The meaning of "loneliness" for traumatized veterans: A semiotic investigation of veterans' written narratives

Loneliness may be a pertinent problem for veterans in the often-traumatic aftermath of war, and while the qualitative nature of this loneliness bears clinical significance, it remains largely uninvestigated. Specifically, while a sole qualitative study suggests that veterans’ loneliness revolves around the notion of being alone with their experiences (i.e., experiential loneliness), no current study examined what “loneliness” as a signifier may mean from the veteran’s perspective. To fill this gap, in the current semiotic investigation, published books written by veterans were located and scrutinized for the terms “lonely,” “loneliness,” “alone,” and “aloneness.” The meanings of these terms were derived from the narrative contexts in which they appeared. Four books were found suitable for the current investigation. Analysis confirmed the validity of the experiential loneliness construct and yielded a stratified experience with multiple nuanced meanings: a) being the only one who feels in a certain way, b) not being understood, c) being unable to communicate the experience, d) having the experience concealed or invisible to others, e) feeling alien and homeless in a civilian world, and f) being alone in coping. Underscoring the difference between the experiences of loneliness revealed in the analysis and other types of loneliness, findings are discussed in the context of clinical and societal implications.