all of these factors combined can have different effects on women, making them either increasingly anxious or increasingly indifferent. while some women feel desperate and angry, others attempt to feel as little as possible in order to mitigate the effects of segregation. because of the detrimental effect on their mental stability, inmates in solitary confinement often resort to self-harm; this behavior is more common in women than in men. this can sometimes lead to women being held in solitary confinement for longer, as punishment for their destructive actions. similarly, it reinforces the guards’ perceptions of these women as particularly violent or dangerous to the rest of the prison community.