What Are the Effects of Solitary Confinement?

Humans are social creatures. It is natural for people to be curious about the world, to explore it and be able to interact with it. For those in solitary confinement, these basic needs are taken away. Researchers have begun to study the effects solitary confinement has on the isolated individuals who have been locked away. While solitary confinement can remove dangerous individuals from the general population, the effects may be detrimental.

Loss of Freedom

• Some things many Westerners take for granted are the general freedoms that they posses, such as coming and going as they please. People who are locked away in solitary are not usually there by choice. Being confined to a room or cell strips the person of the feeling of being in control of his environment. This can cause increased anxiety, paranoia, rage and claustrophobia. Many prisoners who are put in solitary confinement will try to take control of their environment by engaging in self-destructive behaviors like beating themselves or refusing to eat.

Depression

• After spending significant time separated from other people, many individuals are bound to feel lonely and become depressed. Isolated individuals will start to miss family and friends. Even if they know the solitude will eventually end, the situation can begin to feel hopeless. A disconnect from the world can also occur because they know outside of their confinement the significant people in their lives are moving about without them. There is a significant suicide rate among people trapped and isolated.

Schizophrenia

• Individuals in solitary confinement are at a high risk to develop schizophrenia. This mental health disorder, which is often incurable, can be set off by increased stress or anxiety. Confined people may experience delusions and hallucinations; they may hear voices, become irrationally paranoid or display other symptoms signaling mental distress. Part of the way humans know what is real and what is not is by reactions of other people. If you hear something, you expect other people to hear it too. Without other people around to confirm what actually exists, human can lose their grip on reality and slip into madness.

Long-Term Effects

• Even after being removed from solitary, people who have been in confinement for a long period of time may have trouble readjusting to the regular world. For some, it may be difficult to grasp once again who they are and how they relate to other people. Individuals may lose focus in conversations, appearing to "check out" of reality. Increased anxiety or paranoia may remain after they have been reintegrated. Finally, exposure to an increased amount of stimuli may send the individual into a panic.