Seclusion Worsened Mental Health Symptoms

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Participants shared that trauma and powerlessness associated with seclusion exacerbated their mental health symptoms.

Hand-drawn Post-it note with the quote: "My panic attack got worse because I felt trapped."

Being in seclusion increased the acute distress that originally led them to be placed there.

Hand-drawn Post-it note with the quote: "It makes everything harder, makes it harder to process things. It makes you fell guilty and down about yourself. It does not feel good for anyone, especially someone in distress."

Symptoms were exacerbated for participants who had underlying psychosis and related paranoia, hallucinations, and delusions.

Hand-drawn Post-it note with the quote: "You're already thinking the world is out to get you, and then a bunch of big guys come and grab you and throw you in a room - so it exacerbates the symptoms."

Participants shared that trauma and powerlessness associated with seclusion exacerbated their mental health symptoms.

Being in seclusion increased the acute distress that originally led them to be placed there.

Symptoms were exacerbated for participants who had underlying psychosis and related paranoia, hallucinations, and delusions.

“I thought that there was a reason why I was put there [in seclusion], according to my conspiracy story that was happening in my head. Being put in a room all by myself and being treated a bit roughly at that point, the story in my head got changed – it was ramping it up another notch.”