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What would you do in solitary confinement?

Discussion in 'Self Improvement' started by vulture175, Apr 8, 2019.

  1. vulture175

    vulture175 Fapstronaut

    !!! Triggers Warning !!!

    Just imagine you are locked up in solitary confinement, no phone, no internet, no tv, no book, just a sink, a toilet and a bed? What would you do, physically and mentally? What do you think what would happen to your mind?
    [​IMG]
     
  2. Infrasapiens

    Infrasapiens Fapstronaut

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    Sleep, and talk alone.
     
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  3. vulture175

    vulture175 Fapstronaut

    Living like that is literally living with chronic depression
     
  4. OrangeJuice13

    OrangeJuice13 Fapstronaut

    Fuck, that picture is more triggering than I expected it would be. Just looking at it and imagining myself there, I can imagine literal insanity coming on - and I'm a very introverted person too.
    But if I was forced there, I think I'd try to spend a lot of time getting good at meditating; that would clear away most of the depression from the setting, and then allow my mind to get to work. There are lots of things to think about and ponder. A pen and (lots of) paper could go a long way. And a couple of books if they'd let me.
    Speaking of, have you ever read The Count of Monte Cristo? There's a whole part of the story that's somewhat related to this, it's quite fantastic. Spoiler alert:
    when the main character (Edmond) is in jail he finds out, idk, several years into his isolated incarceration, that there's another prisoner near his cell. When they become friends he finds out that the guy is a genius, he's like, fashioned pens and paper out of nothing, does calculations on the rock of the floor and walls and stuff. He's basically like a living compendium of all human knowledge. Anyways, a great quote was when Edmond asks "What would you not have accomplished if you had been free?", the reply is "Possibly nothing at all; the overflow of my brain would probably, in a state of freedom, have evaporated in a thousand follies; misfortune is needed to bring to light the treasures of the human intellect. Compression is needed to explode gunpowder. Captivity has brought my mental faculties to a focus; and you are well aware that from the collision of clouds electricity is produced—from electricity, lightning, from lightning, illumination.” Daaaaammnn ;)
     
  5. HE^MAN

    HE^MAN Distinguished Fapstronaut

    I will sing songs....
     
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  6. 3rd1

    3rd1 Fapstronaut

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    Get good at pushups, sit ups, squats. Do mental math, philosophy.
     
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  7. vulture175

    vulture175 Fapstronaut

    @OrangeJuice13 : introverts tend to feel less miserable than extroverts in solitary i guess :p . Long term isolation can lead to insanity maybe, that's why i wonder what best we should do to remain our sanity. As inhumane as it is, one benefit from solitary is the person is there with himself only, he has to deal with himself only, he learns to connect with himself, only thing he can is to look deep inside his inner self to be sane instead of blaming others to feel better.

    Most people would say they meditate when being locked up. I like wow that's great. Perhaps we should lock up every person hours a day for better world lol.

    I just see depression as a solitary, its hard to focus on smt becuz it's hard to function well.
     
  8. From research we know well what people do in solitary confinement - they go insane.
     
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  9. Amphibian

    Amphibian Fapstronaut

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    The people I've known who were locked up and in the hole typically worked out a lot, wrote letters, just slept, or if they had books sent to them would read.

    And actually, a lot of times it's preferred to being put back in with the population, at least for a while.
     
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  10. vulture175

    vulture175 Fapstronaut

    @Pedantic_Amphibian : yeah that's what most people try to do in solitary: working out a lot. Normally, if the rules are not too strict, they are allowed to go to the yard one hour a day to take some fresh air.
    @Ronila : i know they encounter terrible mental problem, some have serious suicidal thoughts.
    I just wonder when they experience thhose crisis, what should they do with their mind to calm their fear?
     
  11. RAWMagic

    RAWMagic Fapstronaut

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    Shawshank Redemption

    Andy Dufresne is in solitary confinement for a month. 28 Days. That's about half of what Saints and Christ are said to have done. 40 Days. Traditional Vision Quests are 4 Days. I have spent four days in the forest on a Vision Quest. Most Native American Medicine men must do this regularly.

    Time in solitude is time in the depth of the human condition. Pain is the default experience. During which time you do practically anything you can to distract yourself from the pain of simply being alive. Eventually, however, after the hunger, hallucination, and searing pain pass, you drop into a state of complete relaxation. A state of bliss, akin to what the Buddhist call Ananda.

    If you can stay with the pain, and not run from it, a process of transcendence occurs. In which revelation and spiritual atonement occur. A deep love, and unshakable presence are often your reward.

    At least, that's how it was for me.
     
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  12. Brains are dynamic systems that rely on constant outside data to calibrate. In other words we depend on outside world interactions to keep the very perception of reality - realistic.
    Our sense of self, plans and everything else is not a static thing, its a dynamic constantly changing system that is tuned by outside world interactions we have.
    Our brains always change and learn but we have to also keep solid and coherent concept of self, where we are and what we want to do. Due to this plasticity we in essence have to rebuild who we are constantly as we take in new information

    Humans produce very complex behaviors and need feedback from others to see if their behaviors and predictions are effective or not, in isolation this feedback is absent and person is unable to plan and produce complex behaviors, so core personality defining parts of the brain begin to idle.
    There is just nothing complex for executive brain to solve in an empty cell, so parts of the brain responsible for high level behaviors and functions as well as those that combine this in to personality, weaken and overtime, without outside stimulation and reinforcement training. plasticity degrades existing structures enough that person view of who they are degrades, and it becomes difficult for them to understand who they are and where they are going.

    Only things you can do is continuously reinforce views you have and explore philosophical type issues, that will continue to exercise your executive function. Basically keep using your brain as much as you can.

    Also keep in mind that initial isolation period is different form prolonged isolation. Initial isolation will trigger social withdrawal of sorts, we depend on social interactions to support our mood. If those disappear, people will likely feel depression and anxiety similar to what an addict feels, or similar to what person feels when loosing a loved one. Lack of interactions with others will initially cause major depression, but overtime body will become more sensitive to compensate and stabilize mood and at that point what i initially described will begin to happen.
     
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  13. LEPAGE

    LEPAGE Fapstronaut

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    Push ups and work on an escape plan.
     
  14. 3rd1

    3rd1 Fapstronaut

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    That is why pornography, as well as cruel and gory violence can be bad, it seems to twist perceptions of reality. Rape, torture, murder etc may not become ok but it becomes normal Now I am not against display of violence per say, acts of battle, and hunting out of need are different from displaying supernatural gore and vile acts.

    To go deeper into the subject, if it was solitary confinement with no hope of any outside contact, and indefinite term, I think I would go with prayer and religion. We need hope to function, we need to at least believe that our own efforts will eventually lead to a better existence, or what is the point of putting out any effort? We do the best we can with what we have. I think of the story of the Count of Monte Cristo, while imprisoned he meets another prisoner that accidentally tunnels into his cell, the other prisoner had to use a lot of ingenuity to avoid being discovered, I imagine that keeps the mind sane, solving problems.
     
  15. straight up relax and embracing the prison lifestyle, rapping
     
  16. Awedouble

    Awedouble Fapstronaut

    Remember.

    That's the main thing, because you don't even have access to books - much less the internet where you can search for whatever you want. There are material that you can get more out of by reflecting on it, but without reminders even in the form of text you better have committed it to memory. Isn't this why people point out how data storage is an outsourcing of the function of memory? So it seems in that situation the thing to do is to recall as much as you can.

    There are people who are able to commit large volumes of text to memory, but maybe a lot less of them these days. There are times when I've had great ideas and it really excited me, then I forget and remember it again. And it isn't even about the ideas alone, but the feeling of inspiration is a good thing to remember but there's not a way to reduce it to a way of encoding it in language, except those exceptionally rare moments when something poetic comes through and maybe is an axiom at the same time. Certainly those are memorable and worth remembering.

    Edit: On a related note, this kind of makes me wonder about the whole business of social support in recovery. Specifically I kind of wonder if someone shouldn't go on a solitary retreat at some point and turn inward.
     
  17. I read an account from a Vietnam vet who was a POW for several years. He as well as others did months of solitary at a time. Also they were secured to their cots by their legs, so no push ups or jumping jacks.

    He wrote that he kept from going insane by building his dream house in his mind. He’d imagine each room and figure out every detail of every room.

    That’s what I’d do in solitary. Work on imagining my dream house. Probably sing Tubthumping over n over again to keep myself motivated about getting out someday.
     
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  18. Awedouble

    Awedouble Fapstronaut

    That's also a mneumonic technique for memorization, the memory palace or method of loci.
     
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  19. brilliantidiot

    brilliantidiot Fapstronaut

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    Masturbate.

    Just kidding.
     

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