How can social isolation affect students?

By Emily Shepherd, Assistant Editor

Due to the spread of COVID 19, college students have been isolating themselves on a regular basis. And without the right awareness, this could lead to students worsening their mental illnesses. 

Isolation can be an unpleasant experience separating students from friends and family resulting in a disruption of our everyday routine. When people envision self-isolation, they might think of solitary confinement, which is used in some prisons as a form of punishment and has shown to cause psychological problems. 

According to ‘Restricting the Use of Solitary Confinement’, by Craig Haney, research showed prisoners who entered solitary confinement experienced issues with their physical and mental health during and after the prolonged isolation.  

The effects of solitary confinement are well documented in scientific literature and every one of the studies found that the isolated prisoners experienced negative psychological effects and were at serious risk of harm.   

“The hippocampus can actually shrink if you’ve been in solitary for a long time, it’s involved with memory, learning, and spatial awareness,” Dr. Katy Hancock, associate professor of the criminal justice department, said. “It can impact your sense of direction and your ability to recognise faces. [After years of solitary confinement] the amygdala can actually grow in size, this can make you more fearful and anxious.”

According to “Social Disconnectedness, Perceived Isolation, and Health among Older Adults,” the results suggested that socially isolated adults worsen their mental health by the perceived extent that they feel isolated only to the extent that they feel isolated. Their study found that in adults, loneliness is a key predictor of depression. 

“Luckily we have things like Zoom and streaming, online classes so we can keep our minds stimulated. That’s a big thing to try and avoid sensory deprivation – trying to stimulate your mind.” Hancock said. “Finding a way to connect with other people is definitely important. One of the ways that impacts how you respond to solitary confinement has to do with the level of deprivation that these people experience.”  

Hancock said the perceived impact of solitary confinement hinges on the person’s intent going into the confinement. In other words, your mindset going into quarantine will either help you or hinder you and your mental health.  Hancock said the prisoners who viewed the confinement as threatening responded to the isolation negatively compared with those who stayed neutral or tolerated the confinement they thought they might have.  

“So try to put yourself mentally into a place where you’re thinking quarantine is for my own good, it’s to keep me safe, it’s not gonna last forever,” Hancock said. “Putting yourself in that mindset might help you to respond to it better than if you see it as a negative thing that’s being unfairly imposed upon you.” 

Katie Trzepacz, a public health major, said she, too, started to feel the effects of socially isolating during April. 

 “I tried to keep good spirits for as long as possible but by May, I was extremely sad all the time… There were several days that I couldn’t get out of bed… I would sit on the floor crying for hours and just could not pull myself off the floor and absolutely nothing would make me feel better.” Trzepacz said. “I started going to therapy in late May when I realized that I was having these days several times a month. I was in a really bad place and probably wasn’t going to be able to get out of it on my own anymore.”

While everyone is at risk of psychological harm when socially isolating, the most vulnerable are adolescents, minority groups, females, and people with pre-existing mental health conditions.  

“If you view it as protecting our health vs infringing on liberties that will probably impact your mental health response as well. It’s threatening, [the effects of isolating] will be worse for you.” Hancock said.  

Faust, an English literature major and creative writing minor, said they struggled to keep up with their classwork and transitioning to working online. Through their time in quarantine, they had time for self reflection to come out as non binary and bisexual to their family.Faust said they have depression and anxiety, which worsened in quarantine. 

I struggled a lot with suicidal thoughts and even had to call the helpline at one point. I started counseling though, so that was a good thing that came out of it.” Faust said. 

Although self isolation can be unpleasant, it’s not quite as psychologically taxing as solitary confinement. Students can use social media, zoom calls to keep themselves distracted during quarantine.  

The University Counseling services are still available for students who are socially isolating through zoom.  For setting up a counseling session please email  msu.counselingcenter@murraystate.edu.

The Counseling Center is open 8:00-4:30 Monday through Friday and they have a counselor on call 9:00-3:00 Monday through Friday. All services are free of charge.

Regional Crisis Line: 800.592.3980

National Suicide Hotline: 800.273.8255

Crisis Text Line: 741-741

Lotus (formerly known as the Purchase Area Sexual Assault Center): 800.928.7273