ABSTRACT
This chapter examines existential perspectives on loneliness and relatedness in psychotherapy, psychoanalysis and philosophy. Loneliness is understood as a basic facet of life that is best understood in light of interpersonal existence. The works of Sullivan and Fromm-Reichmann are explored alongside the ideas of Binswanger, Buber and a variety of existential philosophers. Two traditions within the existential cannon are compared: one that emphasizes human separateness and the other that emphasizes human relatedness. The author suggests that neither loneliness nor relatedness can be defined in exclusion from the other. The sense of being alone and the sense of being in love are inherently related. Only thus is it possible to appreciate the range of human experience that necessarily includes the abiding nature of loneliness along with the longing for love.
