Mental Health And Isolation
This article is someone’s story about how isolation affects mental health, of how his mental health was impacted. The word isolation conveys seclusion and loneliness. For most of us, isolation leads to negative mental health. Isolation is not really a psychological issue, but it causes some critical issues like depression and anxiety. How does isolation do this? And how does it affect our mental health?
Mental Health And Isolation
Have you ever been in isolation? If you did, did it affect your well-being? How was your own isolation experience? Here’s mine.

When COVID-19 hit the world, everyone seemed to be in a panic mode, buying everything in bulk. But that was not the case for me. I shopped for a few days’ worths of supplies on purpose so that I had an excuse.
Of course, COVID-19 existed. The fact that it was a new physical condition made it 100 times scarier than any other illness I could think of.
My Routine Got Messed Up
Let me take you to when my well-being went awry during seclusion.
I planned to continue going to the supermarket three or four times a week while avoiding total seclusion. The park opened briefly, but the local government closed it again so more time away from people.
Unfortunately, I realized that any plan that seemed perfect was too good to be true when the supermarket closed one day. It read: “Sorry for the inconvenience. An employee tested positive for COVID-19, so if you’ve shopped with us in the last few days, please inform the health authorities.”

I could not decide what was worse between getting a swab test and remaining in isolation. I knew then that my well-being would be negatively affected as well.
Social Isolation On Mental Health
Social seclusion occurs when someone has been secluded from the people around him. This apparently affects his well-being.
I never thought of the possibility of being healthy and asymptomatic, which I turned out to be (and I realized being positive could also affect my well-being). Now, it was my time to be isolated. My head was spinning – I hated isolation.
I promised not to go out for at least three weeks and stay in seclusion. But I would be a liar if I said that I never thought of sneaking out once to avoid seclusion. Seclusion was one of the worst experiences of my life! It may sound exaggerated but it was, especially when it also put a toll on my well-being.

Gosh, isolation was – and still is – crazy! After a week of isolation and staring at the same walls, I grew restless, and mental panic began to creep in. I tried to drink my mental woes away. My mental health was at risk!
Isolation F*cked My Mental Health
Of course, drinking did not help my mental health at all. One morning, I woke up with a mental hangover and got ready to buy some meds for it, but then I remembered that I could not leave, so I had to stay in isolation and nurse myself with water. The depression was sinking in. Another mental health condition arose – anxiety.
It was my younger sister who helped me – she just got her license to work as a mental health counselor. It was depressing to be in isolation, and hearing her voice touched my soul. I missed my family. Clearly, the isolation led to my poor mental health.

Counseling To Heal Me – What I Did
Every day since then, my sister, the mental health counselor, would talk to me for at least 30 minutes. She would tell me about her day as a mental health counselor and a mom of two playful kids. It somehow helped my mental health hearing her voice.
Mental Health And Isolation
On my part, I decided to be honest about my feelings about depression and isolation. If anyone could get me out of my depression due to isolation, it would be my sister who is a mental health counselor. She would often tell me, “In these uncertain times, everyone is prone to mental health issues, especially people who live in isolation,” she explained.
Isolation Final Thoughts
My thoughts about my isolation experience and my mental health.
I had a tough time with my mental health initially during my isolation. Isolation might have driven my mental health insane if my mental health counselor sister did not reach out to me on time. If there’s anything I understood from the isolation experience, though, it’s that mental health counseling would beat drinking for mental health any day.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How does isolation impact mental health?
- What are 5 mental impacts isolation has on people?
- What mental illnesses can isolation cause?
- What isolation does to a person?
- What happens when you don’t socialize?
- What happens to the brain if you don’t socialize?
- What happens if you isolate yourself for too long?
- Is isolation a form of depression?
- Can being alone cause mental illness?