Effects of Torture
August 18, 2011 | Society
Torture is a method of inflicting severe anguish on another person. The torture may either be of an emotional or physical nature.
Physical torture involves causing much physical punishment and pain to another person. Emotional torture can consist of continual verbal abuse, or a continual deliberate lowering of the self esteem of another person. Indoctrination is a form of emotional torture.
The effects of torture will often show as the following –
- Acute anxiety, depression and extreme irritability.
- Loss of concentration, memory impairment or memory loss.
- Feelings of guilt and suspicion.
- Complete sexual dysfunction.
Frequently, people who have suffered from any kind of torture will not be prepared to talk about their experience. They will be suspicious and frightened of the questions being asked, and will only want to forget the trauma of their experience.
For any sufferer of torture either physical or emotional the treatment will need to be administered in a very sensitive and careful manner. Very often psychiatric counseling will be necessary since the victim has suffered treatment designed to destroy his or her personality, degrade them into a submissive attitude, and remove their personal identity.
Other all too pervasive effects of torture not only affect the victim, but their family also. The individual will be totally disillusioned, and may have lost many of the values and beliefs he or she held preciously, prior to the event. Certainly a great deal of trust will be missing, and families will have to both give support and adjust to the circumstances of the torture victim.