Have you ever felt lonely … even when submerged in a crowd of people?

As promised in my last blog Wired to Connect- “This Emotional Life” , I am going to continue to discuss topics from episode 1 of the three part series This Emotional Life. Last time I wrote about family, and the importance of attachment. We learn to relate and interact in our early years at home as children, but the thing is… our parents have to love us, others don’t. Scientists say that the reason we have such big brains is because they allow us to interact with each other, distinguish friends from enemies, and cooperate with large numbers of unrelated people.

Friends-

As children, our families are our world. As we grow that world expands and begins to include friends. Friends are good for us! In the “friends” segment of episode 1, we meet Jason a 29 year old male diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. Asperger’s Syndrome impairs ones ability to read others emotions, and causes people to learn about the world rather then how to function in the world. Functioning in a group atmosphere with large numbers of unrelated people is complicated for Jason because he cannot determine what is wanted from them, or what he needs to give to them. Jason stated that living with Asperger’s Syndrom is very frustrating because he cannot tell if people like him or not, causing him to be lonely due to the fact that he cannot relate.

All of us, at times, have had trouble making sense of the social world around us. Almost every species has it’s bully’s, and sadly humans are no exception. We are animals, and sometimes we choose conflict over cooperation, and dominance over diplomacy. At the end of the day we need to remember that we survive because we work together, we work effectively as a collective. No one deserves to live a lonely life, regardless if you suffer from a mental disorder or not. Understand that not everyone connects to the real world the way that you do.

“A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked.” – Bernard Meltzer

For more information about the importance of friends, please visit: This Emotional Life