Sadly, it is highly likely that psychological torture is committed by governments worldwide and yet, notwithstanding the serious moral questions that this disturbing and elusive concept raises, and research in the area so limited, there is no operational or legal definition. This pioneering new book provides the first scientific definition and instrument to measure what it means to be tortured psychologically, as well as how allegations of psychological torture can be judged. Ground in cross-disciplinary research across psychology, anthropology, ethics, philosophy, law and medicine, the book is a tour de force which analyses the legal framework in which psychological torture can exist, the harrowing effects it can have on those who have experienced it, and the motivations and identities of those who perpetrate it. Integrating the voices both of those who have experienced torture as well as those who have committed it, the book defines what we mean by psychological torture, its aims and effects, as well as the moral and ethical debates in which it operates. Finally, the book builds on the Istanbul Protocol to provide a comprehensive new framework, including practical scales, that enables us to accurately measure psychological torture for the first time. This is an important and much-needed overview and analysis of an issue that many governments have sought to sweep under the carpet. Its accessibility and range of coverage make it essential reading not only for psychologists and psychiatrists interested in this field, but also human rights organizations, lawyers and the wider international community.
Author(s): Pau Pâerez-Sales
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2017
Language: English
Commentary: TruePDF
Pages: 434
Tags: Psychological Torture
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Acknowledgements
Table of Contents
EXTENDED TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of tables
List of figures
Why this book: the need to define and operationalise torture in the present century
SECTION 1 Premises
1 Where things stand: the concept of torture and psychological torture
The definition of torture in the legal arena
The boundaries of torture: the concept of Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment (CIDT)
Psychological torture: early definitions
White torture, no-touch torture and clean torture
SECTION 2 The voices
2 Intangible elements of psychological torture: learning from the voices of survivors
Vann Nath – A Cambodian Prison Portrait
Carlos Liscano – The Truck of Fools
Jacqueline Gurruchaga and Beatriz Brenzano – Memories of Sexual Torture
Mario Villani – Disappeared: Memories of Captivity
Henry Engler – The Circle
Marcelo Viñar – Fractures of Memory
Jean Améry – At the Mind’s Limits
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn – The Gulag Archipelago
Javier Larreta Aldazíbar – Incommunicado detention and torture in Spain
Summary and conclusions: defining psychological torture in the experiences of torture survivors
Implications for the legal definition of torture
3 The definition of psychological torture in the testimonies of harsh interrogators and torturers
Jorge Néstor Tróccoli – The Wrath of Leviathan
Ex-colonel Gilberto Vazquez – Interview with a torturer
Hugo García Rivas – Confessions of a torturer
Bruce Moore-King – Unspeakable Acts, Ordinary People
Damien Corsetti: The Monster
‘Harsh interrogation’: Behavioral Science Consultation Teams
Summary and conclusions: a definition of psychological torture in the experience of harsh interrogators and torturers
SECTION 3 Current legal perspectives
4 Psychological torture in international law
An analysis of jurisprudence
Fear and threats constituting torture in international law
Collective terror as a form of torture
Rape as a special case of physical and psychological torture
Detention conditions
Other conditions amounting to cruel or inhuman treatment based on psychological suffering
Indicators of psychological torture in international human rights law
Conclusion: psychological torture slowly gains recognition
5 From dignity to identity: humiliation as a paradigm of the differences between legal and mental health perspectives
Torture as an attack on human dignity
A relational definition of torture
The efficacy of humiliation in torture settings
From theory to data: clinical and research-based studies
Conclusion: dignity and humiliation from legal and mental health perspectives
6 The perpetrator’s psychological and legal rationale: motivation, intention and purpose
Intentionality: knowingness and willingness
Intentionality Assessment Checklist: a new tool
Purpose
Motivation
Conclusions
SECTION 4 Scientific approaches to defining psychological torture
7 Cataloguing torture methods
Psychometric tools for measuring torture
Classification based on mathematical procedures
Consensus groups
Theory-driven classifications
Combined or single methods
Conclusions: the need to shift from focusing on torture methods to focusing on its objectives
8 The neurobiology of psychological torture
Fear and loss of controllability
Do biological markers of psychological torture exist?
Self-conscious emotions
Neuropsychological evidence of torture
Conclusions: from nonspecific to specific correlates
9 Trauma theory and the concept of psychological torture
The concept of ‘trauma’
What we can learn from the debate over the concept of trauma
The torture’s impact on identity and worldviews
Functional measurements
Mental harm as a sign of psychological torture
SECTION 5 Psychological torture techniques
10 The historical roots of psychological torture in modern history: the slow road to convergence
The French school: the rule of pain
The British school: implementing and training in psychological torture
The American school of psychological torture
Conclusions: lessons from history
Addendum: excerpts from Modern Warfare: A French View of Counterinsurgency by Roger Trinquier (1961)
11 Primary needs and relationship to the environment
Detention conditions
Social isolation, solitary confinement and sensory deprivation
Sleep regulation
An integrated model of environmental manipulation and coercive interrogation
12 Targeting the body to reach the mind: pain without marks
Pain-producing positions and exercises
Internal battles: externally-imposed self-inflicted pain, forced absorption, stress positions and emotional exhaustion
13 The limitations of normal interrogation in law enforcement procedures
Legal precedents
Mapping the field
Classification of interrogation techniques
From ethics to science: experimental studies comparing interrogation styles
Conclusions: are manipulation and deception torture techniques?
14 Interrogation procedures in military intelligence gathering
US Army Manuals: drawing the line between interrogation and torture?
From coercive interrogation to psychological torture
The hybrid paradigm
Conclusions: clear regulations for cumulative ill-treatment
15 The psychological manipulation of identity
‘Brainwashing’: the myth and reality of identity manipulation and its application in the definition of psychological torture
Targeting identity
16 Technological research and psychological torture
Monitoring interrogations with the aid of technology
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
Brain Fingerprinting: event-related potentials (EEG–ERP)
Use of drugs
Ethical concerns related to new technologies
SECTION 6 Definition and measurement of psychological torture
17 Redrawing the conceptual map of torture
An overview of where we stand: five definitions for the same act
Converging ideas towards a universal model of torture
Fitting the pieces together in an atlas of psychological torture
The ‘five days is enough’ paradigm: torture with and without time limits
What we’ve learned after redrawing the map
18 A new outlook for defining and measuring torturing environments
Torturing environments instead of torture methods
The Torturing Environment Scale as a measurement tool
19 The need to further develop the Istanbul Protocol
A reconsideration of psychological torture in the Istanbul Protocol
Moral suffering
Credibility analysis in the Istanbul Protocol
SEC: a new tool to assess credibility based on the Istanbul Protocol
Other aspects
Conclusions
20 Final thoughts and an agenda for future research
Psychological torture, or simply torture
The future of torture
Many definitions, one concept
Evaluation of torturing environments
The Istanbul Protocol
Reversing the paradigm
APPENDIXES
Appendix 1. International classification systems
Classification of torture methods according to the Istanbul Protocol (1985)
HURIDOCS: thesaurus for the classification of torture methods
Appendix 2. CIA and Army Manuals
The KUBARK Interrogation Manual: techniques
FM 2–22.3 Human Intelligence Collector Operations (2006)
Appendix 3. Classification of Interrogation Techniques (Kelly et al., 2013)
Appendix 4. Toolbox
Semi-structured interview for torture survivors – Exposure to Torture Scale (Basoglu and Paker, 1995)
Torture Checklist ( Jaranson et al., 2004)
Torture Screening Checklist, Revised (TSCL-R) (Rasmussen, 2011, 2016)
Vital Impact Assessment Questionnaire – VIVO Questionnaire (Pérez-Sales et al., 2012)
Appendix 5. The Torturing Environment Scale
Scoring and interpretation of results
Psychological versus physical torture methods
Appendix 6. Standardized Evaluation Form for Credibility assessment (SEC)
Appendix 7. Intentionality Assessment Checklist (IAC)
Appendix 8. A Step-by-step Guide for Documenting Torture
Stage 1: Testimonies
Stage 2. Using tools and scales
Bibliography
Index
