William Gorman and Sandra G. Zakowski
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780226529387
- eISBN:
- 9780226529554
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226529554.003.0003
- Subject:
- Law, Human Rights and Immigration
This chapter draws upon the experiences of its authors as psychological counselors for survivors of torture, as well as their expertise as professors of psychology. They argue that the psychological ...
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This chapter draws upon the experiences of its authors as psychological counselors for survivors of torture, as well as their expertise as professors of psychology. They argue that the psychological effects of torture on mental health are multi-dimensional, and affect its survivors, their families, their communities, and those who treat their trauma. Societies that resort to using torture also harm those who are tasked with torturing others. Torture frequently leads to trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder among its survivors, and presents difficulty for functioning in a variety of aspects of everyday life. Many torture survivors are also refugees forced to flee their homes, which often magnifies the difficulties of achieving recovery from torture. The authors suggest, however, that torture survivors often achieve significant degrees of recovery and reintegration into their communities when given adequate support and counseling. The chapter ends with a brief discussion of the role psychologists and the American Psychological Association played in facilitating the United States' use of torture against captives in its war on terror.Less
This chapter draws upon the experiences of its authors as psychological counselors for survivors of torture, as well as their expertise as professors of psychology. They argue that the psychological effects of torture on mental health are multi-dimensional, and affect its survivors, their families, their communities, and those who treat their trauma. Societies that resort to using torture also harm those who are tasked with torturing others. Torture frequently leads to trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder among its survivors, and presents difficulty for functioning in a variety of aspects of everyday life. Many torture survivors are also refugees forced to flee their homes, which often magnifies the difficulties of achieving recovery from torture. The authors suggest, however, that torture survivors often achieve significant degrees of recovery and reintegration into their communities when given adequate support and counseling. The chapter ends with a brief discussion of the role psychologists and the American Psychological Association played in facilitating the United States' use of torture against captives in its war on terror.
Scott A. Anderson and Martha C. Nussbaum (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780226529387
- eISBN:
- 9780226529554
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226529554.001.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Human Rights and Immigration
This book gathers fourteen essays on torture, addressing its complexities from the perspectives of psychology, history, philosophy, law, and cultural commentary. It appears in the wake of the ...
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This book gathers fourteen essays on torture, addressing its complexities from the perspectives of psychology, history, philosophy, law, and cultural commentary. It appears in the wake of the American “War on Terror,” and the apparent evaporation of a broad consensus in international law, the U.S. legal community, and public thinking that torture is never an acceptable act, even in war. The chapters of the book seek to understand the historical and cultural roots of torture; to assess its impacts on survivors, their societies, and those who engage in it or with its victims; to consider philosophical arguments about its justification; and to consider how law and lawyers should confront the problem of torture. While there is no single message or thesis running throughout the book, all of the chapters seek to bring out the complexity of torture as a social, psychological, legal and ethical problem. The introductory chapter, by torture survivor Albie Sachs, who went on to become a justice on the Constitutional Court of South Africa, demonstrates many of the challenges that torture creates for a society, and for conceiving justice in the wake of torture. Many of the subsequent chapters address the possibilities and difficulties for law and social institutions to respond effectively to torture by creating legal frameworks and structural barriers to guard against the temptations that torture offers. While none of the chapters defend using torture, many grapple with the difficulties of explaining convincingly why ethics absolutely prohibits torture.Less
This book gathers fourteen essays on torture, addressing its complexities from the perspectives of psychology, history, philosophy, law, and cultural commentary. It appears in the wake of the American “War on Terror,” and the apparent evaporation of a broad consensus in international law, the U.S. legal community, and public thinking that torture is never an acceptable act, even in war. The chapters of the book seek to understand the historical and cultural roots of torture; to assess its impacts on survivors, their societies, and those who engage in it or with its victims; to consider philosophical arguments about its justification; and to consider how law and lawyers should confront the problem of torture. While there is no single message or thesis running throughout the book, all of the chapters seek to bring out the complexity of torture as a social, psychological, legal and ethical problem. The introductory chapter, by torture survivor Albie Sachs, who went on to become a justice on the Constitutional Court of South Africa, demonstrates many of the challenges that torture creates for a society, and for conceiving justice in the wake of torture. Many of the subsequent chapters address the possibilities and difficulties for law and social institutions to respond effectively to torture by creating legal frameworks and structural barriers to guard against the temptations that torture offers. While none of the chapters defend using torture, many grapple with the difficulties of explaining convincingly why ethics absolutely prohibits torture.
Nancy Sherman
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780226529387
- eISBN:
- 9780226529554
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226529554.003.0004
- Subject:
- Law, Human Rights and Immigration
While Stoicism is taught as both an ethics and a strategy for confronting life’s troubles and bodily pain, the effect of torture on the victim’s psychology is often beyond what Stoic training can ...
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While Stoicism is taught as both an ethics and a strategy for confronting life’s troubles and bodily pain, the effect of torture on the victim’s psychology is often beyond what Stoic training can protect against. This chapter briefly describes the development of ancient Stoic philosophy among Greek and Roman writers such as Epictetus and Seneca, and then considers whether the equanimity and apatheia (freedom from emotion) it teaches suffice to provide invulnerability against the pain and degradation involved in torture. The aim of modern torture in war is, as David Sussman has argued, typically to turn its victim’s will against itself, and thereby to force upon its victim a sense of collusion and self-betrayal. Based on interviews with former wartime captives and the testimony of other survivors of torture, the chapter argues that Stoicism does not typically provide its victims of torture invulnerability against capitulating to the demands of their torturers, but it does provide some guidance for how survivors of torture can achieve a “self-acceptance” that may aid in dealing with the almost inevitable capitulation that torture elicits.Less
While Stoicism is taught as both an ethics and a strategy for confronting life’s troubles and bodily pain, the effect of torture on the victim’s psychology is often beyond what Stoic training can protect against. This chapter briefly describes the development of ancient Stoic philosophy among Greek and Roman writers such as Epictetus and Seneca, and then considers whether the equanimity and apatheia (freedom from emotion) it teaches suffice to provide invulnerability against the pain and degradation involved in torture. The aim of modern torture in war is, as David Sussman has argued, typically to turn its victim’s will against itself, and thereby to force upon its victim a sense of collusion and self-betrayal. Based on interviews with former wartime captives and the testimony of other survivors of torture, the chapter argues that Stoicism does not typically provide its victims of torture invulnerability against capitulating to the demands of their torturers, but it does provide some guidance for how survivors of torture can achieve a “self-acceptance” that may aid in dealing with the almost inevitable capitulation that torture elicits.
