Why Solitary Confinement Is Considered Psychological Torture. #MentalHealth #BrainScience

Added: 2026-05-20

[00:00:00]United Nations, [music] many human rights organizations, and experts classify this kind of forced, prolonged [music] isolation as torture.

[00:00:09]Over time, this prolonged agitation can [music] cause the brain's limbic system, which regulates fear and stress, to become especially responsive and hyperactive. Meanwhile, the prefrontal cortex, [music] the brain's hub for reasoning and moral judgment, may shrink, impairing one's focus, memory, [music] and cognition. Overall, the balance shifts from rational thinking >> [music] >> towards emotionality. And as someone remains in this state, the imbalance becomes ingrained, [music] making them more prone to bouts of anxiety, rage, and irrational actions.

[00:00:46]And solitary confinement is harmful to everyone, but [music] many who've experienced it have pre-existing mental health disorders, which it only exacerbates. Prisoners lived in solitary [music] confinement, spending 22 to 24 hours a day in mostly windowless cells spanning roughly 6 by 9 ft. Many people have been placed in solitary confinement for minor, [music] non-violent infractions, like talking back to prison guards. Also called solitary confinement [music] or restrictive housing, the practice is most common in the United States.

[00:01:24]Charles Dickens, for one, condemned solitary confinement [music] as worse than any torture of the body. And yet, it's something imprisoned people in many countries endure.