Physical and psychological effects of politically motivated torture of Chilean refugees

Professionals working to alleviate the effects of torture note that to understand the consequences of torture and to facilitate recovery, it is essential to have precise information about the methods of torture (Kosteljanetz and Aalund, 1981) and the process of torture itself (Berdichevsky, 2003). [...] Some of these factors are related to the process of torture; that is, the form and degree of torture and the circumstances under which the torture took place. [...] In general, the objective of political repression, regardless of place and time, has been the annihilation of a political response through the psychological terrorization of the population (Barudy and Paez, 1979). [...] Gerrity, Keane and Tuma (2001) summarize the debate regarding the approaches for conceptualizing the consequences of torture and related violence and trauma as follows: Most groups, including survivors of torture, mental health researchers, and therapists, agree that the PTSD diagnosis can be a useful tool for describing the suffering and symptoms of survivors of torture and trauma, for gauging th [...] At the time of the research in 1985, the study participants were living in exile − one in the United States and the others in various Canadian cities.