Torture Need Not Involve Physical Pain

Mar 06, 09:37 AM

Current Headlines: A British study finds ill treatment during captivity not involving physical pain causes as much traumatic stress as physical torture.

Such ill treatment might involve psychological manipulation, deprivation, humiliation and forced stress positions, said Dr. Metin Basoglu and colleagues at the University of London.

After reports of human rights abuses by the U.S. military in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. government officials argued for a fairly narrow definition of torture that excluded mental pain and suffering when not caused by severe physical pain.

In their study, Basoglu and his team assessed 279 survivors of torture from around the world for post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychiatric conditions.

The researchers divided events into seven categories: sexual torture; physical torture; psychological manipulations; humiliating treatment; forced stress positions; sensory discomforts; and deprivation of food, water or other basic needs.

Sham executions, witnessing torture of close ones, threats of rape, fondling of genitals and isolation were associated with at least as much, if not more, distress than some of the physical torture stressors, the authors said.

The study's findings appear in the March issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.