TITLE:
The Mental Health Effects of Torture Trauma and Its Severity: A Replication and Extension
AUTHORS:
Ibrahim A. Kira, Jeffery S. Ashby, Lydia Odenat, Linda Lewandowsky
KEYWORDS:
Torture Trauma; Cumulative Trauma Disorders; PTSD; Cumulative Trauma
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.4 No.5,
May
22,
2013
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, cumulative life trauma, torture and torture severity in a sample of 326 torture survivors. Hierarchical multiple regressions 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 results 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.