The Mental Health Effects of Torture Trauma and Its Severity: A Replication and Extension

Abstract

To clarify the effects of torture trauma and its components on PTSD and other mental health conditions, we investigated the relationship between measures for PTSD, Cumulative trauma disorders CTD, cumula-tive life trauma, torture and torture severity in a sample of 326 torture survivors. Hierarchical multiple re-gressions found no significant association between torture and PTSD. However, when we examined the effects of different types of torture we found witnessing and sexual tortures were significant predictors of PTSD and CTD. Path analysis results found that torture trauma and its severity may not be predicative of PTSD; but it is highly predictive of the more complex syndromes of CTD. The implications of the re-sults for treating torture survivors were discussed. One of the important findings is the potential effects of torture on decreased re-experiencing and emotional numbness. Torture trauma may be too emotionally and physically painful experience that tends to be suppressed decreasing re-experiencing and increasing dissociation.