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Solitary Confinement

VoidCat

Pronouns: he/him/they/them
Here is something I found on solitary confinement
What Does Solitary Confinement Do To Your Mind?
This is a quote from it:
"
Similar studies on human subjects are rare — in part because most modern universities would never consent to them — but in 1951 researchers at McGill University paid a group of male graduate students to stay in small chambers equipped with only a bed for an experiment on sensory deprivation. They could leave to use the bathroom, but that’s all. They wore goggles and earphones to limit their sense of sight and hearing, and gloves to limit their sense of touch. The plan was to observe students for six weeks, but not one lasted more than seven days. Nearly every student lost the ability “to think clearly about anything for any length of time,” while several others began to suffer hallucinations. “One man could see nothing but dogs,” wrote one of the study’s collaborators, “another nothing but eyeglasses of various types, and so on.”

What are the effects on prisoners?
In short, not much better. Stuart Grassian, a board-certified psychiatrist and a former faculty member at Harvard Medical School, has interviewed hundreds of prisoners in solitary confinement. In one study, he found that roughly a third of solitary inmates were “actively psychotic and/or acutely suicidal.” Grassian has since concluded that solitary can cause a specific psychiatric syndrome, characterized by hallucinations; panic attacks; overt paranoia; diminished impulse control; hypersensitivity to external stimuli; and difficulties with thinking, concentration and memory. Some inmates lose the ability to maintain a state of alertness, while others develop crippling obsessions."That to me is insane.Thoughts?Also do you think meditation would help people in solitary?
 

Brickjectivity

Turned to Stone. Now I stretch daily.
Staff member
Premium Member
Here is something I found on solitary confinement
What Does Solitary Confinement Do To Your Mind?
This is a quote from it:
"
Similar studies on human subjects are rare — in part because most modern universities would never consent to them — but in 1951 researchers at McGill University paid a group of male graduate students to stay in small chambers equipped with only a bed for an experiment on sensory deprivation. They could leave to use the bathroom, but that’s all. They wore goggles and earphones to limit their sense of sight and hearing, and gloves to limit their sense of touch. The plan was to observe students for six weeks, but not one lasted more than seven days. Nearly every student lost the ability “to think clearly about anything for any length of time,” while several others began to suffer hallucinations. “One man could see nothing but dogs,” wrote one of the study’s collaborators, “another nothing but eyeglasses of various types, and so on.”

What are the effects on prisoners?
In short, not much better. Stuart Grassian, a board-certified psychiatrist and a former faculty member at Harvard Medical School, has interviewed hundreds of prisoners in solitary confinement. In one study, he found that roughly a third of solitary inmates were “actively psychotic and/or acutely suicidal.” Grassian has since concluded that solitary can cause a specific psychiatric syndrome, characterized by hallucinations; panic attacks; overt paranoia; diminished impulse control; hypersensitivity to external stimuli; and difficulties with thinking, concentration and memory. Some inmates lose the ability to maintain a state of alertness, while others develop crippling obsessions."That to me is insane.Thoughts?Also do you think meditation would help people in solitary?
Its difficult to interpret that information, because shame is part of being a prisoner. Shame is a major cause for suicidal feelings. They say that in prison the most valuable thing is respect, and its probably because self respect is hard to come by. Respect from others is probably the next best thing. If you are in prison because you were framed or made a mistake that's one thing, but if you are in prison because you are stupid and know it that is another. There is a difference between going on a trip for fun versus being kicked out of your community and becoming a wanderer. Physically they are the same but not emotionally.
 

icehorse

......unaffiliated...... anti-dogmatist
Premium Member
In one way, consciousness can be likened to one of those large bubbles they put over some tennis courts. Those bubbles don't stay inflated unless a large fan is constantly blowing air into the bubble. Our own consciousness is partly maintained by a continuous stream of outside stimuli. It's no surprise that cutting off that stream of outside information causes trouble quickly.
 

PureX

Veteran Member
For most people, solitary confinement is a severe form of torture, and will damage their minds, irreparably, if prolonged.

However, Fyodor Dostoyevsky was confined in solitude in a Russian prison for 8 months, and then in various kinds of imprisonment for the next 10 years. Wherein he wrote novels in his mind to occupy himself, and to stay sane. When he was finally released, he wrote them down on paper and they were published. They are now a part of the worlds great literary legacy.

dostoyevsky1.jpg
 
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