Torture has been illegal in most of Europe and the United States for over a century but persisted in other parts of the world. The changing geopolitical landscape has led to its resurgence in recent years. The public rejection of traditional forms of torture that rely on the infliction of physical pain has paradoxically increased the reliance on psychological methods of torture. This critical commentary aims to define and characterize psychological torture (PT) while exploring practical, legal, ethical and therapeutic implications relevant to clinicians and policymakers. Psychological torture comes in a range of forms. It is being increasingly justified and adopted by legitimate authorities in the name of national security. The emphasis on the avoidance of physical pain leads to the assumption that PT does not produce the levels of suffering and harm that are associated with physically violent forms of torture. This same assumption has allowed for the implication of mental health professionals in theorizing and providing legitimacy for the actions of perpetrators. Psychological torture is still poorly defined with limited understanding of its long-term psychiatric impact on those who are subjected to it. The role of mental health professionals in preventing or addressing psychological torture remains ambiguous and needs to be reinforced.
Abu SuhaibanH.GrasserL. R.JavanbakhtA. (2019). Mental health of refugees and torture survivors: A critical review of prevalence, predictors, and integrated care. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(13), 2309.
2.
AggerI. (1989). Sexual torture of political prisoners: An overview. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 2(3), 305–318.
3.
AllenS. (2007). Leave no marks: Enhanced interrogation techniques and the risk of criminality. Physicians for Human Rights.
4.
American Medical Association. (2014). Torture, coercive interrogations and physicians [Internet acesso 3 out 2016]. Disponível: https://bit.ly/2WY1MnV.
5.
American Psychiatric Association. (2006). Position statement on psychiatric participation in interrogation of detainees. American Psychiatric Association.
6.
American Psychological Association. (2005). Presidential Task Force on Psychological Ethics and National Security. Report of the American Psychological Association Presidential Task Force on Psychological Ethics and National Security.
7.
AmonJ. (2010). Abusing patients: Health providers’ complicity in torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Human Rights Watch, editor. Human Rights Watch world report, pp. 49–59.
8.
BasogluM.JaransonJ. M.MollicaR.KastrupM. (2001). Torture and mental health. In GerrityE.KeaneT. M.TumaF. (Eds.), The mental health consequences of torture (pp. 35–62). Springer.
9.
BaşoğluM.LivanouM.CrnobarićC. (2007). Torture vs other cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment: Is the distinction real or apparent?Archives of General Psychiatry, 64(3), 277–285.
10.
BenjaminM. (2007). The CIA’s favorite form of torture. Salon.com, 7.
11.
BorcheltG.ProssC. (2005). Systematic use of psychological torture by US forces. Torture: Quarterly Journal on Rehabilitation of Torture Victims and Prevention of Torture, 15(1), 66–70.
12.
BrecherB. (2007). Torture and the ticking bomb (Vol. 22). John Wiley & Sons.
13.
Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas at UC Davis (CSHRA). (2005). The neurobiology of psychological torture. Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas.
14.
ChoiH.LeeH. J.LeeH. Y. (2017). The effects of torture-related stressors on long-term complex post-traumatic symptoms in South Korean torture survivors. International Journal of Psychology, 52, 57–66.
15.
ChoiH.LeeH. Y.LeeH. J. (2012). Psychiatric diagnoses of torture survivors. Journal of Korean Neuropsychiatric Association, 51(3), 127–133.
16.
ColeD. (2009). Torture memos: Rationalizing the unthinkable. The New Press.
17.
ConroyJ. (2001). Unspeakable acts, ordinary people: The dynamics of torture. University of California Press.
18.
CunniffeD. (2011). The worst scars are in the mind: Deconstructing psychological torture (Thesis, Second semester, University of Vienna). Open Knowledge Repository, EMA. https://doi.org/20.500.11825/883
19.
De JongJ. T.KomproeI. H.Van OmmerenM.El MasriM.ArayaM.KhaledN.van De PutW.SomasundaramD. (2001). Lifetime events and posttraumatic stress disorder in 4 postconflict settings. JAMA, 286(5), 555–562.
20.
De VosJ. (2011). Depsychologizing torture. Critical Inquiry, 37(2), 286–314.
21.
EinolfC. (2007). The fall and rise of torture: A comparative and historical analysis. Sociological Theory, 25(2), 101–121.
22.
FrendaS. J.PatihisL.LoftusE. F.LewisH. C.FennK. M. (2014). Sleep deprivation and false memories. Psychological Science, 25(9), 1674–1681.
23.
FrendaS. J.BerkowitzS. R.LoftusE. F.FennK. M. (2016). Sleep deprivation and false confessions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(8), 2047–2050.
24.
GarciaM. J. (2010). UN Convention against Torture (CAT): Overview and application to interrogation techniques. DIANE Publishing.
25.
GilliganM. J.NesbittN. H. (2009). Do Norms Reduce Torture?The Journal of Legal Studies, 38(2), 445–470.
26.
GormanW. (2001). Refugee survivors of torture: Trauma and treatment. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 32(5), 443.
27.
GrayG.ZielinskiA. (2006). Psychology and US psychologists in torture and war in the Middle East. Torture: Quarterly Journal on Rehabilitation of Torture Victims and Prevention of Torture, 16(2), 128–133.
28.
HalpernA. L.HalpernJ. H.DohertyS. B. (2008). “Enhanced” interrogation of detainees: Do psychologists and psychiatrists participate?Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine, 3(1), 21.
29.
HollifieldM.WarnerT. D.WestermeyerJ. (2011). Is torture reliably assessed and a valid indicator of poor mental health?The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 199(1), 3–10.
30.
HoobermanJ. B.RosenfeldB.LhewaD.RasmussenA.KellerA. (2007). Classifying the torture experiences of refugees living in the United States. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 22(1), 108–123.
31.
JaransonJ. M.ButcherJ.HalconL.JohnsonD. R.RobertsonC.SavikK.SpringM.WestermeyerJ. (2004). Somali and Oromo refugees: Correlates of torture and trauma history. American Journal of Public Health, 94(4), 591–598.
32.
JohnsonH.ThompsonA. (2008). The development and maintenance of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in civilian adult survivors of war trauma and torture: A review. Clinical Psychology Review, 28(1), 36–47.
KennyP. D. (2010). The meaning of torture. Polity, 42(2), 131–155.
35.
KiraI. A.TemplinT.LewandowskiL.CliffordD.WiencekP.HammadA.MohaneshJ.Al-haidarA. M. (2006). The effects of torture: Two community studies. Peace and Conflict, 12(3), 205–228.
36.
KramerD. (2010). The effects of psychological torture. Berkeley Law, (June), pp. 1–9.
37.
LeachJ. (2016). Psychological factors in exceptional, extreme and torturous environments. Extreme Physiology & Medicine, 5(1), 7.
38.
LubanD. (2007). Liberalism, torture, and the ticking bomb. In LeeS. (Ed.), Intervention, terrorism, and torture (pp. 249–262). Springer.
39.
MayerJ. (2007). Letter from hollywood-whatever it takes-torture on “24”. New Yorker, p. 66.
40.
McCoyA. (2007). A question of torture: CIA interrogation, from the Cold War to the War on Terror. Metropolitan Books.
41.
MollicaR. (2011). Medical best practices for the treatment of torture survivors. Torture: Quarterly Journal on Rehabilitation of Torture Victims and Prevention of Torture, 21(1), 8–17.
42.
OlsonB.SoldzS.DavisM. (2008). The ethics of interrogation and the American Psychological Association: A critique of policy and process. Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine: PEHM, 3(1), 3.
43.
O’MaraS. (2015). Why torture doesn’t work. Harvard University Press.
44.
Perez-SalesP. (2017). Psychological torture: Definition, evaluation and measurement. Routledge
45.
PopeK. S. (2018). A human rights and ethics crisis facing the world’s largest organization of psychologists. European Psychologist, 24(2), 180–194.
46.
PunamakiR. L. (1988). Experiences of torture, means of coping, and level of symptoms among Palestinian political prisoners. Journal of Palestine Studies, 17(4), 81–96.
47.
PunamäkiR.QoutaS.SarrajE. (2010). Nature of torture, PTSD, and somatic symptoms among political ex-prisoners. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 23(4), 532–536
48.
RasmussenA.RosenfeldB.ReevesK.KellerA. S. (2007). The subjective experience of trauma and subsequent PTSD in a sample of undocumented immigrants. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 195(2), 137–143.
49.
RejaliD. M. (1994). Torture and modernity: Self, society, and state in modern Iran. Westview Press.
50.
ReyesH. (2007). The worst scars are in the mind: Psychological torture. International Review of the Red Cross, 89(867), 591–617.
51.
SoldzS. (2011). Fighting torture and psychologist complicity. Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice, 23(1), 12–20.
52.
SolzhenitsynA. I.SternbergH. (1975). Letter to the soviet leaders. Harper & Row.
53.
SuedfeldP. (1990). Psychologists as victims, administrators, and designers of torture. Hemisphere Publishing Corp.
54.
United Nations. (2005). Human rights and prisoners: A compilation of international human rights instruments concerning the administration of justice. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. https://www.un.org/ruleoflaw/files/training11Add1en.pdf
55.
United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Nations Unies. Haut Commissariat aux droits de l'homme, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (Geneva) & Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Staff. (2004). Istanbul Protocol: Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman Or Degrading Treatment Or Punishment (Vol. 8). United Nations Publications.
56.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. (2005). Human rights and prisons - Manual on human rights training for prison officials. Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
57.
VorbrüggenM.BaerH. U. (2007). Humiliation: The lasting effect of torture. Military Medicine, 172(suppl_2), 29–33.
58.
WilsonJ. F. (1989). Bureaucracy: What government agencies do and why they do it. Basic Books.
59.
WolfendaleJ. (2009). The myth of “torture lite”. Ethics & International Affairs, 23(1), 47-61.
60.
World Medical Association. (1975). WMA Declaration of Tokyo-Guidelines for Physicians Concerning Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in Relation to Detention and Imprisonment. Proceedings of the 29th World Medical Assembly.
61.
World Medical Association. (2007). WMA declaration of Hamburg concerning support for medical doctors refusing to participate in, or condone, the use of torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. WMA. Net. May.
