How extreme isolation warps the mind

How extreme isolation warps the mind
bbc.com

i went through a long period of social isolation where my friends and even family pulled away from me because i was acting erratically. this erratic, bizzare behavior was _caused_ by feeling lonely and isolated, and further isolation made the problem worse. my guess is this is what happens to most drug addicts. they feel lonely or hurt, and find temporary comfort in drugs. their friends and family worry about them and stay away, for fear of making the problem worse and because being around unhappy people can make you unhappy. they sufferers find the drug using community accepting and welcoming - but only on a superficial level. you can light up a joint outside a bar in SF and instantly find yourself having 'new friends' who will disappear when the joint is gone. the desire for solace from pain and the longing for intimacy worsens the dependence on the drug and pushes loved ones further away.

i understand why people pull away - they are afraid. i get that. but we used to fear anyone who was sick and put them in special colonies becuase we didn't understand sickness and thought it was demonic possession or evil at work. i'd suggest that the modern understanding of "psychosis as illness" is just as misinformed. we're using the best model we have of the day - when people don't work properly, they are ill - but that categorization implies that the problem lies in the person themselves, and not in the environmental conditions they find themselves in. if EVERYONE goes crazy when they're totally alone for too long, then it's not accurate to say that 'crazy' symptoms are signs of 'mental illness.'

it'd be as if we diagnosed people with 'runny nose' syndrome.

see more thoughts here:

http://markpneyer.me/2014/04/02/the-way-we-understand-mental...

People in her circumstances have their world suddenly inverted, and there is nothing in the manner of their taking – no narrative of sacrifice, or enduring for a greater good – to help them derive meaning from it. They must somehow find meaning in their predicament – or mentally detach themselves from their day-to-day reality, which is a monumental task when alone.

This is the same conclusion drawn by Dr. Victor Frankl in his excellent Man's Search for Meaning. His experience in Nazi concentration camps led him to conclude that the only way to fend off complete apathy was to try to find a personal meaning in your experience. Even apparently meaningless suffering, he said, can be made meaningful depending on your response: you can maintain your human dignity in the face of overwhelming suffering, and by not forgetting yourself, you can be an affirmation of the strength of humankind.