Social factors, such as isolation and societal pressure, can play a decisive role in how a person experiences internal conflicts and ultimately chooses a self-destructive path.

Isolation and Societal Pressure: Seeds of Self-Destruction

Social factors, such as isolation and societal pressure, can play a decisive role in how a person experiences internal conflicts and ultimately chooses a self-destructive path. When a person is initially deprived of normal opportunities for socialization, the groundwork is laid for the formation of internal contradictions, underestimation of one's abilities, and even the development of dysfunctional behavioral patterns. This manifests in several ways:

1. Formation of a Maladjusted Personality. The material from file link txt notes that “when a child is formed in isolation from society... there is no normative socialization of the personality,” leading to the emergence of risk factors and psychotraumatic effects. The absence of opportunities to assimilate social models and values at an early age may result in inner struggles, as it becomes difficult for the person to find their identity and a sense of belonging within society.

2. Prolonged Isolation and Loss of the Ability for Normal Interaction. Experiments described in source link txt demonstrate that extended isolation results in an individual’s inability to adequately engage in social life. Such disturbances in behavior and world perception contribute to feelings of alienation and can eventually push the individual toward self-destructive decisions.

3. One-Sided Personality Development. A quote from file link txt discusses the negative consequences when excessive focus on individual achievements comes at the expense of developing social skills. A person immersed solely in themselves remains deprived of vital support and mutual understanding, which intensifies internal contradictions and creates emotional instability.

4. Destructive Consequences of Excessive Individualization.

As emphasized in reflections attributed to Dostoevsky (“And yet, does this often ‘willfulness’ of a person not turn into self-destruction?

…”), excessive freedom and the desire for self-assertion—expressed through the rejection of accepted norms—can lead to alienation from the surrounding world. The loss of connection with the social environment, combined with internal conflict, causes an individual to become a prisoner of their own passions and ideas, ultimately resulting in self-destruction.

Thus, the absence of full social interaction (isolation) deprives a person of natural “nourishment” from others, while societal pressure and expectations (often contradictory) may force the individual to reject external guidance. This combination intensifies the inner struggle, either leading to deep psychological instability or even pushing the person toward a self-destructive path as a way to cope with the overload of conflicting impulses.

Supporting citation(s):
"Literal adherence to the principles of the Bible, practiced in the activities of Jehovah's Witnesses, limits a person's capacity for independent thought... Witness Kondratyev F.V., a psychiatrist, demonstrated that when a child is formed in isolation from society, does not celebrate holidays, and becomes an outcast in the social environment, there is no normative development of the personality, thereby forming risk factors. It can be said that without society, a normal personality cannot be formed." (source: link txt)

"In the first experiment, Dr. Harlow placed a baby monkey in a cage... When, after three months, she was introduced into a group of monkeys, she initially felt insecure... In the second experiment, the monkey was kept in isolation for six months... Finally, several monkeys previously kept in isolation were placed in a cage... The IQ of these monkeys was much lower than that of those raised under normal conditions." (source: link txt)

"But similar dismal results are also reached by another extreme—one-sided development of the individual aspect of personality at the expense of the social. Such individuals often achieve enormous personal heights, yet they always carry a defect that affects not only society but also themselves." (source: link txt)

"And yet, does this not all too often result in a person's 'willfulness' turning into self-destruction? This is the most intimate theme in Dostoevsky. He not only depicts the tragic clash and intertwining of freedoms or willfulness... He also reveals the most terrifying outcome—the self-destruction of freedom. ... The dreamer becomes an 'underground man,' and a ghastly decay of the personality ensues. Solitary freedom turns into obsession; the dreamer becomes a prisoner of his own dream..." (source details not provided)

These excerpts clearly demonstrate that both isolation and societal pressure can destroy a personality by depriving it of support and guidance, which in turn leads to internal conflict and the choice of self-destructive paths as a means of coping with inner emptiness and contradictions.