Ben Lazare Mijuskovic, PhD., LCSW possesses the rare interdisciplinary pedigree which empowers him to speak to both academic and practical concerns. With advanced degrees in philosophy and literature, Mijuskovic examines numerous aspects of loneliness in his sweeping study, Feeling Lonesome: The Philosophy and Psychology of Loneliness. His three decades as a licenced therapist grounds his arguments in practical, clinical experience. Mijuskovic has observed loneliness at play in children, adolescents, and adults in psychiatric hospitals, medical hospitals, state institutions and mental health facilities. Feeling Lonesome encapsulates his lifelong study and extends a rich philosophical exploration of rationalism and of phenomenology in order to caution practitioners about the dangers of empirical, behavioural, and cognitive approaches to mental health. Mijuskovic’s work serves as a mediator between two academic communities and deserves careful attention from both philosophical and psychological audiences.
Feeling Lonesome opens with a brief chapter on historical and conceptual foundations to assert loneliness is an a priori state of existence rooted in the nature of self-reflexivity which must be transcended through life in community only after it is experienced, recognized and confronted. Loneliness emerges concurrent to the infant’s conscious development as her alienation from other objects and from her mother eventuate in self-identification as an isolated being in the world. Mijuskovic’s preference for philosophical first principles permits him to correlate metaphysical dualism, subjective idealist consciousness, and loneliness throughout his study. Loneliness resolves both the ‘what’ of philosophical consciousness and the ‘how’ of psychological phenomenology. The strict disciplinarian will surely protest this foundational premise, but Mijuskovic challenges readers to step outside conventional disciplinary boundaries to see the practical ramifications of theoretical assertions.
Chapters Two through Four tackle philosophical dimensions of Mijuskovic’s theory of loneliness including self-consciousness, reflexivity, intentionality, transcendence, and phenomenology. These chapters present an historical approach to loneliness within a philosophical framework developed over 40 years of academic inquiry and publishing. Mijuskovic examines Plato’s perspective on the nature of thought in Theaetetus as an essential, self-reflexive, and self-contained activity of an immaterial substance—the Greek soul or the contemporary self (19). Mijuskovic examines cases where this thread emerges and broadens in Aristotle, Plotinus, St. Augustine, Descartes, Leibnitz, Berkeley, Kant, and Husserl. Mijuskovic’s philosophical examination argues an immaterial, identifiable, self-conscious, and intentional mind which experiences self-reflexivity as a natural consequence. He claims loneliness is not a disease to be remedied, but an existential reality expounded by a rich philosophical tradition which has been under attack by academicians and mental health practitioners alike. The first half of Feeling Lonesome offers a dense yet streamlined survey of the history of rationalism / idealism. Mijuskovic challenges his reader to examine how these philosophical claims hold serious ramifications and possibilities as corrective measures to the overly materialistic, behaviourist paradigm in contemporary psychiatric practices in the second half of the work.
In Chapters Five through Eight, Mijuskovic moves from philosophy to psychology, from the mind to the self. He primarily addresses the practitioner in this half; however, philosophically-inclined readers will better understand the praxis of philosophy of mind in psychiatric and psychological arenas. Mijuskovic appeals frequently to Hegel, Husserl, and Wittgenstein in order to correlate idealist, phenomenological or analytic concepts with psychological parallels, and he always tries to engage both audiences to keep mutual interest and to inform both parties of possible conceptual bridges.
Chapter five features his “umbrella concept” in which loneliness exists as an emotional and cognitive experience akin to Husserl’s “free imaginative variation” (123). At this point, Mijuskovic grounds loneliness as a philosophical and psychological state which cannot be remedied but recognized, accepted and appreciated. The practical concerns of how to cope with this realization follow in the closing chapters.
Chapters Six and Seven expose weaknesses in behavioural and cognitive psychological assumptions through discussions of language, the unconscious and the subconscious. Mijuskovic concurs with Husserlian phenomenology of language which follows consciousness: “there is a genuinely private sphere of privileged access within the ego, a hidden entry into one’s own thoughts … the primary residence of loneliness” (136). Identifying disorders in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Psychiatric Disorders improperly assumes empirical evidence and linguistic certainty, both errors given the nature of language and our inescapable egoic isolation. Mijuskovic appeals to Kant, Leibnitz, Hegel, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche in his lengthy discussion on the unconscious to contend, “the individual subconscious will forever remain latent and submerged but active, unrecognized and powerful, while its manifest surface appearances will be familiar, all-too familiar in nightmares and madness” (163). His treatment of literary examples in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and in William Golding’s Pincher Martin rounds out the exploration. Unconscious loneliness is shown to be irrational, ineffable and illogical.
The final chapter addresses several therapeutic practices, drawing out the practical implications of his philosophical explorations. It utilizes cognitive and motivational approaches which he finds a healthier and philosophically justifiable alternative to behavioural and medicinal therapies. Mijuskovic recommends relatively simple, affordable acts, such as establishing friendships, religious practice, and exercise. He sees cultivation of belonging as a natural remedy to existential loneliness. Social bonds enable individuals to empathize, build trust, and turn outward (as opposed to narcissistic obsession with one’s own loneliness). Such alternative measures are preferable to oft abused medicinal treatments.
Feeling Lonesome is a must read for anyone interested in philosophy of mind, philosophical psychology, or loneliness. It touches upon our most private selves, our insularity, and our innermost existence in a uniquely interdisciplinary perspective. Mijuskovic encapsulates a life of rich philosophical investigation while tempering his narrative with therapeutic practicality.
