Enjoy being alone? Solitude may be your secret strength; here’s what research reveals about its effect on mental health

Many claim that being alone, when chosen, can support mental clarity. It may also boost independence and emotional strength. But, is it proven by scientific study? Let’s see.

Check this 2018 report, Solitude as an Approach to Affective Self-Regulation, by Thuy-vy T. Nguyen, Richard M. Ryan and Edward L. Deci.

This research found that being alone usually calms people down by lowering both strong positive and negative feelings. In Study 1, this calming effect only happened when people were alone, not when with others.

Study 2 showed that this effect remained even if people were doing something like reading. Study 3 found that if people focused on happy thoughts or chose what to think about, their good feelings didn’t drop.

In Study 4, people who chose to be alone felt more relaxed and less stressed.

Check the complete study.

Then comes Solitude can be good—If you see it as such by Micaela Rodriguez in 2023.

The study looked at how people feel when they are alone, especially those who often feel lonely. Solitude can bring good feelings like peace but also bad ones like sadness, it found.

Researchers tested whether changing how people think about being alone can help. They asked 224 lonely people to read either about the benefits of solitude, how common loneliness is or something unrelated.

Then, participants sat alone for 10 minutes. Results showed that being alone made people feel calmer but less excited or anxious.

Those who read about the benefits of solitude felt more relaxed than others. The study suggests that viewing solitude in a positive way can help lonely people feel better and improve their emotional well-being.

In 2023, researcher Netta Weinstein spoke about feeling lonely while being surrounded by people.

“We can also feel lonely when we’re with other people. So actually, if you think about the emotion of loneliness, negative emotion, it signals that we’re disconnected. It’s not something that’s unique to solitude, it’s something that can happen whether or not we’re with people,” she told American Psychological Association.

According to Weinstein, solitude is as emotionally complex as social interactions. It can bring calm or discomfort, depending on how we think and feel during those moments.

Like relationships, our mindset and actions shape whether solitude feels peaceful, fulfilling or challenging, she added.

Emma Watson on being lonely

Emma Watson, the actress known for her role in the Harry Potter films, called herself “self-partnered” in a 2019 interview with British Vogue.

Later, in December 2023, she explained that her previous remark wasn’t just about being single.

“Getting to the point when I was 30, I was realising, ‘Oh, maybe I’ve figured out some things about how to care for myself better – maybe quite well, actually.’ And taking pride in that,” she said.