Ostracism and Mental state

What does it mean to "Ostracize"? or mean to be "ostracized"? is it a physical rejection or is it a psychological feeling of being ignored? or is it both? What are the consequences of being Ostracized, something that I wish to explore in the coming few months.

What is to be Ostracized? Some researchers seem to define Ostracism as a state of temporary banishment by popular vote without trial or special accusation practiced in the real world, or a few others define it as exclusion/rejection from a community and being deprived of common privileges.

But what leads to being ostracized? There seems to be a general agreement across the community that one is ostracized when he/she breaks an universally (specific to the context) accepted "rule". These rules could be self-imposed, group imposed, socially imposed, or culturally imposed. Many a times these rules are set of "generally accepted principles/practices", some sort of psychological contracts, tacit agreements, and "taken for granted" behaviors. Breaking a rule can be in terms of specific unacceptable behaviors, against the accepted norms. There are evidences from History that people were Ostracized for thinking differently, many creative individuals seem to have been ostracized because of this very premise.

Somehow, a type of ostracism that I feel amused is that of self-ostracism. Though I have not explored the psychological reasons leading to such behaviors, history seems to provide numerous cases of self-ostracism. Why do people self-ostracize? is it because they cannot conform with the generally agreed rules? is it due to a psychological rebel? is it their lack of competencies or lack of confidence in a specific area? is it to do with a bad childhood? Somehow people with multiple talents seem to ostracize themselves (my personal observation). Literary people who have numerous internal contradictions, who enjoy being critics, and who overly strain their intellectual faculties seem to suffer from this self-ostracism. Self-ostracized individuals isolate themselves from their social constructs and involve in self-conversational, self-pitying, self-centered, self-indulging behavior. An extreme form of this kind of behavior is what leads to mental instabilities, as a result of being ostracized and excluded from the society. They feel lonely, but they start to enjoy loneliness; get sadistic and enjoy being so; have self-conversations and any intervention in the process is seen as an unwarranted attack on their territoriality.

Why do people engage in self-ostracism? what factors lead to that state? what are the consequences of such behaviors? a few questions that I would want to explore in future.

For now, as my blog marks the beginning of a new way of expressing nonsense :) Am I self-ostracized hehe :)