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.
These all are effects of solitary confinement on a person. Let’s compare these to what happens if we separate ourselves from the people of God and thus confine ourselves to our own life. We can develop anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, and psychosis. Other effects on physical health, increased range of conditions, including fractures,(breaking away from our intended place in the body) vision loss (a loss of vision of being Kingdom minded and the greater meaning of things), chronic pain, shortened lives (we could possibly shorten our spiritual life and finally walk away from Jesus), irreparable harm (not only to ourselves, but harm can be done to others). We can get to where we can’t tolerate things and even lose the ability of simple things like finding direction. See, we lock ourselves away from the people of God and then soon away from God too.
You see we are the body of Christ and we should stick together. We support each other, pray for each other, teach each other and fellowship with each other. If we don’t it can cause great harm to us. So don’t lock yourself away, but set yourself free.
Hebrews 10:24-25 NET 24 And let us take thought of how to spur one another on to love and good works, 25 not abandoning our own meetings, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and even more so because you see the day drawing near.
The above information about solitary confinement is from the prison policy initiative at prisonpolicy.org (https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2020/12/08/solitary_symposium/ ).