Psychological Torture: Definition, Evaluation and Measurement

ISBN-13: 9781138671553 / Angielski / Miękka / 2016 / 414 str.

Pau Perez Sales

Opis

Sadly, it is highly likely that psychological torture is committed by governments worldwide and yet, notwithstanding the serious moral questions that this disturbing and elusive concept raises, and research in the area so limited, there is no operational or legal definition. This pioneering new book provides the first scientific definition and instrument to measure what it means to be tortured psychologically, as well as how allegations of psychological torture can be judged.

Ground in cross-disciplinary research across psychology, anthropology, ethics, philosophy, law and medicine, the book is a tour de force which analyses the legal framework in which psychological torture can exist, the harrowing effects it can have on those who have experienced it, and the motivations and identities of those who perpetrate it.

Integrating the voices both of those who have experienced torture as well as those who have committed it, the book defines what we mean by psychological torture, its aims and effects, as well as the moral and ethical debates in which it operates. Finally, the book builds on the Istanbul Protocol to provide a comprehensive new framework, including practical scales, that enables us to accurately measure psychological torture for the first time.

This is an important and much-needed overview and analysis of an issue that many governments have sought to sweep under the carpet. Its accessibility and range of coverage make it essential reading not only for psychologists and psychiatrists interested in this field, but also human rights organizations, lawyers and the wider international community.

Spis treści

Acknowledgments.  Index of Tables.  Index of Figures.  Section 1: Premises  1. Where things stand: the concept of torture and psychological torture.  Section 2: The Voices  2. Intangible elements of psychological torture: learning from the voices of survivors  3. The definition of psychological torture in the testimonies of harsh interrogators and torturers.  Section 3: Current Legal Perspectives  4. Psychological torture in international law  5. From dignity to identity: humiliation as a paradigm of the differences between legal and mental health perspectives  6. The Perpetrator’s psychological and legal rationale: motivation, intention and purpose.  Section 4: Scientific Approaches to Defining Psychological Torture  7. Cataloguing Torture methods  8. The neurobiology of psychological torture  9. Trauma theory and the concept of psychological torture.  Section 5: Psychological Torture Techniques  10. The roots of psychological torture in modern history: the slow road to convergence  11. Primary needs and relationship to the environment  12. Targeting the body to reach the mind: pain without marks  13. The limitations of normal interrogation in law enforcement procedures  14. Interrogation procedures in military intelligence gathering  15. The psychological manipulation of identity  16. Technological research and psychological torture.  Section 6: A proposed definition and measurement of psychological torture  17. Redrawing the conceptual map of torture  18. A new outlook for defining and measuring torturing environments 19. The Need to Further Develop the Istanbul Protocol  20. Final thoughts and an agenda for future research.  Annexes. Bibliography

O autorze

Pau Pérez-Sales is Chair of the World Psychiatric Association Section of Psychological Consequences of Persecution and Torture, Editor-in-Chief of Torture Journal, a practicing psychiatrist in Hospital La Paz (Madrid) and Director of the SiRa-GAC Center.