Social Isolation Essay

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Introduction “Social isolation is one of the most devastating things you can do to a human being…” (Wiseman). Social isolation is characterized as a state in which individuals or groups have little to none communication with others. It affects all types of people from children and adults to elders. Though there are varying degrees of social isolation, even the slightest amount has detrimental effects, as social interaction is essential in the development and maintenance of mental health and health overall. Social Isolation in Infancy and Early Childhood Beginning in the 1940s, interest in researching the consequences of deprivation on infants increased greatly due to Rene Spitz’s groundbreaking findings (orphans-early lit on institutionalization). Researchers were intrigued by the fact that there was such a high mortality rate for institutionalized infants (orphans-early lit on institutionalization). People assumed it was due to highly infectious diseases. Contrastingly Spitz, a psychoanalyst and physician from Austria, proposed that the infants were suffering due to a lack of love (it’s …show more content…

If diseases were the reason the infants were dying, then both the hospital and the prison should have poor results. If anything the hospitals should yield better results than the prison because of the sterile environment. However if love mattered, the prisoners’ infants should prevail (it’s the orphanages stupid). Spitz found that 37% of the institutionalized infants died while there were no deaths among those raised in the prison. As a matter of the incarcerated babies grew quicker, were larger and healthier. Those who did manage to survive in the hospital were more likely to contract illnesses. Spitz’s study concluded that more than one in three institutionalized infants died. Moreover, the orphans displayed psychological, cognitive, and behavioral

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