Torture and Its Psychological Aspect - Essay Example

24 February, Torture and its psychological aspect: The term “torture” has been derived from “torque” which is a Latin term that means to twist (Gushee). Torture is the name of extreme mental or physical suffering that is inflicted upon an individual so that he/she may be intimidated, punished, or be made to make a confession for the presumably committed crime. Definition of torture offered by the United Nations Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT) is, by far the most comprehensive and widely used definition.

The definition also mentions several ways and reasons for which people may be tortured. It is as follows: …‘torture’ means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a piece of third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.

(UNCAT cited in IRCT). Such forms of torture as threats of murder, rape, kidnapping, or even humiliating do no less harm to the psychological peace and stability of an individual than physical pain does. At times, there may be no physical harm at all to the victim in torture. “Psychological pain is suffering caused by psychological stress and by psychological trauma rather than stimuli that activate physical pain” (Mefor). A lot of debate has occurred in the past regarding the ban of torture because of its physiological vs psychological impacts.

There have conventionally surfaced mixed views about the reason for objection to the use of torture. According to Bloom (cited in Yaroch), “[t]orture should not be banned because of what it does to the soul [but] because of what it does to the body”. In his statement, Bloom seems to have overlooked the horror that is ingrained in the psychological impacts of torture, which far exceeds the pain in the physiological manifestations. The idea of Bloom has been criticized by Metin Basoglu, who is a practicing psychiatrist.

Basoglu has studied the physiological sufferings caused by torture and has compared them to their psychological impacts upon the victims. As a result of his study, Basoglu concluded that the trauma victims of torture suffer from is fundamentally driven by their “loss of control” and “perceived vulnerability” (Yaroch). Physical pain is temporary and goes away with time, but the invisible marks on the victim’s memory can never be healed. According to (Mefor), stress exists on both the psychological and physiological levels, however, the former is much deep-rooted than the latter.

Owing to its severe psychological effects, the use of torture for achieving any kind of purpose should be condemned and should be taken as the last resort in any case.