By SARAH MASLIN NIR


Getting away from it all: it’s a common fantasy. But for some people, fantasizing isn’t enough. For whatever reason, they feel compelled to act out the fantasy, seeking the kind of solitude found only in the remotest locations.

The compulsion to live in isolation can be attributed to any number of factors, said Elaine N. Aron, a psychologist and the author of “The Undervalued Self” and “The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You.”

The desire for extreme solitude may have simpler roots, she noted: “It could be because they want a mystical experience. You can’t pathologize that.”

When it comes to striking out alone in the wilderness, however, men may be more inclined to do that than women, said John T. Cacioppo, director of the Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience at the University of Chicago. “In our culture, there is this mythic individualism that we cherish,” said Dr. Cacioppo, who studies the biological and cognitive effects of isolation. “That’s particularly true for men - they are supposed to be an island unto themselves. They take that myth more seriously and try to pursue it.”

For Roger Lextrait, 63, living in seclusion seemed appealing , after a harried life as a restaurateur in Portland, Oregon.

Mr. Lextrait was the sole inhabitant of the atoll of Palmyra, in an island chain in the Northern Pacific Ocean, more than 1,600 kilometers south of Hawaii, from 1992 to 2000. He wound up there in his mid-40s, after nearly a dozen years of sailing around the world , following his divorce and the sale of two restaurants . It was supposed to last a few months, but Mr. Lextrait stayed for eight years.

Part of the draw was that “time did not matter - sometimes I would lose track of the year,” he said. “It was so magical .”

He left, he says, when he “got attacked by loneliness.” He returned from seclusion to find the world a changed place.

“I had no idea the cellular phone existed, I was so lost,” he said.

Others choose to make a political statement. Edward Griffith- Jones, a 27-year-old Briton, spent the last year living in a hut he built in a national park in Sweden. It was his way of being environmentally responsible, he said.

“It’s a very interesting time to find another way of life,” he said. “People use the word ‘sustainable’ a lot, especially if they are in business, and it means nothing.”

On infrequent trips to town, he would scavenge for unspoiled food in the trash.

“We live in a world where everything is so specialized. Now people don’t know how to make anything, they don’t know how to survive,’’ he said, speaking by cellphone from the forest. “I’m not completely selfsufficient, but I’m learning.”

Recently, though, Mr. Griffith- Jones left the forest, having decided that the lifestyle was not as sustainable as he had hoped, mostly because “women weren’t willing to live there,” he said.

David Glasheen, 66, likened his experience of living alone to “going to the moon.”

“Everything you’ve ever learned means nothing till you come to a place like this,” said Mr. Glasheen, who lives on Restoration Island, off the northern coast of Australia, with his dog . He has been there since 1996.

An entrepreneur , he had suffered a series of financial losses and divorce when a girlfriend suggested escaping to an island in the early 1990s. (She didn’t stay.)

“I just wanted the idea of a less stressful life,” he said.

Several years ago, Mr. Glasheen became something of a media sensation after a dating profile he had posted on an Australian Web site was picked up by newspapers around the world. He said he received messages from hundreds of women, but only a few piqued his interest: “There’s a lot of crazies out there.”