There's a specific kind of loneliness that only hits people who are surrounded by others but known by none of them - Silicon Canals

"Existential isolation is the recognition that no matter how close you get to another human being, there remains a gap between your inner experience and theirs that can never be fully bridged. Psychologist Irvin Yalom wrote about it extensively - this sense that we each enter the world alone and leave it alone, and that even in our most intimate moments, we are fundamentally separate."

"A 2020 study published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin found that existential isolation was a significant predictor of depression and anxiety - even when controlling for social and emotional loneliness. In other words, you can have friends, a partner, a full calendar, and still feel profoundly unknown."

Existential isolation describes a specific form of loneliness that occurs not from being alone, but from being surrounded by people while feeling fundamentally unknowable. This psychological concept, distinct from social or emotional isolation, reflects the unbridgeable gap between one's inner experience and that of others. Psychologist Irvin Yalom extensively documented this phenomenon—the recognition that humans enter and leave the world alone and remain fundamentally separate even in intimate moments. Research from 2020 demonstrates that existential isolation significantly predicts depression and anxiety, even when controlling for social and emotional loneliness. People can maintain full social calendars, close relationships, and active engagement while experiencing profound feelings of being unknown, revealing that social presence does not guarantee psychological connection.

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