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On ice and in space, lessons for Chilean miners
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The miners don't have the kind of physical needs, for warmth and nourishment, that turned other stories of isolation into nightmares. The Donner Party turned to cannibalism in the California mountains in the winter of 1846-1847. In 1972, survivors of a plane crash in the Andes ate pieces of dead passengers.
"The worst thing is to be thrown into darkness [after a collapse], not knowing if anybody knows they're there," said John Grubb, an adjunct professor at the Colorado School of Mines. Now, he said, "it's just a matter of coping with the time. It's really boring and all, but I would think that the worst is behind them."
Terrors of time, boredom
But mental health experts say boredom and time - if not handled correctly - can be terrors.
Their case studies are often drawn from decades ago, before advances in technology and communication reduced real isolation to the realms of war, space, polar ice stations and underground mines. Many of the starkest lessons are taken from the polar expeditions of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
"I so wish I could talk to those miners and tell them about Ernest Shackleton's ill-fated Antarctic voyage. If they knew that 27 men survived for 20 months in the harshest conditions known to man, with no contact with the outside world and no immediate hope of a rescue, I think these miners would know that they could get through this," said Alison Levine, who has led polar expeditions and expeditions to Mount Everest. She was citing one of the most famous stories of polar survival, beginning in 1914, when Shackleton led a crew of men across wild polar seas to safety after their boat was crushed in ice.
One key lesson, survival experts said, is to keep up the rhythms of day and night. In the mine's constant darkness, they said, the men might have trouble falling asleep, leading to fatigue, irritability and bad decisions.
In one early polar expedition, a ship doctor made his patients sit by roaring fires. Now, experts say, the same goal might be achieved by keeping the crew to an unchanging schedule of sleep, breakfast and work.
Another maxim, for those communicating with the miners from the surface, is that honesty is crucial. Experts said keeping dispiriting information from the miners could carry risks.
"Expectations unmet are a horrible thing, especially when you're already psychologically stressed," said Jerry Linenger, a U.S. astronaut who was aboard the Russian Mir space station when a fire broke out in 1997.
He and two Russian crewmates were trapped in the malfunctioning craft until a rescue ship arrived four months later. Linenger said one of his lowest points during that ordeal was a time that he was told he would be able to speak with his pregnant wife over a radio link.
"I prepared for a week. I wrote down what I would say and then crossed things off and added new ones. I was so excited. But the time came, they said she was on the line, and all I got was static," he said. "After that, I expected nothing and was psychologically more healthy."
Parceling out work
For the miners' leaders, historians said, it will be key to parcel out work - to provide a sense of purpose - and leisure time. There seems to be plenty of work to do because the miners must clear debris caused by the tunneling from above.
