Psychological punishments are punishments that aim to cause mental pain or discomfort in order to punish an individual. Psychological punishments are usually designed to cause discomfort or pain through creating negative emotions such as humiliation, shame and fear within an individual or by depriving the individual of sensory and/or social stimulation.
Some methods of corporal punishment, such as public flagellation, are designed to have the effects of psychological punishment as a secondary effect to the main punishment and as such the two methods can and are combined. Historically there has not been a distinct separation of pure psychological punishment without an element of physical harm as a formal type of punishment.
Psychological punishments that are particularly cruel and severe may be regarded as psychological torture - for example, the United Nations has stated that placing someone in solitary confinement for periods exceeding 15 consecutive days constitutes torture.[1]
Methods of psychological punishment include: