The Lonely Passion is about cognitive dissonance. Judith believes her primary problem is her status as a single woman at her age. She has become obsessed with sexual companionship and motherhood, and to face the cruel truth that it probably just isn't going to happen for her she prefers delusions and fantasies to the truth. This is what psychologists refer to as "cognitive dissonance," which is basically when someone pretends to believe something different than they really do for ulterior motives.
This results in Judy's unbridled alcoholism. To turn away from reality meant to turn a blind eye to the future and to any real hope. Since she prefers the delusions, she must constantly fight the voice in the back of her head that is telling her the truth. She drinks to forget the unfortunate fact that she's probably never going to be the grand matriarch she hoped to be.
However, that is not a bad thing necessarily. Look at Judy's foil, Mrs. Rice. Judy needs a place to stay, Rice has a place for her. Judy desperately wants to be a mother, and Mrs. Rice is the most indulgent, coddling mother there could be. Perhaps this is a subtle indication that it would have been worse for Judy to become a mother in her desperate state, because surely she would raise a child with the same moral corruption and ugliness of Bernie, the overly mothered son.
All these things stand as challenges. These are stories of human suffering and the inability of people to cope emotionally when they become traumatized by life. The reasons for this are clear: Judy has no community because her neighborhood in Belfast is overly judgmental and legalistic. This is shown by Father Quigley who refuses to provide love to the desperate woman. There is no love in the community, and Judy is an avatar for that dysfunction.
