Loneliness as an interdisciplinary problem

The article is devoted to the phenomenon of loneliness at the basis of domestic and foreign works analysis.. The interdisciplinary study of loneliness problem is carried out by researchers of various humanities: sociologists, philosophers, psychologists. However, in contrast to Western studies, in Russian psychology, there are not enough papers devoted to this problem. The authors examines and analyzes different points of view on the phenomenon of loneliness, including contemporary approaches, in particular, studies devoted to the state of loneliness. The reflection and explanation of the loneliness phenomenon, from the ancient period to our days are different: from the realization of its necessity to comprehending it as a negative phenomenon, and there is still no unified definition of this phenomenon. A review of the monographs and articles permits to conclude that Russian psychology focused on the state of loneliness primarily through the negative experience. The exception from this tendency may be found in the works of such authors as E.N. Osin and D.A. Leontiev: in these works loneliness defines as an integral part of human life. Such definition is rather close to the scientific view of the foreign researchers who practice existential approach. According to the opinion of many authors, contemporary Russian psychology has a lack of fundamental theoretical and empirical studies devoted to the state of loneliness. E.N. Osin and D.A. Leontiev stressed that it is necessary to develop scales for measuring of negative loneliness and positive solitude as well for the comprehensive study of this phenomenon. These authors developed a questionnaire aimed at studying positive loneliness for the first time in Russian psychology.