Topic: The effect of solitary confinement on an individual’s brain/mental health in the long term/short term

 

Two Main Parts: Effects on the brain + Psychological effects

 

Effects on the Brain

• Tests done on mice
  •  After 1 month of solitary confinement, neurons shrink by 20%
  • After 3 months, there had been shrinkage of the dendrites and axons and a 25% shrinkage of the neurons
  • Shrinkage of neurons prevents them from functioning effectively
    • UNSURE IF THIS DAMAGE IS REVERSIBLE OR NOT
• Studies done on rats
  • Rats under chronic stress due to social isolation have a smaller hippocampus
    • Area of the brain responsible for memory formation, spatial orientation, + mood regulation
• Sensory deprivation
  • Social Isolation also messes w/ the body’s circadian rhythm (internal clock)
    • ex.) your body thinks it’s night when it’s actually daytime
• Tests done on rats/mice also reflect the results of social isolation in humans
  • Mood swings → cognitive decline of spatial orientation, memory and attention → psychosis
    • A break from reality
  • Ex.) Robert King → Look more into him (you prolly won’t be able to include him too much in 4-5 minutes but his testimony on his experience w/ solitary confinement is what lead to a lot of the research that was done on it)
• BASICALLY
  • The hippocampus shrinks (loses plasticity) – leads to a loss of memory, ability to learn, loss of spatial awareness
  • BUT the amygdala increases its activity – part of the brain responsible for powerful negative emotions (such as fear and anxiety)

 

Psychological Effects

• In confinement itself
  •  Increased feelings of depression and hopelessness
    • Highest rates of suicide and self-harm occur in solitary confinement units
  • Anxiety attacks
    • Prisoners spend hours worrying if they’re going to come out of [solitary confinement] with their sanity intact
  • Social skills begin to “atrophy”
• After Confinement
  • Many ex-prisoners still experience severe social anxiety
• “Decreased appetite, trembling hands, sweating palms, heart palpitations, a sense of impending emotional breakdown, sleep disturbances (including nightmares and sleeplessness), heightened levels of anxiety and panic, irritability, aggression, and rage; paranoia, ruminations, and violent fantasies; cognitive dysfunction, hypersensitivity to stimuli, and hallucinations; loss of emotional control, mood swings, lethargy, flattened affect, and depression; increased suicidality and instances of self-harm; and finally, paradoxical tendencies to further social withdrawal.” (Haney) 
• When a sample of 100 prisoners was examined, over half of them showed these symptoms after being placed in solitary confinement
  • High # of prisoners report suffering from isolation-related symptoms of pathology
    • Ruminations, intrusive thoughts, oversensitivity to stimuli, irrational anger/irritability, difficulty w/ attention + memory, and social withdrawal

Possible Visual Aids:

Sources So Far:

 

• https://www.brainfacts.org/neuroscience-in-society/law-economics-and-ethics/2019/understanding-the-effects-of-solitary-confinement-on-the-brain-032119
• https://whyy.org/segments/how-extreme-isolation-affects-the-brain/
• https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brain-chemistry/201902/the-effects-solitary-confinement-the-brain
• https://www.knowablemagazine.org/article/society/2018/hidden-damage-solitary-confinement
• https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev-criminol-032317-092326