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

Ibrahim A. Kira, Jeffery S. Ashby, Lydia Odenat, Linda Lewandowsky

Center for Cumulative Trauma Studies, Stone Mountain, USA.
Emory University, Atlanta, USA.
Georgia State University, Atlanta, USA.
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA.

DOI: 10.4236/psych.2013.45067                

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.

Keywords

Torture Trauma; Cumulative Trauma Disorders; PTSD; Cumulative Trauma

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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