Solitary Confinement and Psychological Slippages

How long would it take to be alone and sensory deprived before the average human went totally mad?

15 days. That's the limit. Any longer than this and the term 'torture' must be included in the topic. Solitary confinement is downright dangerous. It’s been known to cause evil neurosis' in prisoners who were never evil before it. But it's not just society’s imprisoned who suffer from its effects — there are a lot of healthy, free individuals walking around today who feel the same way.

We know much about the effects of social isolation and confinement from the errors of our past. Our knowledge of what happened to prisoners who were stuffed into a black hole and then left in there is extensive. We've known for a long time that a mind loses cohesion when it's removed from the sensory and social world for prolonged periods.

We’ve made BIG mistakes in the past. REAL big ones.

Two hundred years ago, we believed prisoners who misbehaved in prison needed further removal from all that made them human. Being sent to solitary meant going into hell. There was no light, no sound — a silent cell full of a whole lot of nothingness was at its end. Prisoners were pulled out of their holes on Sundays to go to church, for one hour, and then sent straight back to their black world afterwards.

That wasn’t all. It was how it was done that shows us how depraved the system was.

A heavy, impenetrable sack covered their heads while they were in transit. Nothing was said or heard along the way. The silence was obeyed faithfully. The process sounds absurd by today's standards, but there was a well-intended logic behind it.

It was believed that by taking every sensory thing away from these troubled individuals and then only allowing in God, Christ and Church, they'd become reformed.

It didn't work. A week in the hole was enough to turn a good person evil. Some died within days of being released.

To add insult to injury, those who’d committed suicide had their bodies examined by a doctor. It was believed that modern medicine could locate the place of evil in the brains and flesh of the prisoner’s corpses. Surgeons tore the body apart looking for it.

No, doctors didn't find any badness there.

Solitary confinement is a whole different thing today. There are no black holes, ongoing silences, or sensory deprivation anymore. God is optional. Lights illuminate cells during waking hours. The sounds of life permeate prisoners’ cells. It’s isolation but by geography alone.

Mental cohesion has always fascinated me. It doesn't take much to tip us over and lose the plot. I'm a firm believer that psychological slippages can occur without walls and bars. The imprisonment happens within the mind itself as it barricades thoughts and emotions into a limited area within the mind.

Confinement triggers can occur within a stifling relationship — a prolonged psychological, physical or sexual abuse from a spouse, friend, parent, sibling or a work college can trigger it. Over many years of punishment, an invisible set of walls grows around the prisoner, closing in on them a little more each day. It too results in suicide, spontaneous acts of violence, drug abuse, emotional outbursts and a change in one's moral standards. It leaves me with one crucial question:

Can an extremely good person be made to turn evil by way of relationship confinement?

Find the answer inside the pages of my novel (Below). It's where reality and isolation create the perfect thrilling story.

-Michael Forman (Author)

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