“One never heals from torture. One merely learns to cope with the aftermath,” a torture victim is quoted as saying in a report by the Torture Abolition and Survivor Support Coalition International (TASSC).
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Yet, for most of us the notion of torture tends to have the air of something far away – from the Middle Ages, the movies, or a rogue state halfway around the world. In fact, torture is much closer to home than what we think, and the effects can be life-long and devastating.
On October 4, 2007, the New York Times reported that, “The Bush administration had entered uncharted legal territory beginning in 2002, holding prisoners outside the scrutiny of the International Red Cross and subjecting them to harrowing pressure tactics. They included slaps to the head; hours held naked in a cold cell; days and nights without sleep while battered by thundering rock music; long periods manacled in stress positions; or the ultimate, waterboarding.”
We take a look at some of these methods of torture and the impact they can have on physical and psychological health.
Waterboarding
One of the most controversial methods of torture allegedly employed by the CIA is waterboarding.
“Waterboarding is when a prisoner is bound to an inclined board, feet raised and head slightly below the feet. Cellophane is wrapped over the prisoner's face and water is poured over him,” according to the US human rights group Physicians for Human Rights (PHR).
The exact way in which waterboarding is done may differ, but in all cases the aim is to convince the victim that he or she is drowning. Basically, the torturer is inducing a near-death experience with the dramatic physical response that entails.
Even though drowning is only simulated, the PHR points out that hypoxia (lack of oxygen) can occur, which May in turn lead to neurological damage.
“The combined psychiatric and physiological stress resulting from this technique could induce cardiac ischaemia and other cardiac issues in vulnerable individuals,” says the PHR.
In an open letter, Human Rights Watch writes that, “waterboarding is torture. It causes severe physical suffering in the form of reflexive choking, gagging, and the feeling of suffocation. It may cause severe pain in some cases,” and that, “many victims of waterboarding suffer prolonged mental harm for years and even decades afterward.”
Forced prolonged standing
We all know that standing for a long time can make you feel a bit dizzy, but when you are forced to stand for extended periods with your movements restricted, the effects can be severe.
In some cases, prisoners have allegedly been forced to stand for as much as 40 hours with their feet shackled to the floor.
According to the PHR, “prolonged standing is associated with venous thrombotic phenomenon such as deep vein thrombosis (when blood clots form in deep veins) and pulmonary embolism (when an artery in the lung becomes blocked).”
In addition, prolonged standing carries the risk of fainting, which can result in significant blunt force trauma including head injury, fractures and other soft tissue injury, says the PHR.
Deprived of sleep
Getting enough sleep is a basic element of human health. So, it should come as no surprise that being systematically deprived of sleep will take a toll on one’s wellbeing.
According to the PHR, “prolonged sleep deprivation results in a number of deleterious psychological effects, most prominent among them being cognitive impairment. Cognitive impairments include difficulties with memory, learning, logical reasoning, complex verbal processing, and decision-making.”
Beyond that, they point out that severe lack of sleep can also result in hypertension, cardiovascular disease, a decrease in immune function, altered glucose tolerance and insulin resistance.
Threat of death
One of the most harmful forms of torture involves the threat of imminent death. This can take the form of mock executions of the victim or of the victim's loved ones.
Much of the emphasis here is on taking control away from the victims and leaving them incapable of defending themselves, or their loved ones. They are put completely at the mercy of the person conducting the torture. Victims are often tied up and/or hooded.
According to the PHR, these forms of torture have been clinically found to cause the highest rates of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and personality change.
These findings seem to confirm the notion that “one never heals from torture. One merely learns to cope with the aftermath.”
Torturing the mind
One argument that has been put forward to defend the use of certain interrogation techniques is that they do not constitute “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment (a common definition of torture).”
Much of this argument hinges around the idea that certain interrogation techniques are not really all that bad (sometimes referred to as “torture light”). Or, specifically, that psychological torture – where little visible lasting damage is done to the victim’s body – is somehow more acceptable. (Note that the distinction between psychological and physical torture is a highly controversial one.)
In a landmark article published in the journal Archives of General Psychiatry in March this year, researchers from King’s College, University of London, found that victims of “physical” and “psychological” interrogations suffered similar levels of mental harm (often in the form of post-traumatic stress disorder or depression).
The researchers wrote that, “the traumatic stress impact of torture (physical or non-physical torture and ill treatment) seemed to be determined by perceived uncontrollability and distress associated with the stressors.” This recognition of the importance of perception further brings into question the value of a physical/psychological distinction.
They concluded that “ill treatment during captivity, such as psychological manipulations, humiliating treatment, and forced stress positions, does not seem to be substantially different from physical torture in terms of the severity of mental suffering they cause, the underlying mechanism of traumatic stress, and their long-term psychological outcome. Thus, these procedures do amount to torture, thereby lending support to their prohibition by international law.”
It seems that while torture can often badly hurt the physical health of victims, the toll on the victim's psyche can often be even more severe and long-lasting.
Either way, the suggestion by some officials in the US that interrogation methods such as waterboarding, sham executions and prolonged standing do not constitute "cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment" simply does not stand up to scrutiny.
- (Marcus Low, Health24)
Note that this article only focusses on a selection of the methods of torture that is currently making news in the context of the “war on terror.”
Torture vs Other Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Treatment: Is the Distinction Real or Apparent? Archives of General Psychiatry. March 2007, (vol 64, p 277).
The Torture Abolition and Survivor Support Coalition International’s 2005 submission to the United Nations. (It contains a number of personal accounts of torture)
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