...An illusion can occur where there are preexisting stimuli; mass hallucinations based of a stimulus are not unheard of or exceedingly rare. However, auditory hallucinations are far more common in those with schizophrenia with 75% of people diagnosed with schizophrenia reporting this type of hallucination. (“DSM IV”). He also only sees the ghost during the night, which suggest there might be a connection with nightmares and daytime REM patterns. (Koffel et al.). It is also common for the hallucination to be a sort of “commentary” on the person who is affected when it comes to their behavior and action. This is true with the ghost of his father since Old Hamlet keeps telling the Prince of Madness to “Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.” (Act I, Scene v, Line 25). This second hallucination, leading Hamlet to the desire to kill in order to achieve vengeance and...
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... Introduction Mental illness in prisons has been sort of a pandemic for correctional systems in the United States for over the last 10 years. The number of men and women who come to prison with some form of mental illness continues to grow by the day. Offenders who do not come to prison mentally ill, will most likely release from prison with some type of mental illness at the end of their prison sentence. This paper will discuss how this population of offenders adapts when they come to prison, and how there viewed by the community. This will be examined here along with some insights on what should be done along with why this topic was chosen. Schizophrenia Many mentally ill offenders come to prison with a variety of disorders schizophrenia, manic depression (bi-polar) or major depression (Schizophrenia.com - Crime, Poverty Violence., n.d.). Schizophrenic inmates probably account for the largest segment of offenders who enter the correctional system every day and have a difficult time adapting to the confines of a correctional environment. By definition schizophrenia is an inability to think, process emotions where people tend to behave in an unacceptable manner because their mind is not able to react to the stimuli from every day life; the name schizophrenia comes from the Greek root "split mind" (Skitzophrenia., n.d.). Hallucinations, hearing voices, paranoia are just some of the symptoms exhibited by mentally ill offenders...
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...My understanding of the cultural and contextual considerations of the novel was deepened through the interactive oral process and class discussion we had about psychological factors in prisoners and films influence on the characters. One interactive oral describes psychological factors found in prisoners such as depression, PTSD, phobias, anxiety issues and most importantly hallucinations. These factors are mostly caused by isolation from society, lack of purpose, lack of privacy and lack heterosexual personality. Some of these factors can be found in Molina and Valentin. For example, Molina and Valentin experience hallucinations because they are traumatized and hurt by isolation from the people they love. Since Valentin participated in a revolution...
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...Solitary Confinement is Brutal Solitary Confinement is cruel, but not just cruel it's feeble. Imagine being in a room that is five times smaller than a room. No one to talk to. Yelling and screaming. Hallucination dreams. Imagine being in a room with nothing just a bed, sink, and toilet. Just laying on their bed with a rock they found and throwing it up in the air. Solitary Confinement is the isolation of a prisoner in a separate cell as punishment. There should not be Solitary Confinement allowed in the prison system because people develop personality disorders, prisoners spend up to twenty- two to twenty- four hours in a cell, and it is not needed for the prisoners in the prison system. The first reason solitary confinement should not be allowed in prison system is because prisoners develop personality disorders. The minute prisoners are left alone for a long period of time some visual and auditory hallucinations, insomnia and paranoia, uncontrollable fear and range, increased risk of suicide, and...
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...No Man Should be an Island: A Literature Review on the Effects of Prisoners in Long-term Solitary Confinement Mary Blanchard Argosy University Abstract This literature review examines the effects of short and long-term solitary confinement on individuals, especially those segregated in prisons and so-called "Supermax" facilities. The hypothesis is that while short-term confinement does not appear to cause serious harm, long-term confinement is detrimental to prisoners, particularly to those who are mentally ill. The evidence concludes there is a correlation between long-term isolation and psychological and physiological problems. The articles cover the history of solitary confinement, the wax, and wane of the practice, life in Special Housing Units, the constitutionality, and recidivism. Additionally, there are suggestions for improving confinement when it is necessary, as well as reducing the use as much as possible by limiting it to the "worst-of-the-worst" offenders. keywords: solitary confinement, "Supermax", Special Housing Units, mentally ill, recidivism, "worst-of-the-worst" No Man Should be an Island: A Literature Review on the Effects of Prisoners in Long-term Solitary Confinement Inroduction From the Iron Maiden and the Rack to Waterboarding and Sensory Deprivation, thoughts of these practices can make the most stoic person shudder. What many do not imagine is that the most harmful form of torture is also the simplest to apply. This "corrective...
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...On Solitary Confinement An Exploration Of An Age-Old Method of Punishment Solitary confinement is defined as the isolation of inmates and limiting their human contact in prison. From its birth in the late 1700s to its more widespread usage in recent history, solitary confinement has grown to be a considerable tool in the arsenal of the United States prison system’s methods of controlling its enormous prison population, shown by an increase in the construction of “Supermax” prisons, maximum-security prisons with units specifically designated to isolate inmates. With solitary confinement’s recent uptick in usage throughout the United States on both the federal and state level, questions have arisen about its implementation, its effects on the prison population, and its ethical implications. With it becoming apparent that solitary confinement will continue to play a large role in the United States correction system in the future, it is important to explore the answers to these questions. In this essay, we will explore these questions in order to understand solitary confinement more fully. History Defined fully as, “…confinement of a prisoner alone in a cell for all or nearly all of the day, with minimal environmental stimulation and minimal opportunity for social interaction,” (trauma of psychological torture 113) solitary confinement strives to eliminate the stimulus of senses such as sight, touch, and hearing, with the elimination of stimulus and social interaction...
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...I have always been curious about behavioral and psychological issues in children as well as in adults. I want to understand why someone acts or reacts the way that they do. However, after some research and experience with those affected, what I have found most intriguing is what's behind the behavior and what causes it. There are many things that can factor into these issues but among these, abuse and neglect are very large contributors. Many studies have been done on the effects child abuse can have. The first study I came across is a study of how violence can affect a child not only when they are young, but also in to adolescence. It is also said that many of the children who witness domestic violence have also experienced some form of child abuse. These events can effect a person's psychosocial outcome so tests were performed to determine to what extent the child was affected. The study was conducted on 457 children/adolescents. According to the Journal of Family Violence, children that were only exposed to domestic violence were more prone to low self esteem, withdrawal, depression and anxiety. Those who were exposed to violence as well as abuse had higher externalizing (acting out against others, including physical aggression, verbal bullying, relational aggression, defiance, theft, and vandalism) and internalizing behaviors( acting out against self, which includes eating too much or too little, feeling depressed, abusing substances and cutting). There were...
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...Long-term solitary confinement could have a negative effect on inmate’s physical and mental well-being. Inmates who are confined to a cell 23 hours out of the day may begin to experience depression, panic attacks, suicidal and decrease in physical appearance such as weight loss. Inmates may lose their social interaction skills because they do not interact with other inmates. Inmates learn to cope with being in small confined spaces and lose focus. “Grassian has since concluded that solitary can cause a specific psychiatric syndrome, characterized by hallucinations; panic attacks; overt paranoia; diminished impulse control; hypersensitivity to external stimuli; and difficulties with thinking, concentration and memory. Some inmates lose the ability...
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...I don't think that juvenile justice system solitary confinement. Experts have proven that the Solitary confinement is one of the major cause of mental illness in the brain. German researchers published 37 studies documenting the psychotic illnesses suffered by their country's isolated inmates, including hallucinations, delusions, and "psychomotor excitation.Albert Woodfox speaks after 43 years in solitary confinement: 'I would not let them drive me insane' He had the longest time in solitary confinement in the us, 43 years to be exact. “We made a conscious decision that we would never become institutionalized,” he said. “As the years went by, we made efforts to improve and motivate ourselves.” “We made sure we always remained...
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...biased view towards everything. Most papers are ok though and can give two sides to a story. I found an article from a newspaper website which showed how a Schizophrenic “hacked to death an innocent person with a meat cleaver”. The headline puts Schizophrenics in a bad light because it makes out that they are savages and creates a moral panic. It makes people think all Schizophrenics are capable of murder when infact it’s a very rare one-off incident. It also makes out that they are mentally stable by saying he was “sane” however this is an unrepresentative way to show how a schizophrenic is mentally. It says “he knew exactly what he was doing”. Schizophrenics suffer from hallucinations. A hallucination is when a person experiences a sensation but there is nothing or nobody there to account for it. A hallucination can involve any of the senses, but the most common is hearing voices. This would mean that the person would’ve struggled to understand what is reality and what’s not reality so this statement is false and unfair. As his lawyer described “his reality is nothing like any of you have ever experienced in your life.' Schizophrenics also have delusions which meant he could’ve feared for his life because he felt threatened by the women he murdered. Later on in the article, in the smaller writing, it then gives his side of the story despite having been initially saying how he murdered an innocent women and it was basically nothing to do with his schizophrenia. The article almost...
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...imprisonment and suicide. Prison is not an environment which promotes positive mental states. The lack of freedom and repetitiveness takes its toll on inmates, and it's not uncommon for prisoners to experience delusions or hallucinations as a result. More common effects in terms of mental health however are increased risk of anxiety and depression. Of course, a decent proportion of offenders had pre-existing psychological disorders before their incarceration, but it's likely that the conditions within prison have both increased depression and triggered it in a significant number of cases. It has been suggested that recent overcrowding in prisons is a major influence on suicide rates in prisons. This is likely as prisoners are more crowded in a confined space, meaning interactions with fellow prisoners are more likely. Such interactions could increase the stress levels of prisoners as they may grow uncertain about the intentions of other prisoners and it may affect their own intentions. In a study conducted by Dooley, the suicide rates of prisoners in England and Wales were reviewed. It was found that out of 442 unnatural deaths that had occurred, 300 had been given a verdict of suicide. Dooley attributed the factor of overcrowding in prisons to the suicide rates, concluding prisoners’ stress levels are increased and therefore become depressed and are more likely to have suicidal thoughts. This study shows a correlation link between overcrowding in prisons and the suicide rates of...
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...This depiction of women is an allegory in the narrator’s mental ruin as the motif highlights male pragmatism over the female imagination: the wallpaper’s “pattern [lolling] like a broken neck”. The imagery of a “broken neck” is a metaphorical depiction of a murder of the female identity, symbolic through her confinement by her husband who ‘resembles the penal officers of the eighteenth-century psychiatric wards or penitentiaries’8. However, it can be argued that in the course of the narrator’s delusion and deterioration, she recognises that the wallpaper’s ugly pattern is imprisoning the hallucination of the ‘woman’ a projection of her inner self. Gilman hence, facilitates the narrator’s own “escape” who’s obsession with tearing the paper, figuratively breaks the bars of the cage in which she’s entrapped. By characterising her narrator as a prisoner in the room, her mind and societally: the narrator’s diagnosis of neurasthenia (commonly ascribed to women), the treatment of which involved the 'rest cure'; complete rest and no intellectual...
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...hard to challenge her.The hallucinations that Bromden has represent how the ward feels prison like a prison to him. In the novel One flew over the Cuckoo's Next, time through Chief Bromden point of view is often full or of flashbacks to when he was a soldier. He remembers when they used to fog up the field in the army and he could not see a thing. This connects to how it feels in the ward, the fog makes eveything stagnant and blurry. Gender is particularly prevalent in the story since it is a female, Nurse Ratched vs males at the mental ward. The female in the story is seen as domineering and authoritative to the men. This is interesting because men are usually authorative to women. In terms of sexuality, McMurphy makes glances at Nurse Ratched and points to features. The fog machine plays an important role in the story. It represents the patients fear of Nurse Ratched. When McMurphy had the guts to stand up to Nurse Ratched as Chief Bromden put it "that big red hand of McMuprhy's is reaching into fog and dropping down and dragging the men up by their hands" (Page 140). The fog is like a cloud that obscures the patients at the ward. It prevents them from fully enjoying life since they are suppressed by the authority of Nurse Ratched. When Chief Bromden raised his hand to agree with McMurphy that they should get to watch baseball in the afternoon, Chief Bromden felt liberated. I think Chief Bromden is a reliable narrator, even with his hallucinations. The way he alternates between...
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...Paranoid Schizophrenics and Serial Killers: Coincidence or not? Schizophrenia and serial killing is not a new phenomenon; it dates back to the 1800’s. The man credited with being the first serial killer in the United States was Herman Mudgett, a.k.a. Dr. Henry H. Holmes. Holmes did most of his killing in Illinois in the disguise of a pharmacist and is credited with 133 murders. About the same time, serial killing was also occurring in London by a man known as Jack the Ripper. Ripper’s killing started in 1888 and was never caught for the heinous murders of five prostitutes. What can cause certain people to commit such murderous acts perpetrated against other human beings? Is it just pure evil or is it some kind of a mental illness? The jury is still out on that, but some serial killers are diagnosed with a mental illness. Serial killing is not something new but has been researched more over the last few years. Douglas & Olshaker , authors of Mindhunter, state that many of the stories told years ago about vampires and werewolves could have been the results of serial killers(1995, 18). Douglas & Olshaker further state that the crimes could have been so sadistic that people thought such acts could only be committed by monsters or non-human beings (1995, 18). It is of importance to also note that serial killing differs from other forms of killing. Some of the other forms include: mass murdering, spree killing, and murders resulting from rage or passion. Serial killing...
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...usually developed that problem while in solitary confinement and thus could not rejoin the general population of prison or had the ability to fully function in society. Solitary confinement would sometimes be in the best interest of the actual prisoner because of the crime that have committed might also get them killed in prison. Inmates were sometimes forced to choose, solitary confinement or fighting for their life because they did not want to get raped. Sometimes non-violent prisoners were placed in administrative segregation because they were waiting to be deported back to their country (Solitary Is Cruel). Solitary confinement emerged from religious reform instituted by the Quakers. The Quakers built the first prison in Philadelphia around 1790 and called it a penitentiary which meant to them to repent for their sins. Quakers believed that solitary confinement was better than the overcrowded and nastily kept prisons in those days. A census taken in 2009 showed there were an estimated 80,000 prisoners in solitary confinement in at least 25,000 were in U.S. super max prisons alone (Solitary Confinement). It has been shown in studies that prisoners who have been in solitary confinement for years develop mental dysfunctions such as seeing and hearing things that are not there, self-mutilations, paranoia, fear, anxiety and increased risk of suicide. Most prison suicides occur in solitary confinement. People are by nature social beings who need contact from others to keep them...
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