This is when a character just can't seem to bear the thought of being left alone under any circumstances. Whether it be from a Friendless Background or a belief that Loners Are Freaks, he or she may frequently want to be assured they are not alone by others, such as by seeking out company the moment they realize they're by themselves. Ironically, these characters still tend to lack friends for some reason or feel the effects of solitude despite all their efforts not to. Since they are not usually isolated by choice, they will often hate Eating Lunch Alone, will probably never use the phrase Leave Me Alone (although saying Please Dont Leave Me is certainly likely), and may even prefer walking Alone In A Crowd rather than staying at home and being reminded they have no one to talk to or hang out with. In cases where the character does have either a Limited Social Circle or only one friend, expect them to cling to any of their friends (including pets/plants/inanimate objects) like a lifeline in order to escape their feelings of desolation.

Characters who have experienced severe isolation, Parental Abandonment, All Of The Other Reindeer, or one of the obvious downsides to immortality can often develop into this. Shy characters can fall victim to this as well. May lead to a case of Lonely Together, if the character finds nobody but other lonely people for company. It also tends to be a common justification for I Just Want To Have Friends. Contrast with The Hermit or any introvert for that matter.

Definitely Truth In Television since humans are social creatures by nature, although many of us share a similar desire for privacy as well. In fact, Go Mad From The Isolation is a well-documented occurrence for people who have become truly isolated for an extended period. Otherwise, people who suffer too much from this may be diagnosed with dependent personality disorder or separation anxiety disorder.

Examples:

Anime And Manga

• Holo from Spice And Wolf is characterized by an intense fear of loneliness due to the hundreds of years she spent in solitude while watching the humans around her grow old and die.
• The eponymous character from Naruto grew up deprived of any friends or much familial support, so he often tries drawing excessive attention to himself by causing all kinds of mischief to make people notice him. He is also quite close to Iruka because he was the only person who was friendly to him in Konohagakure (before making more friends).
• In Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne, Maron is introduced as a lonely girl who has been living by herself in an apartment while her parents have been working abroad for years. Although she tries to pretend to be strong and plucky, she is actually quite fragile inside and easily falls apart when she learns her parents have divorced after they unexpectedly contact her one day over the telephone. Also, while she does have a social circle of people who care for her, she is still absolutely terrified of feeling abandoned again (after her parents), and later entreats her love interest, Chiaki, not to leave her alone while she cries into his chest.
• In Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Mami reveals how lonely she feels having to work alone as a magical girl and becomes overjoyed upon hearing Madoka say she wants to become a magical girl and fight alongside her. So overjoyed, in fact, that it tragically leads to her own demise when she recklessly fights the witch Charlotte and then gets herself brutally killed.
• Shinji and Asuka of Neon Genesis Evangelion could practically codify this trope.
• Bleach has the Espada of loneliness, Starrk.
• Akito Sohma from Fruits Basket fears being alone/abandoned so much that she rules the Zodiac by fear to keep them from leaving.

Comic Books

• In one Garfield storyline, which ran the week before Halloween in 1989, is unique among Garfield strips in that it is not meant to be humorous. It depicts Garfield awakening in a future in which the house is abandoned and he no longer exists. According to the author Jim Davis :

Literature

• In Frankenstein, the Creature at one point approaches and earnestly begs of his creator Victor Frankenstein, who had abandoned him out of disgust for his grotesque appearance, to create another monstrous being like himself (except female this time) because he can no longer bear his continued isolation and constant rejection by other humans at the mere sight of him.
• Christopher Boone from The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nighttime is an inversion of this trope since he states several times in the novel that he prefers being alone. This is because he cannot relate well to other people, owing to his Asperger's syndrome.
• In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, there's a variation where Harry tells Dumbledore he's figured out that he can't just lock himself away and mourn Sirius, because Sirius would hate Harry to be alone.
• In Priest-Kings of Gor Vika of Treve, a slave of the Priest-Kings, hates being alone even though she must be alone most of the time. She's a chamber slave and cannot leave her chamber, where she is the slave of any man assigned the chamber as his temporary quarters.

Film

• Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver. While he eventually takes some measures to avoid his loneliness and become "a person like other people", he outright laments this fact in his narrative:
  Loneliness has followed me my whole life. Everywhere. In bars, in cars, sidewalks, stores, everywhere. There's no escape. I'm God's lonely man.

Live Action TV

• An episode of Red Dwarf saw the crew meeting alternate reality versions of themselves. The Cat, as expected, met a humanoid Dog who would get nervous anytime he was left alone.
  • A lesser example is the main character Lister. It is explained that humans hate being alone and since Lister was the only known survivor of the accident that wiped out the crew, the ship's computer decided to bring back his bunkmate as a hologram.

Music

• The Fall Out Boy song "7 Minutes in Heaven (Atavan Halen)" is about this. The chorus is:
  I'm sitting out dances on the wall/Trying to forget anything that isn't you/I'm not going home alone/'cause I don't do to well on my own

Video Game

• In The Legend Of Zelda Majoras Mask, the Skull Kid is revealed to be characterized by this in his backstory (as recounted by Anju's grandmother) after he was forced to part with his good friends the Four Giants one day. Feeling lonesome and frustrated by his loss, he apparently took out his anger on the rest of Termina until he eventually got banished by the Four Giants for his behavior. Later on, however, he manages to find new friends in Tatl and Tael after meeting them on a particular rainy day, and also happily befriends Link at the end of the game, after he is finally ridded of the effects of the Majora's Mask. Much to his delight, he also reaffirms his friendship with the Four Giants in the epilogue as well.
• Laharl from Disgaea has some huge abandonment issues that he deals with on a regular basis in series. It has been with him since his mother sacrificed her life to save him, because Laharl feels like she abandoned him. It is even lampshaded in Disgaea Infinite, where a Prinny servant states:
  You would be surprised to know how much Lord Laharl hates being alone, dood...

Western Animation

• Rainbow Dash of My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic, resident Smug Super and Attention Whore hates being left alone.
  • Over-the-top friendly Genki Girl Pinkie Pie also doesn't take very well to being isolated at all.
  • Twilight Sparkle plays with this, since she started out very aloof and uninterested in making friends for most of her life, when she finally learns to bond with others however, she likes what she finds, and while still liking occasional seclusion, she is often shown to have huge insecurities at the thought of losing her friends and being alone again.

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