Psychological Sequelae of Torture

Abstract

Torture is one of the most important preventable causes of psychological morbidity. Amnesty International (1987) has reported the use of “brutal torture and ill-treatment” in over 90 countries in the 1980s. In some countries torture has been applied on such a widespread scale and in such an arbitrary manner that whole populations are affected. In Kampuchea under the Pol Pot regime, for example, genocide and torture took place on a massive scale; indeed, merely wearing spectacles became for many a capital offence (Amnesty International, 1983). Similar reports abound from many other countries and regions.