n. The fear of being alone. Amplified by separation from one's parent(s) at a young age, and/or being left alone at a young age for extended periods of time, solophobia is a powerful, instinctual, primal aversion to loneliness, which inspires action without thought. Solophobes seek contact with others at all times, potentially to unhealthy extents. Often immediately indistinguishable from gregariousness, solophobia differs in that it is caused by the desire to avoid negative feelings rather than a desire to seek
positive feelings. While it is possible for a solophobe to experience
positive feelings as an indirect result of acting on their fear, the root motivation remains the avoidance of negative feelings.
Multiple solophobes, in common company, run the risk of long periods of inaction, locked into the avoidance of negative feelings, but unable to seek positivity. A romantic bond between two undiagnosed solophobes is
one of the most powerful interpersonal bonds known to pseudo-psychology.
Solophobia is
distinguished from the seemingly similar "autophobia," where auto = self, and phobia = fear. Theoretically, feelings caused by autophobia would remain in the presence of others, but feelings caused by solophobia would temporarily evaporate in the presence of others. The difference between fearing one's self and fearing solitude necessitates the creation of the word Solophobia.
"In hindsight, I realize that my solophobia was the cause of my compulsion to put off my homework to hang out with my
neighbors in college, who bored me anyway."
"My dog will scratch at the door to go outside to pee, but when I close the door behind her, her solophobia takes over and she
immediately wants back inside, rendering her unable to pee. Dilemma."
"I think I might need to move, my neighbor keeps solophobily
trying to hang out, and he smells like hot garbage."
