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Nicolene Joubert (South Africa)
Existential Isolation, Prayer Prof. dr, Nico-
lene
Joubert
and Attachment to God is a psycholo-
gist and has
been in private
practice for 37
Existential Isolation (EI) is described as the “un- years in South
bridgeable gap between oneself and any other Africa. She is
human being” (Yalom, 1980). It means that it the founder of
is impossible to truly share subjective experi- the Institute
ences with others. The degree to which people of Christian Psychology in South Africa
feel alone varies and impacts a person’s sense of (www.icp.org.za) and she serves on seve-
meaning in life. This type of isolation correlates ral boards that promote the development
with social isolation, but it is distinct from that of Christian psychology and counseling.
and should be explored as a separate construct. She is an associate professor of Christian
Thus, EI differs from interpersonal isolation and Psychology and Counseling at Houston
the need to belong or the experience of loneli- Baptist University, Houston, TX, whe-
ness. re she is involved with the development

of two master’s degrees, one in Christian
Yalom (1980) distinguishes three forms of iso- Psychology and the other in Christian
lation, i.e. interpersonal (social), intrapersonal, Counseling. Her research interests are in
and existential. Interpersonal isolation refers to the fields of Christian psychotherapy and
and stems from a lack of social contacts. Intra- how this approach leads to the recovery
personal isolation refers to isolated aspects in of mental illnesses and promotes and su-
one’s own psyche. This type of isolation will be stains mental health. She has worked in
expressed through indecisiveness, being usure the fields of trauma counseling and the
about one’s own wishes and desires (Pinel, Long, treatment of dissociative disorders for
Murdoch and Helm, 2017). It is known that so- many years and find the journey with cli-
cial isolation lead to mental health issues, such ents to a place of healing very fulfilling.
as a drop in mental well-being and an increase
in hostile cognitions and aggression (Pinel, et al. joubertnicolene7@gmail.com
2017). Social isolation also predicts suicide at-
tempts and correlates with depression. Former contributions in our eJournal

by Nicolene you can see here:
Yalom (1980) asserts that EI is expressed in a http://emcapp.ignis.de/8/#p=50
realisation that each of us enters existence alone https://emcapp.ignis.de/9/#p=22
and must depart from it alone. He asserts that it
is the reality of the human condition. The tensi-
on that arises is between our “awareness of our
absolute isolation and our wish to be part of a Recent research examined how existential iso-
larger whole” (Pinel, et al. 2017:55). The degree lation (EI) relates to attachment orientations
to which people feel alone and experience EI va- (Helm, et al., 2020). Attachment orientations
ries. Individuals that experience a high degree stem from basic trust that develops in early
of EI is impacted psychologically as it increases childhood years. A secure attachment orienta-
the feeling of social isolation. It affects a person’s tion is developed when the primary caregiver
sense of meaning in life negatively. Furthermore, provides warm, consistent and sensitive care to
a high degree of EI increases death thought ac- the infant. The avoidant attachment orientation
cessibility, which means it is easier for people to develops when the primary caregiver behaves in
think about death and presents a risk for depres- such a way that the infant/child feels rejected or
sion and suicide and threatens mental health. they give the message that they are unavailable.

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