If you take humanity as a whole and look at the things we fear, certain recurring themes begin to emerge.

Things like spiders, the dark, the boogie man, and even the somewhat more modern fear of

clowns are all some of the things that make up our collective fears, rational or irrational

as they may be.

Yet in the pantheon of things that scare us,

there are a few things quite so terrifying to people as isolation.

Humans are, by nature, driven to cluster together in packs.

We seek out the comfort of friends, of family, of our neighbors and coworkers.

From our cave-dwelling ancestors who learn to hunt and gather together for warmth,

all the way up to our modern-day concept of making virtual friends through social media.

Because no matter how independent and self-reliant we believe we are, we also know on some

instinctive level that there's strength in numbers.

Time and again throughout history, isolation has been shown to have a negative effect on people.

In the modern prison system, we use solitary confinement as a punishment.

It's been scientifically proven that solitary confinement can cause irreversible psychological trauma in as little as 15 days.

People who emerge from solitary confinement have been known to exhibit symptoms similar to schizophrenia.

Sometimes they hear voices, see things that aren't there, or attempt acts of self-harm,

and very often, the fear of being confined alone in a small space

remains with them for a long time after.

Something similar has been shown in people who spend excessive lengths of time in the wilderness or other isolated locations.

It's a condition commonly known as cabin fever.

People suffering from extreme cases of cabin fever have been known to exhibit all sorts of irrational behavior.

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