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Most people feel lonely sometimes, but it usually only lasts between a few minutes and a few hours. Thiskind of loneliness is not serious. In fact, it is quite normal. For some people, though, loneliness can last foryears. Psychologists are studying this phenomenon in an attempt to better understand long-term loneliness.

These researchers have already identified three different types of loneliness.

The first kind of loneliness is temporary. This is the most common type. It usually disappears quicklyand does not require any special attention. The second kind, situational loneliness, is a natural result. Forexample, the death of a loved one, or moving to a new place. Although this kind of loneliness can causephysical problems, such as headaches and sleeplessness, it usually does not last for more than a year. Situa-tional loneliness is easy to understand and to predict.

The third kind of loneliness is the most severe. Unlike the second type, chronicloneliness usually lastsmore than two years and has no specific cause. People who experience habitual loneliness have problems so-cializing. Unfortunately, many chronically lonely people think there is little or nothing they can do to improvetheir condition.

Many researchers agree that the loneliest people are between the ages 18 and 25, so a group of psychol-ogists decided to study a group of college students. They found that more than 50% of the students were situ-ational lonely at the beginning of the term as a result of their new circumstances, but had adjusted after a fewmonths. Thirteen percent were still lonely after seven months due to shyness and fear. They felt very uncom-fortable meeting strangers, even though they understood that their fear was not reasonable. The situationallonely students overcame their loneliness by making new friends， but the chronically lonely remained unhappy because they were afraid to do so.

Psychologists are trying to find ways to help habitually lonely people for two reasons. First of all, theyare unhappy and unable to socialize. Secondly, researchers have found a connection he-tween chronic loneli-ness and serious illness such as heart disease. While temporary and situational loneliness can be a normal,healthy part of life, chronic loneliness can be a very sad, and some-times dangerous condition.

 What does the passage mainly talk about?

All the following are true EXCEPT that__________.

What does the underlined word "chronic" in Paragraph 3 mean?

Why do psychologists want to help the habitually lonely people?