part of the Department of Psychology’s Proseminar/Colloquium Series.
“Shyness in Childhood: From Etiology to Intervention”
Read the article by Micaela Marini Higgs via the link below