Medicine Isolation leads to more mistrust, according to a Bernese study
Prolonged stays in isolated and cramped environments have a major impact on the dynamics of a group. Extreme living conditions increase loneliness, mistrust and conflict, as an international study led by the University of Bern shows.
25.05.2026, 21:00
SDA
For the study, researchers accompanied twelve members of a crew during their ten-month hibernation at the Concordia research station in Antarctica, as the University of Bern announced on Monday. The station is located at an altitude of over 3,000 meters, where temperatures can drop to minus 80 degrees.
In the press release, last author Sebastian Walther described the remoteness of Concordia as even greater than that of the International Space Station. The professor initiated the project together with researchers from the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the University of Bern.
Distrust instead of cohesion
The participants completed questionnaires at four points in time and wore sensors that recorded their physical proximity to other people. This revealed that loneliness, conflicts and paranoid thoughts increased over the course of the mission, while team cohesion and subjectively perceived performance decreased.
The sensor data also showed that more frequent and longer physical proximity did not lead to more cohesion, but to more conflict and mistrust. Furthermore, the crew split along national lines over time: French and Italian members spent more time among themselves, which increased the risk of polarization and tension.
According to the press release, the results are relevant for organizations that deploy teams in isolated environments for long periods of time. However, further crews and studies are needed to derive robust recommendations for space travel, the military or industry. The study was published in the scientific journal "PNAS".
