You can ridicule Stoicism as "self-tyrrany" as Nietzsche did, but it's hard to quibble with its effectiveness in a situation where your control over your life really is minimal. The first books I had Amazon ship to an old friend when he was sent to prison for a couple of years were the _Enchiridion_ and Marcus Aurelius' _Meditiations_, and he credits them with equipping him with the philosophical and psychological tools to survive there.