The following are the effects of solitary confinement on a person. People who experience solitary confinement are more likely to develop anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, and psychosis. The practice also affects physical health, increasing a person’s risk for a range of conditions, including fractures, vision loss, and chronic pain. Time spent in solitary confinement shortens lives and causes irreparable harm. It can produce severe panic attacks; difficulties with thinking, concentration, and memory.
Solitary confinement adds an extra burden of stress that has been shown to cause permanent changes to people’s brains and personalities. Depriving people of the ability to socialize can cause “social pain,” which researchers define as “the feelings of hurt and distress that come from negative social experiences such as social deprivation, exclusion, rejection, or loss.” Social pain affects the brain in the same way as physical pain, and can actually cause more suffering because humans’ ability to relieve social pain can take months or even years, in which time physical pain may have already subsided. One can lose interest in communicating and experience an emotional numbness that can lead to a loss of basic skills even with simple things, including a sense of direction.
If this is what happens when a human is cut off from others, imagine the internal decay that occurs when we isolate the very Spirit of God within us. What happens if we treat our hearts like a maximum-security cell? If we lock Jesus inside and grant Him ‘supervised visitation’ for a short period on Sunday mornings, only to lock the door again the moment we leave.
Let’s dive into what happens if we do this. Just as the body withers in a cell, our spirit develops its own form of anxiety and depression. We begin to experience spiritual psychosis, losing touch with the reality of God’s presence. We suffer fractures, breaking away from our intended place in the Body of Christ. We suffer a loss of vision of being Kingdom minded and the greater meaning of things. We could possibly shorten our spiritual life and finally walk away from Jesus. We can get to where we can’t tolerate things and even lose the ability of simple things like finding direction.
See, we lock Jesus up inside and allow Him out a few times a week for church then lock Him back up again. We don’t speak of Him, nor let His light shine through us the rest of the time. What would happen if we would let God free in our lives in every aspect? We would be more free. For it is not just Him that we are binding, but rather we are binding ourselves. We are causing damage to ourselves. Let’s decide today to set Jesus free in our lives and let His light shine through us.
Jeremiah 20:9 KJV Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
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