Alarmed Aloneness can be seen as an experience wherein there is a felt sense of being shut-off, shut-down, or shut-out without seeming rhyme or reason. This is a felt sense of confusion (lostness) wherein an intense distress occurs alongside a sense of being alone (abandoned or rejected) and without the capacity to make sense of the experience.
Rarely identified, due to westernised ideals of independence and the notion that the regulation of our affective states is an individual responsibility, alarmed aloneness is the term coined by Sarah Peyton to identify states of FEAR-RAGE-PANIC-GRIEF that have not been met with CARE. Such are states of deep anguish wherein a need for connection and protection arises. This innately instigating a SEEKING toward another and the assurance of an emotional experience of warmth and contingent communication (resonant CARE). Without such CARE, alarmed aloneness may ensue potentiating continued feelings of isolation and loneliness.
Importantly this highlights the biological imperative for strong social connections and support from trusted others that continually meet us with presence, acceptance, resonance, and above all dignity in our innate worth.
