Study shows "no such thing as torture lite"

A study, led by a King's College pyschiatrist, that surveyed victims of mental and physical torture victims from the Balkans wars reveals that the impacts for both kinds of abuse are the same over the long-term: post traumatic stress and depression. The study, published in the Archive of General Psychiatry, is being offered for free on the journal's site. According to the LA Times:

The worst physical tortures averaged between 3.2 and 3.9. Falling within the same range were several other forms of mistreatment, including isolation, sham executions, death threats and being pelted with urine or feces.

"Nonphysical stressors during captivity were as distressing and traumatic as stressors involving physical pain," Basoglu said.

The interviews were conducted an average of eight years after the mistreatment.

More than 55% of the subjects were suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, and 17% were clinically depressed. It made no difference whether the abuse was a clear case of physical torture or forms of psychological manipulation.

What mattered most, Basoglu said, was the degree to which the victim felt a loss of control.