As someone who has not dived to the bottom of the ocean, I trust oceanographers who have.
As someone who has not flown to Jupiter, I believe astronomers who describe the planet.
For those things where I don't have personal experience, I trust experts who have.
Even if I have had personal experience I tend to trust experts for general opinions, since my experiences are be unique and not general.
So here's an example of academic studies that I trust. It's a peer-reviewed article written by an expert (Dr. Craig Haney is a professor in the Psych department at UCSC). I've included the the reference list at the end. You can read the entire article for yourself at the link, and look up as many of the references as you can bear. You want data, not advocacy? Here you go.
Mental Health Issues in Long-term Solitary and “Supermax” Confinement (PDF)AbstractThis article discusses the recent increase in the use of solitary-like
confinement, especially the rise of so-called “supermax” prisons
and the special mental health issues and challenges they pose. After
briefly discussing the nature of these specialized and increasingly
widespread units and the forces that have given rise to them, the
article reviews some of the unique mental health related issues they
present, including the large literature that exists on the negative
psychological effects of isolation, and the unusually high
percentage of mentally ill prisoners who are confined there. It ends
with a brief discussion of some of the ways these mental health
issues can and should be addressed in supermax prisons.Excerpt:In assessing the mental health concerns raised by supermax prisons, it is
important to acknowledge an extensive empirical literature that clearly establishes their
potential to inflict psychological pain and emotional damage. Empirical research on
solitary and supermax-like confinement has consistently and unequivocally
documented the harmful consequences of living in these kinds of environments.
Despite some methodological limitations that apply to some of the individual studies,
the findings are robust. Evidence of these negative psychological effects comes from
personal accounts, descriptive studies, and systematic research on solitary and
supermax-type confinement, conducted over a period of four decades, by researchers
from several different continents who had diverse backgrounds and a wide range of
professional expertise. Even if one sets aside the corroborating data that come from
studies of psychologically analogous settings—research on the harmful effects of acute
sensory deprivation (e.g., Hocking, 1970; Leiderman, 1962), the psychological distress
and other problems that are created by the loss of social contact such as studies of the
pains of isolated, restricted living in the freeworld (e.g., Chappell & Badger, 1989;
Cooke & Goldstein,1989; Harrison, Clearwater & McKay, 1989; Rathbone-McCuan & 11
Hashimi, 1982), or the well-documented psychiatric risks of seclusion for mental
patients (e.g., Fisher, 1994; Mason, 1993)—the harmful psychological consequences of
solitary and supermax-type confinement are extremely well documented.
Specifically, in case studies and personal accounts provided by mental health
and correctional staff who worked in supermax units, a range of similar adverse
symptoms have been observed to occur in prisoners, including
appetite and sleep
disturbances, anxiety, panic, rage, loss of control, paranoia, hallucinations, and self
mutilations (e.g., Jackson, 1983; Porporino, 1986; Rundle, 1973; Scott, 1969; Slater, 1986).
Moreover, direct studies of prison isolation have documented an extremely broad range
of harmful psychological reactions. These effects include increases in the following
potentially damaging symptoms and problematic behaviors: negative attitudes and
affect (e.g., Bauer, Priebe, Haring, & Adamczak, 1993; Hilliard, 1976; Korn, 1988a, b;
Koch, 1986; Miller & Young, 1997; Suedfeld, Ramirez, Deaton, & Baker-Brown, 1982),
insomnia (e.g., Bauer et al., 1993; Brodsky & Scogin, 1988; Haney, 1993; Koch, 1986;
Korn, 1988a, b), anxiety (e.g., Andersen, et al., 2000; Brodsky & Scogin, 1988; Grassian,
1983; Haney, 1993; Hilliard, 1976; Koch, 1986; Korn, 1988a, b; Toch, 1975; Volkart,
Dittrich, Rothenfluh & Werner, 1983; Walters, Callagan & Newman, 1963), panic (e.g.,
Toch, 1975), withdrawal (e.g., Cormier & Williams, 1966; Haney, 1993; Miller & Young,
1997; Scott & Gendreau, 1969; Toch, 1975; Waligora, 1974), hypersensitivity (e.g.,
Grassian, 1983; Haney, 1993; Volkart, Dittrich, Rothenfluh & Werner, 1983), ruminations
(e.g., Brodsky & Scogin, 1988; Haney, 1993; Korn, 1988a, b; Miller & Young, 1997),
cognitive dysfunction (e.g., Brodsky & Scogin, 1988; Grassian,1983; Haney, 1993; Koch,
1986; Korn, 1988a, b; Miller & Young, 1997; Suedfeld & Roy, 1975; Volkart, Dittrich,
Rothenfluh & Werner, 1983), hallucinations (e.g., Brodsky & Scogin, 1988; Grassian,
1983; Haney, 1993; Koch, 1986; Korn, 1988a, b; Suedfeld & Roy, 1975; ), loss of control
(e.g., Grassian, 1983; Haney, 1993; Suedfeld & Roy, 1975; Toch, 1975), irritability,
aggression, and rage (e.g., Bauer et al., 1993; Brodsky & Scogin, 1988; Cormier & 12
Williams, 1966; Grassian, 1983; Haney, 1993; Hilliard, 1976; Koch, 1986; Miller & Young,
1997; Suedfeld, Ramirez, Deaton, & Baker-Brown, 1982; Toch, 1975), paranoia (e.g.,
Cormier & Williams, 1969; Grassian, 1983; Volkart, Dittrich, Rothenfluh & Werner,
1983), hopelessness (e.g., Haney, 1993; Hilliard, 1976), lethargy (e.g., Brodsky & Scogin,
1988; Haney, 1993; Koch, 1986; Scott & Gendreau, 1969; Suedfeld and Roy, 1975),
depression (e.g., Andersen, et al., 2000; Brodsky & Scogin, 1988; Haney, 1993; Hilliard,
1976; Korn, 1988a, b), a sense of impending emotional breakdown (e.g., Brodsky &
Scogin, 1988; Grassian, 1983; Haney, 1993; Koch, 1986; Korn, 1988a, b; Toch, 1975), self
mutilation (e.g., Benjamin & Lux, 1975; Grassian, 1983; Toch, 1975), and suicidal
ideation and behavior (e.g., Benjamin & Lux, 1975; Cormier & Williams, 1966; Grassian,
1983; Haney, 1993).
In addition, among the correlational studies of the relationship between housing
type and various incident reports, again, self-mutilation and suicide are more prevalent
in isolated housing (e.g., Hayes, 1989; Johnson, 1973; Jones, 1986; Porporino, 1986), as
are deteriorating mental and physical health (beyond self-injury), other-directed
violence, such as stabbings, attacks on staff, and property destruction, and collective
violence (e.g., Bidna, 1975; Edwards, 1988; Kratcoski, 1988; Porporino, 1986; Setstoft,
Andersen, Lilleback & Gabrielsen, 1998; Steinke, 1991; Volkart, Rothenfluh, Kobelt,
Dittrich, & Ernst, 1983b). The use of extreme forms of solitary confinement in so-called
“brainwashing” and methods of torture also underscores its painful, damaging
potential (e.g., Deaton, Burge, Richlin, & Latrownik, 1977; Foster, 1987; Hinkle & Wolff,
1956; Riekert, 1985; Shallice, 1974; Vrca, Bozikov, Brzovic, Fuchs, & Malinar, 1996; West,
1985). In fact, many of the negative effects of solitary confinement are analogous to the
acute reactions suffered by torture and trauma victims, including post-traumatic stress
disorder or “PTSD” (e.g., Herman, 1992, 1995; Horowitz, 1990; Hougen, 1988; Siegel,
1984) and the kind of psychiatric sequelae that plague victims of what are called
“deprivation and constraint” torture techniques (e.g., Somnier & Genefke, 1986). 13
To summarize,
there is not a single published study of solitary or supermax-like
confinement in which non-voluntary confinement lasting for longer than 10 days where
participants were unable to terminate their isolation at will that failed to result in
negative psychological effects. The damaging effects ranged in severity and included
such clinically significant symptoms as hypertension, uncontrollable anger,
hallucinations, emotional breakdowns, chronic depression, and suicidal thoughts and
behavior. Of course, it is important to emphasize that not all supermax prisons are
created equal, and not all of them have the same capacity to produce the same number
and degree of negative psychological effects. Research on the effects of social contexts
and situations in general and institutional settings in particular underscores the way in
which specific conditions of confinement do matter. Thus, there is every reason to
expect that better-run and relatively more benign supermax prisons will produce
comparatively fewer of the preceding negative psychological effects, and the worse run
facilities will produce comparatively more.
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