How to psychology?

[Souper]

If we send a manned mission to other planets, how do you think we'll keep our crew members sane?

For instance, if one of them goes and murders another, it will compromise the whole thing! This is a serious issue!!

[Brethern]

Simple provide them with activities that will challenge their mental discipline.

[Robotengineer]

The 'Very Insane Venusian' asking a question about how to maintain sanity during deep space voyages is somewhat ironic, wouldn't you already know?

[Albert VDS]

The main problem would be cabin fever, which is easily combated by keeping busy and have company.

The whole insane and murder part suggest that we will go insane and we will start killing.

It's what thrillers want you to believe, but insane doesn't equal murderer.

You only end up whit that if he/she already has the urge to kill.

Also these situations have been studied many times, like Mars 500.

Mars 500 was a 500 day psychological experiment which simulated a Mars mission.

It may not come as a surprise that they didn't kill themselves in those 500 days.

[-Velocity-]

I'm sure there are people who would do just fine on such a trip. The most important thing is not physical space it's keeping the mind busy with enrichment activities. It might be that most humans, with the proper enrichment activities, would make the trip just fine, and we simply need to find out what the problem psychological traits are that we need to avoid, if those traits are not already weeded out by the astronaut/cosmonaut/whatever selection process. Or, it could be much harder, in that we can only select certain kinds of individuals to make the trip. If those traits were strongly hereditary, and the voyage time was not reduced greatly in time, a distant society could end up being socially and governmentally extremely different than an Earthly society. Could be the start of a sci-fi novel

[Nuke]

just send crazy astronauts.

[TheSaint]

Eh, I think this whole issue is overblown. I spent time in the submarine force. On an average deterrence patrol you take 150 guys, with no special screening or selection, and lock them in a glorified sewer pipe for 90 days at a time. The U.S. Navy has been doing this with tens of thousands of men for over 50 years, and they haven't really had a lot of problems with people going crazy and jeopardizing the mission. I think if the space program takes even basic precautions: psychological screening, training, monitoring, etc, they won't have an issue.

Give them KSP to play and enough alcohol/drugs to keep this entertaining

So, you want to place people in an incredibly hostile environment with no means of rescue where their lives depend on every action being done right the first time, every time, and then give them mind-altering substances for recreation? You're right, I can see no way in which this finely-crafted plan could fail. <rolleyes>

[Albert VDS]

"glorified sewer pipe"... what an accurate way to describe a submarine.

[ZedNova]

Freeze em?

[Invader Myk]

The same way hunting bands 10 000 years ago kept themselves sane.

The same way Magellen's crew kept themselves sane.

The same way frontier towns have kept themselves sane.

The same way we keep ourselves sane.

Having something to do, especially if it is obviously related to survival, works wonders for the human psyche. Look at the most common mental health complaints outside neurochemical aberrations. "I don't feel appreciated." "I feel useless." "Nothing I do matters."

[Wanderfound]

This is an area of active research, much of it military funded: a lot of it is aimed at nuke submarine crews.

[lajoswinkler]

Supply the crew with this machine.

[Bryce Ring]

Supply the crew with this machine.

Hook up two of those to turn each other on

Or they could play I Spy...

[RainDreamer]

Hook up two of those to turn each other on

Quoting this out of context can cause quite a lot of misunderstanding.

Or they could play I Spy...

With all the things out there in space and with the correct equipments, I think that can be actually very entertaining.

[lajoswinkler]

Hook up two of those to turn each other on

Or they could play I Spy...

Yes, people have thought of that.

(I hope I'm not breaking any rules again. :rolleyes: )

[Superluminaut]

Space travel, a free pass to criminal behavior? I wanna be an astronaut!

Imagine if one of the Apollo guys killed his crew. lol

Doing anything shady in space is kinda hard, since everyone wants to know everything from your vitals to how you take a .....

Apparently once in space many human activities such as ... and violence just cease to exist. However legend has it that astronauts do in fact fart.

[Brethern]

Space travel, a free pass to criminal behavior? I wanna be an astronaut!

Imagine if one of the Apollo guys killed his crew. lol

Doing anything shady in space is kinda hard, since everyone wants to know everything from your vitals to how you take a .....

Apparently once in space many human activities such as ... and violence just cease to exist. However legend has it that astronauts do in fact fart.

The Apollo program had an extremely tight set of guidelines for astronauts.

This could be a problem for a colonization mission. Where in this world the bar is lowered.

[Superluminaut]

The Apollo program had an extremely tight set of guidelines for astronauts.

This could be a problem for a colonization mission. Where in this world the bar is lowered.

Right, no hippies, only sea foam green connoisseurs.

It could be a problem if people go that don't really want to go. Mars witch trials.

[Bryce Ring]

Come to Mars the new penal colony, where your cause for conviction took place during the journey.

[Brethern]

Right, no hippies, only sea foam green connoisseurs.

It could be a problem if people go that don't really want to go. Mars witch trials.

Uh no.

The people who don't want to go are not the problem. It's the ones who are willing to file lawsuits because they weren't selected that are the problem.

[Bill Phil]

Hook up two of those to turn each other on

Or they could play I Spy...

How about I Spy with a Hubble Telescope?

I Spy something nebulous.

Is is if a nebula?

How did you know?

[PakledHostage]

This could be a problem for a colonization mission. Where in this world the bar is lowered.

This was a major plot device in The Garden of Rama, by Arthur C. Clarke, wherein criminals are sent to "colonize Mars" in exchange for their freedom. I don't think I give too much away to say that it doesn't go well...

[KerbMav]

The trips to Moon were rather short to be comparable to a mission to Mars and even the tours to the ISS are only a few months long and actually just in our backyard.

While onroute to Mars you cannot just turn around and go home if something happens and I gather the ship will be less luxurious and much smaller than we are used to in movies, it might very well be even smaller than the ISS which is rather spacious for its small crew.

Some have mentioned it and although it might be a bit touchy for the forum masters, it is really something to be taken into consideration - for you may entertain the mind with all the travellers like to do (movies, games, books, music, Super Bowl viewings, private mail etc.), but the human need for intimacy will come up at some point of the voyage and should be planned for during the selection and training process, whether the crew is comprised of couples (which would have its own complications) or open-minded singles.

I am also quite sure that the times in which astronauts were required to wear medical monitors all day are over - during launch, landing, EVA etc. maybe, but regular exams is sufficient when the crew is in a controlled habitat.

[Tommygun]

I've always thought that Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station could be a good example the psychology of a Mars base.

You have 200 people in the summer, if you can call it that and 50 over the six months of darkness and winter.

They are a mixture of people from scientists to maintenance and are they same types of people you would need on a Mars base.

People stay sane by working, socializing and whatever hobbies they can do in a small place.

[RainDreamer]

I think the worst problem would be the fear of being forever lost in space. Unlike other places on Earth, where help may arrives in hours/days/weeks in case they got stuck and send out an S.O.S signal, it may take months or even years for us to rescue a stranded team of astronauts in space, if it is even possible.