Department of Anthropology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
Transcult Psychiatry. 2020 Oct;57(5):613-622. doi: 10.1177/1363461520961627.
Loneliness, which is increasingly recognized as a public health concern, is not just a matter of individual psychology or cognition, but inherently social, cultural, and relational. It is an affective, subjective, and intersubjective reality, distinct from the physical reality of social isolation. This introduction to the thematic issues of argues that the social and cultural nature of loneliness is an important area of study that requires interdisciplinary approaches and can particularly benefit from ethnography. Contributors explore concepts and expressions of loneliness in Japan, Kenya, Mexico, North Africa, Palestine, Russia, and the US. Cross-cutting themes include the importance of cultural expectations, practice, place, and recognition in the experience of loneliness. Loneliness is a culturally shaped experience that is problematized and medicalized across cultures, but it may also be fundamental to the human condition.
孤独感日益被视为公共卫生关注的一个问题，它不仅仅是个人心理或认知的问题，而是内在的社会性、文化性和关系性的问题。它是一种情感、主观和主体间的现实，与社会隔离的物理现实不同。本文旨在介绍 的主题问题，认为孤独的社会性和文化性是一个重要的研究领域，需要跨学科的方法，尤其可以从民族志中受益。各章节的作者探讨了日本、肯尼亚、墨西哥、北非、巴勒斯坦、俄罗斯和美国的孤独感概念和表达。贯穿全文的主题包括孤独感体验中文化期望、实践、地点和认同的重要性。孤独感是一种文化塑造的体验，在不同文化中被问题化和医学化，但它也可能是人类状况的基础。
