Surviving and coping with loneliness

Content analysis of 526 verbatim reports of loneliness revealed both helpful and nonhelpful coping strategies. The helpful strategies were grouped into three clusters that represent three distinct phases of the coping process. Eleven factors were subsumed under the three clusters. Four additional factors comprised the cluster of destructive and nonbeneficial coping strategies. The present study highlights the complexity and variety of coping strategies as well as the frequency with which they are used and their utility in helping people to survive loneliness and alienation.