Stress in the mind: The psychological effect of torture

When the mind sees what it cannot bear, when it stares at the gory picture presented in front of it and when it is suppressed every moment physically and mentally, it’s a torture. We can never define it. Only the one, who has gone through it, can understand. Torture is something that lingers even after you are rescued from it; it stays back in your mind in the form of stress. Initially, torture was used as a method of coercion or as a tool to control groups seen as a threat.

For the after- effects, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is the one which is the most common in victims after which they become insecure and start avoiding public life. They also have nightmares and flashbacks. They sink into depression, have suicidal thoughts, undergo flashes of what happened with them, sleeplessness and the belief that the torture isn’t over. The biggest monster of them all is fear. A victim faces fear of everything, to walk, to talk; to eat etc.; all this becomes very difficult for them. We’ve heard innumerable cases of torture in Guantanamo Bay, the prison where you find hell. Prisoners are humiliated till the extent the mind cannot even imagine. They are made to lay on feces and urine. They are made to perform tasks which kill them from inside. This kind of physical torture can lead to dysfunction of the immune system, cause fatal diseases such as cancer. Difficulties in concentrating, nightmares, memory loss, fatigue, anxiety are other psychological effects of torture.

Looking at few examples, the Hammond Hill prison at Jaffna, Sri Lanka prisoners were kept in brutal conditions; the air inside the dungeons was not breathable, the heat was intolerable, poor ventilation and sanitation led to the death of a prisoner. This was torture inside prisons. Iraqi refugees suffered high amounts of torture. Nibras Naseer was an Iraqi refugee, he was kidnapped from Baghdad, and a few mysterious men told him that he would be beheaded if he was found to be a traitor. He currently lives in constant fear of execution.

Torture can happen in two forms, mild and extreme. Mild torture also has after effects like in our society. There are cases where children are mentally, physically and sexually abused. This is torture. These kids grow up to be fearful, full of anxiety and are afraid to face the crowd. Many of them suffer from mental disorders. There is one more aspect to torture. Torture brings stress to not only the victim but also to those who surround the victim. A case, where in the husband was severely tortured on suspecting to be a spy and when he returned to his house, he failed to recognize his wife, his children what he did and everything about his life. This brought stress to the whole family. We’ll take one more case of a girl who was raped by 10 different men in one night who were all drunk. This girl was only 16 year old. Later due to mental torture, she committed suicide. The effect was death.

There are many anti-torture groups who work for the benefits of the victims. Under international law, torture is the most heinous crime. That time is when you deprive the person of all his rights, the right to natural justice and affects his/her life forever. In order to curb some social evil, causing a worse crime like torture is one of the major problems of mankind.

Alia Haley is a blogger who has a strong belief on the benefits of natural medications. She has a personal experience of alternate medicines as a wonderful sinus remedy. She recently read about the concept of silent birth and got inspired to write a piece on it.

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