Thursday14 November 2024
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In complete isolation and darkness: how solitary confinement impacts a person's mental health.

A well-known blogger volunteered to spend a month in a solitary confinement cell to test whether a person can lose their sanity during such isolation.
В полной темноте и без общения: как изоляция в одиночной камере сказывается на психическом состоянии человека.

Norme is a content creator on YouTube who gained fame for his shocking stunts, such as staying awake for 12 days. Now, he has embarked on a new experiment: the blogger is trying to understand what happens to the human psyche after spending a month in solitary confinement, reports Daily Mail.

For this experiment, the blogger has locked himself in a small storage room with nothing but a mattress on the floor—he aims to test whether his mind can withstand a month in complete isolation. To make the challenge more difficult, he plans to spend the entire time in total darkness. Meanwhile, a camera mounted on the ceiling provides a continuous live stream.

It is known that the blogger also performs various tasks for which viewers pay him money: for instance, $5 for a handstand, $20 for 15 minutes in a straitjacket, and $50 for one hour of wearing duct tape.

Since the start of the experiment, nearly 200 hours have passed, during which the guy has begun to display strange behavior, raising concerns among over a million subscribers. Notably, the live stream began on October 16, and now viewers have observed him talking about "intergalactic aliens," making "demonic sounds," and standing with his forehead pressed against the wall in a distressed position.

Users following the stream are starting to worry about the blogger's health. After the first 133 hours of the experiment, users began to suggest that the experiment should be stopped, as the subject already seems to need help.

Researchers note that solitary confinement can cause significant harm to mental and physical health and can be as torturous as physical torture. The fact is that humans are very social creatures, requiring stimulation and interaction with others to thrive.

одмночная камера, заточение в одиночной камере

It should be noted that "solitary confinement" is widely used in prisons and detention centers across the United States and involves the physical isolation of individuals who are kept in their cells for 22.5 hours or more each day. According to a joint report from 2023 by the human rights monitoring group Solitary Watch and the advocacy coalition Unlock the Box, at least 122,840 people are held in solitary confinement daily in U.S. prisons and detention centers.

Previous research has already shown that solitary confinement can induce or exacerbate conditions such as:

  • anxiety;
  • depression;
  • paranoia;
  • panic attacks;
  • hallucinations;
  • psychosis;
  • self-harm;
  • suicide.

At the same time, prolonged periods of isolation can worsen the condition of individuals with pre-existing mental illnesses. Studies have also indicated that people in solitary confinement can develop physical ailments as well, including:

  • chronic headaches;
  • vision loss;
  • sleep disturbances;
  • weight loss;
  • fatigue;
  • increased heart rate, and more.

Experts assert that even a short time spent in complete isolation can significantly impact a person's mental and physical health. All these effects could likely explain the blogger's strange behavior in solitary confinement; however, some viewers are skeptical about the authenticity of the experiment as a whole.