The most sophisticated psychological torture. Consequences of torture, aggression and violence

Victims of torture may not always have timely access to legal assistance. As a rule, traces of torture have time to heal and forensic medical examination is not able to identify them. In such cases, the victim is prescribed a psychological and psychiatric examination. Indeed, unlike the body, wounds on the soul take much longer to heal. And the consequences of abuse without the help of psychiatrists can lead to various severe mental disorders. What is a psychological-psychiatric examination, what problems still exist in this area? website.

Why is a psychological and psychiatric examination needed? According to a psychiatrist, candidate of medical sciences, associate professor of the department of psychiatry of KSMA Elmira Asanbaeva, the consequences of torture can remain for many years.

The worst thing is that if this person has not received treatment, has not undergone certain rehabilitation therapy, then his character changes, so-called chronic personality changes occur. This will affect not only the person himself, but also his environment, society.

The whole subsequent life is full of fears

Asanbayeva said that relatives of torture victims clearly divide the life of the victim into “before” torture and “after”. A person who has been subjected to torture and has not received psychotherapeutic help becomes depressed, apathetic, and loses interest in life. He can sit aimlessly all day long and watch TV blankly for hours. The person becomes emotionally less responsive and more self-absorbed. Naturally, all this will affect family relationships. A person may also experience problems of a sexual nature.

He also ceases to cope with his social role. If, for example, this is a student, then he may not complete his studies. Another patient performs worse at a job that he used to do with passion. As a result, he may lose her. Naturally he will have negative attitude to others, he will not trust the authorities. A victim of torture may begin to abuse alcohol or drugs. These people live in constant anxiety and fear.

"Torture is an extremely traumatic stressful situations that go beyond normal human experience.

In terms of severity on the human psyche, they can be equated to stress that occurs during military conflicts, rape, and natural disasters.

Stress after torture does not go away without a trace for a person. Perpetrators of torture do not understand how hard it can affect people and their families. Torture and stress can lead to the development of some psychosomatic diseases, such as heart attack, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and bronchial asthma. At the same time, rehabilitation therapy for victims of torture is a long and expensive process,” the psychiatrist emphasized. However, there are also irreversible consequences torture.

The result of the arrest was a severe brain contusion

The Voice of Freedom PF cites the case of a retired colonel as a clear illustration of the consequences of torture. Abduvali Akzholova. The victim had already retired and worked part-time as a taxi driver when he was accused of selling narcotic drugs in particular large sizes and was severely beaten by officers during arrest Civil service Drug Control (now disbanded). Due to a severe brain contusion, the colonel lies in psychiatric hospital Kyzyl-Zhara.

“We will not touch on his main case, since Akzholov A. is connected with cases of looting. Let’s talk about torture against the victim. According to explanatory note Akzholova, that evening he drove a taxi and drove a client. When he was returning back, he noticed that two black jeeps were following him. Akzholov did not understand who it was. Seeing the chase, the colonel began to run away. Stranger guy shouted for Akzholov to stop, after which they started shooting at his car. One of the bullets pierced the windshield of A. Akzholov’s car.

GSKN employees caught up with Akzholov somewhere in the field: according to his words, they shot at the car and he was forced to stop. They dragged him out of the car and severely beat him: they broke his nose, ribs, hit him on the head... Akzholov was not allowed to undergo treatment in the hospital. In this condition they were brought to court for a sanction. He practically fainted. Despite this, the court took the colonel into custody.

He was charged with possession of drugs on an especially large scale. The drugs were not seized from Akzholov, but were used against the colonel,” said a representative of the Voice of Freedom PF. Asel Koylubaeva.

According to her, a non-state expert in the field of forensic psychiatry conducted an examination and came to the conclusion that the impact of a stress factor and traumatic brain damage to the victim led to the development of a combined mental disorder.

“The diagnosis was confirmed by psychiatrists from the RCCH. However, they do not write why this happened. There is no cause-and-effect relationship. And they usually don’t try to establish it. But did something contribute to the development of the disease?” - Koylubaeva asked herself a question.

Everyone's suffering is different

Asel Koylubaeva explained: when ordering a psychological and psychiatric examination, specialists are expected to identify whether torture was the cause of the patient’s current condition, but human rights activists see that psychiatrists lack competence in this regard.

“Specialists have become more open to reforms and changes, but we still have complaints about examinations. In general, their examination methodology is not clear. Article 305-1 of the Criminal Code of the Kyrgyz Republic “Torture” itself states that “torture is intentional infliction of physical or mental suffering on any person,” noted Asel Koylubaeva.

Our experts in the field of psychiatry claim that “they cannot prove suffering and cannot measure it at all,” but if there is no method for conducting and identifying a scale of suffering, then it needs to be developed and this is the case Republican Center mental health. If a person has been physically affected, then the person’s brain reacts to this, and specialists need to figure out how physical impact affected the mental side.

She cited the conclusions of an analysis of the quality of a number of psychological and psychiatric examinations conducted. According to them, experts allow a departure from the principles of scientific examination, which is expressed in non-compliance with the phenomenological (detailed descriptive) approach and method adopted in psychiatry and psychology, in non-compliance scientific principle personal approach, ignoring the basics of human physiology and psychology.

Also, according to the study, there is unfoundedness and lack of evidence in the conclusions, which is expressed by gross contradictions between research part and conclusions, biased and biased exclusion of the factor of violence on the part of workers law enforcement from the number possible reasons suffering, practically complete absence justifications for diagnoses and conclusions.

The practice of not using the standard form of the CSPPE conclusion in half of the analyzed examinations was noted.

Noteworthy is the practice of refusing to resolve expert issues through the formulation that “determining the degree of suffering is not within the competence of the forensic psychiatric examination” or “there are no methods for determining the degree of suffering.”

The material is given raw

Psychiatrist Elmira Asanbaeva complained that cases most often come for psychological and psychiatric examinations are rejected.

“Even when opening a case, investigators are somehow determined to close it. Cases often arrive raw: there is little evidence.

As far as I know, prosecutors were also trained in the Istanbul Protocol. But low-quality criminal cases often delay the examination process and interfere with its quality implementation.

We have the tools to conduct examinations. We question the person who has been subjected to torture, collect his medical history, and, if necessary, use paraclinical research methods and experimental psychological investigations. This allows you to see the level of anxiety and depression. Eat special tests which allow us to identify whether victims of torture have the consequences of acute stress or post-traumatic stress disorder. But we often lack objective information. We can interview the relatives and friends of the victims, but we do not have the right; this must be done by investigators. Often this information is not included in the case file. We have to request additional information and medical documents. Examinations also take up a lot of the doctor’s personal time, going beyond the boundaries of his working time, since they are voluminous,” she pointed out.

According to Asanbayeva, even when psychiatrists give an opinion on compliance mental state subject to torture, these cases still most often do not reach the courts.

Correspondent website I asked a psychiatrist whether the experts really lacked a scientific basis for an objective conclusion. Asanbaeva denied this.

"There are clear criteria for the same post-traumatic disorder according to International classification diseases -10 (ICD -10). The victim will be bothered by intrusive unpleasant memories about the stress he experienced and with each memory he relives it again and again, as if he were again in that situation. He will also have nightmares. He will flinch at the slightest sounds, even phone call, baby crying. Smells and things reminiscent of rapists can evoke unpleasant memories with increased heart rate, sweating, wobbly legs, and weakness. A person will experience fear, anxiety, and worry even at the sight of people in police uniform. The subject of the torture, even five or six years later, seeing on the street a man wearing a black T-shirt similar to the one the operative who beat him was wearing, experienced great fear, his heart began to pound strongly, his head began to spin, and he felt ill. He also could not calmly see men in brown pointed shoes, because he would be hit on the head while wearing such shoes. It happens that patients are afraid of people with an athletic build. Sometimes people are simply afraid to leave the house. There was a patient who tried to take his children to school, barely made it there and came home all wet, constantly looking back,” she explained.

Doctors are under pressure

Elmira Asanbaeva believes that for effective fight with torture, first of all, we need transparency, media support, and the creation of intolerance to torture in society.

“The existing system has been built over many years. Still, there is an element of corporatism there. Previously, doctors, as well as law enforcement agencies, were more protective of the interests of the state, rather than the individual.

Our doctors-psychiatrists have always made a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder with great caution, since its diagnosis even with emergency situations automatically raised the question of material compensation from the state. If torture is confirmed, the state will have to pay compensation.

In addition, on the periphery, our forensic psychiatrists feel anxious because they may be intimidated by law enforcement officials. At this stage, neither the forensic physician nor the forensic psychiatrist is sufficiently protected. We are thinking about creating a League of Forensic Experts consisting of forensic doctors and forensic psychiatrists. And if pressure was put on the expert, she could speak out in his defense. Besides, we still have little experience. Not all forensic psychiatrists can yet conduct these examinations at a high level. These are very complex, voluminous examinations, and the expert doctor is limited in time, he has a lot of other work. More than 3,000 examinations are carried out in the department of forensic psychiatric examinations per year,” the psychiatrist emphasized.

Emotional burnout also affects forensic psychiatrists, since when working with victims of torture, the doctor himself becomes vicariously traumatized.

There are problems in the field of psychological and psychiatric examinations. Nobody denies them. Reforms in forensic psychiatric services are just beginning to gain momentum. The entire system of mental health care fell out of health care reforms. Meanwhile, according to psychiatrist, candidate of medical sciences, associate professor of the department of psychiatry at KSMA Elmira Asanbaeva, doctors are being taught new standards, and they are ready to change.

People are tortured in order to torture the victim's body and break her spirit, to extract information or confession, to punish, to blame a third party, or to establish a reign of terror in society. Torture is a primary tactic for carrying out systematic violence against targeted individuals, ethnic, religious and political groups, ethnic cleansing, genocide and the suppression of potential uprisings. When leaders of movements, members of ethnic, religious or political groups are arrested, the purpose of torture is to destroy the spirit of resistance in a person, his community or movement.

We often think that torture is used only as a last resort to obtain information or carry out punishment. And few people know that they are a tactic of intimidation, intended to destroy individuals or entire communities, to exclude the possibility of the emergence of social or political movements against suppression. Torture accompanies all stages of “tightening the screws” - from tactics of exploiting instability to calls to tighten the regime, issuing special decrees restricting civil liberties, using tactics of demonization, dehumanization, legitimization, desensitization and persecution of leaders. Many people think that torture is used rarely and somewhere far away, and therefore does not concern them. In reality they are ordinary thing in the practice of suppression and perhaps even in their hometown (1).

Until 1980, the problem of torture was hardly addressed. Inge Genefke from the Center for the Rehabilitation and Research of Torture Victims in Copenhagen talks about how torture was considered a local and random phenomenon. However, now we can say with certainty: “Torture is not a local or random phenomenon, since systematic torture can only be carried out with the consent and support of the state. Torture is a tool of power that governments use to ensure that they do not lose that power” (2). Systematic violation of human rights and methods of terror and torture are used throughout the world to destroy individuals and communities in order to gain and maintain dominant positions. In 1997, Genefke said that a third of the world's governments are in power solely because they use torture to maintain influence over the world. own people (3,4).

Torture is not carried out on the initiative of a couple of “bad guys.” They are systematically practiced and are part of planned tactics to seize dominance and destroy the spirit of potential resistance. A person is tortured in order to destroy his personality, to deprive him of the ability to act. Torture is designed to sever the threads that make up our human nature and which bind our communities to humiliate, break the spirit and stop any possibility of resistance to those in power. There are even textbooks that provide instructions on how to use the most effective methods torture (5). Torture is used all over the world in prisons and during violent actions. “Specialists” exchange methods and equipment. Instruments of torture are sold all over the world (6).

Break physical and mental resistance

During torture, a person is tortured mentally and physically, the task is to break through the barriers of sensitivity and emotionality, to step over the pain line. The purpose of torture is to destroy the individual. This terror tactic is defined as an attempt to kill a person without bringing him to death. physical death(7). Methods include infliction of severe physical torture - repeated infliction of the same bodily injuries, cauterization, electric shock, suffocation, extreme physical conditions such as heat or cold, holding the body in any position for a long time, deprivation of rest and sleep. , sexual abuse, humiliation and rape, mental torture such as sensory deprivation, threats of death, arrest or committal sexual violence over family members, forced to observe the torture of another person or to carry out it themselves.

Sensory deprivation (from the Latin “sensus” - “feeling, sensation” and “deprivatio” - “deprivation”) is a prolonged, more or less complete deprivation of a person’s sensory impressions. - Note. lane

Torture techniques are created taking into account the mental and physical capabilities of people. The purpose of these techniques is to eradicate everything that we call human, to destroy the personality, to eradicate what would help the object of torture to recover. Once a victim is released, the person often cannot return to Everyday life. And if he returns to the family, his children cannot believe that this is their father.

The Unspeakable: Never to Return

To prevent the victim from being able to “return home,” that is, to recover, torture techniques involve the use of familiar things and actions that accompany the daily life of the person being tortured. The instruments of torture include telephones, chairs, plastic bags, boiled eggs, water and electrical wires. Walking, running and other repetitive movements turn into torture. The thought of any ordinary action or household item becomes unbearable (8). Torture can be carried out in a “medical” setting, interrogations in a “bureaucratic” setting. As a result, the subject of torture receives severe mental trauma and will not be able to go to a doctor or official without her symptoms making themselves felt. This is the meaning of torture - to suppress the spirit, to deprive a person of the opportunity to find refuge. Victims of torture often do not talk about what happened, not wanting their loved ones to suffer. Everything human in them is desecrated. They withdraw into themselves, their stories remain untold, and if they decide to tell someone about their misfortune, they listen to them with stone faces - they don’t believe them, people don’t want to know about it.

When someone is illegally arrested and imprisoned, torture may also be used, making it clear to others that any resistance will be suppressed. After Kristallnacht in Germany in 1938, approximately 25,000 Jewish men were arrested and sent to concentration camps for short periods - this was before mass deportations to concentration and extermination camps began. Little is said about what happened in those days, but it is known that many were tortured and some were beaten to death.

Throughout the world, during conflicts, torture is used to suppress discontent and any, even non-violent, resistance. The UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment was adopted in 1984 and entered into force in June 1987. Research shows that of the approximately 20 million people worldwide today who are refugees, displaced, or internally displaced, 20 to 30 percent have been tortured by their own governments (9). In search of protection, these victims of torture receive new serious mental trauma, which is superimposed on huge personal losses - people are forced to flee to another state, plunging into a foreign culture, unfamiliar language environment, they are often met with suspicion and racist prejudice, and sometimes even have their doors closed to him.

We all become unwitting accomplices in this crime when we fail to recognize how widespread torture is and the suffering of refugees who endure it. Victims of torture are silent, and society does not ask unnecessary questions. It is very difficult to understand what torture is precisely because it destroys our ideas about “humanity.” But it is even more difficult to understand how these techniques are legitimized in social structures created to protect the population and civilization. Terrible and at the same time interesting fact: The infrastructure used to carry out torture in prisons and police stations is often the most permanent thing a society has. The regime may change, and with it the dominant political, social and cultural attitudes, but the system of torture remains unchanged (10).

Photos from Iraq that first surfaced in April and May 2004 show American soldiers torturing Iraqis in the same prisons used for torture under Saddam Hussein's regime.

People are tortured in prisons, police stations and detention centers around the world, including many democratic states Europe and America. Torture is used against both “ordinary” criminals and political prisoners. And, although in recent years the international community has moved forward towards recognizing this problem and a number of steps have been taken to identify and prohibit torture and other cruel and humiliating punishments, nevertheless, torture often continues to be perceived as isolated incidents rather than as a problem in the system of power , explicitly or secretly sanctioned (11).

At any cost, despite all obstacles

Brutal torture is often considered an extreme form of aggression and violence, beyond the scope of the law and the judicial system as a whole. But if you look at history and the current state of affairs, you can see that torture often forms this very judicial system. Many governments maintain “order” by suppressing opposition through intimidation and force, including torture. Although torture is outside the norm international law and military conventions, they still continue to be used as a military strategy.

And I wonder: do these tactics simply reflect our cruelty, our tendency to dominate and the desire to get what we want at any cost, or are they also a reflection of the strength of the human spirit? After all, if people were weaker, then such terrible measures would not have to be applied to them. It is impossible to dominate without resorting to means of terror. But even if you resort to them, in the end they do not give the desired result. People who are not broken by torture sometimes confirm this idea of ​​mine about the indestructible strength of spirit.

Those who survive the torturer’s attempts to humiliate, destroy their personality, the physical and emotional components of their individuality, and deprive them of the ability to resist, often feel the consequences of this until the end of their days. mental trauma. At the same time, some of the victims of torture say: their spirit overcame all cruelty, and they felt a connection with something sacred, located beyond their personal history, beyond power, strength and intimidation: they were freed from this grip, they are no longer victims. It was as if they suddenly stopped attaching importance to power in its absurd and disgusting manifestations.

It is said that US Air Force pilots after the Korean War underwent massive training in which they were trained to withstand the psychological effects of the enemy. They also say that psychological torture much more effective than physical torture: human psyche it takes a long time to recover from such an impact... And they also say that the CIA has developed a whole system of “non-corporeal influence”..

The US Senate Intelligence Committee in 2014 published a shortened version of its study on the CIA's use of torture. The document released to the public contains 528 pages describing the CIA's "enhanced interrogation techniques."

Lack of sleep

Ostracism

Insulation

Sound

Fake Death

Extreme temperatures

The use of extreme temperatures is one of the "enhanced interrogation" options used by the CIA and FBI. Even though this torture involves physical torture, it is considered psychological torture because it has a mental impact.
Decreasing temperature is also used for sleep deprivation. However, hypothermia is common side effect, this form of torture has high level mortality rate - up to 50%. A decrease in temperature can affect memory - prisoners suffer from amnesia. Extreme use high temperatures may lead to heat stroke. Even if you comply necessary conditions, heatstroke is usually accompanied by fatal, so this form of torture can no longer be regarded as purely psychological.

Fear

Drowning

Chinese water torture

These torture methods can be divided into the following categories and techniques:

Deprivation

Coercion

Threats and humiliation

Isolation and limited communication with the outside world

Medical

Methods of deprivation represent impacts that can lead to disorientation, confusion, feelings of loneliness, fear, psychological and physical discomfort, etc., they can be classified as psychological torture. Victims are deprived of many things they need, such as light or sound; also, they can be blindfolded for a long time, in indoors, in the absence of food or with limited access to food, to water, to a change of clothes, to medical care or medical institutions; deprived of personal hygiene, other basic needs, etc. Victims may be deprived of information and insight into their legal status or about your location ( frequent transfers from one place to another, frequent sleep disturbances, lack of radio, letters, newspapers, etc.) Other deprivations concern social sphere– the victim is not allowed to have meetings with loved ones or perform religious rituals;

Methods of coercion: The victim is forced to perform actions or witness events aimed at mental pressure. For example, signing false confessions or the "impossible choice" method, in which the victim is forced to choose between two options that both have almost the same negative consequences.

Threats and humiliation, can be directed both at the victim and at the victim’s family or at other people close to the victim.

Isolation and limited communication with the outside world. Such methods have a psychological impact on the victim by providing various false, contradictory, confusing or incorrect information, as well as the use of reverse psychology (Reverse psychology is the result obtained by performing actions in one direction, which forces a person to do the opposite, etc. ).

Medical technology: the use of psychotropic or other drugs, such as sedatives, hypnotics, psychostimulants, hallucinogens or narcotics, as well as hypnosis or other methods, techniques or means.

White or “clean” torture include methods that do not leave visible traces of injury, but have more serious consequences, leading to mental destruction of the victim. On the other hand, these methods do not exclude the possibility of using physical torture or corporal punishment.

Various methods of white torture can create serious psychosomatic disorders or cause death of the victim, creating a neuropsychiatric imbalance, even if the original goal was only to obtain confessions.

The most common methods of white or “clean” torture are:

Solitary confinement (sensory and social deprivation), which can cause hallucinations, cognitive, neurovegetative and other disorders;

"memory erase"

Deprivation of sleep, light, or air;

Modeling or simulation of execution or shooting;

Various stimulation or abuse of the genitals;

Forced to perform humiliating acts or complete nudity of the body;

Administration of insulin, which causes hypoglycemic shock;

Usage electric current to cause muscle cramps or shock;

Dehydration or starvation, when showing water or food;

Using deafening noise, such as keeping the victim's head in a metal cabinet (safe) and hitting it with hammers or other objects.

Medieval torture"The Chair of the Jews."

Sexual torture may be included in the group of physical torture, but must be considered separately due to its characteristics and serious consequences for victims.

These methods can be divided into three categories:

Using various items;

Without using “tools”;

Using animals.

It is important to note that all of the above methods, whether physical, mental or sexual in nature, can be used simultaneously, as is often recorded in most cases of torture.

Chapter 5. Behavior of a prisoner during interrogation

As it is written in the manual - “Rules of Conduct for US Military Personnel in Captivity,”“The first line of defense during interrogation and subsequent indoctrination is military restraint, silence and faith in yourself, your army and your country. The following points will help in resisting enemy interrogation:

1) Give only your last name, rank, personal number and date of birth.

2) Be polite during interrogation, but do not create the impression of a desire to cooperate through “politeness.” Such an impression, once formed by the enemy, can prolong the interrogation.

3) Create the impression that you do not have information that could be useful to the enemy.

4) Beware of decoys and camp medical personnel who may be widely used to gather information.

5) If knowing the enemy's language will increase the chances of a successful escape, do not talk about it or show signs of this ability during interrogation.

6) Do not believe the enemy's claims that other prisoners have started talking. This is a common interrogation technique to catch you off guard and force you to talk.

7) Avoid looking the interrogator directly in the eyes. This may result in you disclosing information without directly answering the question. Choose a place between the interrogator's eyes or on his forehead and concentrate on it.

8) During interrogation, be polite but firm in refusing to give information. Greet all enemy officers participating in the interrogation who are senior to you in rank.

9) Beware of the temptation to impress the interrogator with stories, exploits, real or imagined.

10) Do not be fooled into answering seemingly innocent questions or writing applications that require more than your name, rank, personal number and date of birth.

11) Do not try to deceive the enemy with voluntarily given false information. An experienced investigator can get the information you need as soon as you start talking to the point.”

Rules for protecting against interrogation of the enemy in equally applicable for protection against indoctrination. If the interrogator cannot get you to give more information than your last name, rank, personal number and date of birth, it is obvious that indoctrination is impossible.

If you are not willing to cooperate, you are seen as bad material for indoctrination. Confidence in yourself, your family, your unit and your country serves greatly effective means against indoctrination.

In the US armed forces, systematic training of personnel is carried out, aimed at mastering the rules of conduct in captivity of the enemy. From a theoretical perspective, the experience of past conflicts and the international legal norms for warfare developed by the world community are studied. The results of theoretical research are used in the preparation of manuals, combat manuals and manuals, as well as in practice - during the training of troops related to the problems of military captivity. The basic provisions of the rules of conduct in captivity are enshrined in the US Army field manual FM 21–76 “Survival, Avoidance of Captivity and Escape from Captivity”, the military oath and “Code of Conduct” of a member of the US Armed Forces, as well as in military scientific publications, in in particular in the brochure “Prisoner of War. Your rights and obligations under the Geneva Convention" (Washington, Department of Defense Publishing House, 1969). These documents explain (based on the provisions of international humanitarian law) how to behave in captivity. However, comments from international humanitarian law and practical recommendations American regulations on behavior in captivity vary significantly. These differences lie in the fact that the main provisions of the Geneva Conventions for the Protection of War Victims of August 12, 1949 are ambiguously interpreted. In particular, American military personnel are instructed that they must comply, on the one hand, with the rules established in the prisoner of war camp, and on the other, with the provisions of military regulations that often contradict them.

According to the regulations of the US Army, the rules of conduct for military personnel in captivity apply to everyone who serves in the armed forces. These rules and training for actions in such a situation are aimed primarily at increasing the combat capabilities of units and subunits and strengthening the will of officers and soldiers to resist. It is believed that during the training process, everyone should learn the following fundamental principles: even if you become a prisoner of war, you continue to be a person subject to special care on the part of the United States; you will not be forgotten; all means at the State's disposal will be used to contact you, support you and secure your release; US laws provide for the care of your dependents while you are in captivity or detained against your will on foreign soil; the fact of capture is neither shameful nor heroic.

In order to strengthen the morale of American military personnel in captivity, providing them with the necessary psychological support, better conditions life and good physical condition Specific proposals are made for the creation of a legal organization of prisoners of war with a certain structure in the camp. According to the command, the need for organization is extremely great, since “a prisoner of war needs to have some kind of solid support in his life that would raise him above the level of simple existence. He must be responsible to someone or for something.” It is also planned to create an illegal organization. Both of them must assist in the preparation and implementation of the escape - supply those preparing for it with food, documents, money, compasses, rope ladders, etc.

American military personnel who are captured are advised to “escape as quickly as possible.” It is emphasized that it is better to escape even before arriving at the prisoner of war camp, that is, during the evacuation from the combat zone, using factors such as close proximity to the positions of friendly troops, low special training of privates and sergeants of the enemy’s advanced units compared to personal composition of convoy units, small security of a convoy of prisoners of war, artillery shelling or air raid while moving.

If it was not possible to escape along the route, then methods of escaping from the camp are proposed. At the same time, officers and soldiers are taught that “thanks to resistance and attempts to get free, they continue to remain active fighters and can collect military information while moving towards their own, interfere with the activities of the camp administration, create conditions that worsen moral condition personnel and civilian population the opposing side, which helps reduce losses in the manpower of its troops.”

The main methods of escaping from captivity can be: using underground passage(depending on local conditions and time of year); overcoming a wall and wire fence; leaving the camp territory through a checkpoint fraudulently. To ensure this, it is necessary to obtain the necessary tools in advance (files, saws, drills, chisels, wire cutters, etc.); prepare identification documents valid in the area where the camp is located, as well as facilitating safe movement to the border or front line; purchase or produce maps (diagrams) of the area, stamps, seals, forms, clothing, shoes, hats, duffel bags and bags; carry out measures to conceal the escape at daily roll calls by replacing an absent person, creating confusion in the answers to the names called, alternating prisoners of war of high and low stature. If roll call is carried out in separate rooms, then it is recommended to make a secret door in the wall and replace the missing one with one who has already passed the test. Place a stuffed animal under the blanket on an empty bed (it should be the top one).

During a group escape, the following methods of deceiving the camp administration are suggested. For several months before its implementation, some prisoners of war from time to time do not show up for roll call, allegedly trying to annoy the guards. In this case, you should hide in places where you can sit for several hours. After some time, the guards will perceive this as a desire to interfere with work and will not give the signal to escape. Thus, the fugitives may have several hours at their disposal before the ruse is discovered and a thorough check is carried out in the camp. Of course, this method disrupts the daily routine of all prisoners of war and is especially difficult for those who voluntarily hide and receive punishment for this. But this tactic can ensure a successful return to those who fled, and this is of paramount importance.

Thus, when captured, an American soldier must comply with the order and discipline established in the camp, and the requirements of his regulations. By doing the latter, he exposes himself to serious dangers. It is therefore no coincidence that the majority American soldiers, captured in Korea, Vietnam and Iraq, did not attempt to escape, which indicates the low effectiveness of the above recommendations. As a rule, American prisoners of war observe and do only what guarantees the preservation of their life, health and safe return home.

It is said that US Air Force pilots after the Korean War underwent massive training in which they were trained to withstand the psychological effects of the enemy. They also say that psychological torture is much more effective than physical torture: the human psyche takes a long time to recover from such influence... They also say that the CIA has developed a whole system of “non-corporeal influence”. Here are just a few examples from the Torture Report.

The US Senate Intelligence Committee in 2014 published a shortened version of its study on the CIA's use of torture. The document released to the public contains 528 pages describing the CIA's "enhanced interrogation techniques."
Methods of psychological and physical influence on prisoners were developed by psychologists who previously collaborated with the School of Survival in emergency conditions US Air Force.
According to the Center for Human Rights Research of the Americas, psychological torture must meet the following four criteria:
1. Suffering;
2. Punishment;
3. Duration;
4. Lack of direct physical violence.

Lack of sleep

Sleep deprivation is a type of torture where a prisoner is deprived of sleep for a long period of time. Sleep is vital for humans and animals. It is not yet clear how long a person can stay awake. Today's record is held by Randy Gardner, who stayed awake for 264.4 hours without using stimulants.
Sleep deprivation techniques include loud blasting music, bright strobe lights, and placing a person on the steps of a pedestal from which he receives an electrical shock as he falls... After a certain period of time without sleep, hallucinations begin. If lack of sleep becomes persistent over several months, it leads to mental illness.
Other, milder consequences may include worsening emotional well-being. David Dinges, professor of psychology and director of experimental psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, argues that "when a person is deprived of sleep, he stops experiencing positive emotions. He may claim that he is happy - but in fact he does not experience anything."

Ostracism

Public shaming is a form of psychological torture that has its roots in the Middle Ages. Remember the expression "pillory"? Here's what we're talking about: the first mention of this wonderful device dates back to 1274. So this torture has a long history.
A pillory with holes for a person’s head and hands was installed in the most crowded place: on a shopping square or near the town hall. This made it possible to humiliate the culprit, scold him, throw stones at him and even sometimes beat him.
An interesting incident occurred in 1703, when Daniel Defoe was sentenced to the pillory for libel. However, public opinion of him as a hero was so high that he was pelted with flowers rather than dirt or excrement.

During the time when Saddam Hussein was still in power, one of the most famous prisons in the world was Abu Ghraib. After Hussein was overthrown, it became a US military prison. It turned out that US Army employees abused captured Iraqis. A national scandal broke out and eleven soldiers were convicted of crimes.
One of the types of torture used at Abu Ghraib was forced nudity. Male prisoners were forcibly stripped of their clothes and forced to stand in front of others in whatever clothes their mother gave birth to.
In Arab culture, nudity and exposure in front of others is humiliating for men.

Insulation

One of the favorite methods of psychological pressure is long-term isolation of the prisoner. Former prisoner, Gairat Bakhir, recalled:
- If you don't cooperate, they lock you in a long box like a coffin, where there is no oxygen. No light. You feel like you've been buried alive.
Isolation, or solitary confinement, is used in some US prisons.
What are the consequences of such a conclusion for a person? In the infamous "pit of despair" experiment on macaque monkeys conducted in the 1950s, psychologist Harry Harlow found that after a day or two, the animals "became deeply restless, indifferent, or anxious. They wandered around the cage, mutilating themselves, or swaying madly from side to side." side without responding."

Sound

Sound torture is used to manipulate prisoners with loud music or white noise. Compared to physical torture, so-called “no-touch” torture might be considered more humane, but it is no less effective.
Like the pillory, sonic torture has a long history - let's just say we know the Aztec form of torture called the "death whistle".
The CIA playlist often contains singles such as Enter Sandman by Metallica, Rage Against the Machine's hit Killing in the Name Of, or even Deicide and their unforgettable F*ck Your God. And the most popular song in Guantanamo? - "I love you" from Barney.
In the school of survival in difficult conditions, Rudyard Kipling's "Steps" are constantly played.
Sergeant Mark Hadsell from Psychological Operations claims that if a person has never listened to heavy metal, he is not able to withstand the music for 24 hours - "the brain and body begin to lose their functions. The train of thought is slowed down and the will is broken."

Manipulation with medicines

The use of drugs, especially hallucinogens, was often used in psychological torture. In an infamous program called Project MK-ULTRA, the CIA experimented with mind control. These experiments contained drugs to "impair the will of the individual through control of mental operations."
MK means that the project was organized for the technical services of the CIA, while "Ultra" is usually used to designate classified intelligence data from the Second World War.
The most common drug is LSD, although the agency has also experimented with developing truth serums. The CIA's own website gives an account of the types of drugs used to establish the truth: various serums, including scopolamine and various barbiturates.
- There is no such magic remedy as in the movies. Barbiturates, reducing defense mechanisms, can sometimes be useful during interrogation, but even in the best cases they will cause illusions, fantasies, distorted speech, etc.

Fake Death

Do you remember how the great Russian writer Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky described his experiences when he was awaiting the death penalty, which at the last moment was replaced by exile? This experience changed his whole life...
Until now, this type of psychological influence is considered one of the most effective and is widely used in practice in a variety of countries. From mock executions and hangings to partial “suffocation” or “drowning.”
Another form is "waiting" for death - being on the so-called "list of those sentenced to death." They say that the consequences are irreversible - prisoners become suicides or develop various kinds of mania.

Extreme temperatures

The use of extreme temperatures is one of the "enhanced interrogation" options used by the CIA and FBI. Even though this torture involves physical torture, it is considered psychological torture because it has a mental impact.
Decreasing temperature is also used for sleep deprivation. However, hypothermia is a common side effect, and this form of torture has a high mortality rate of up to 50%. A decrease in temperature can affect memory - prisoners suffer from amnesia. Using extremely high temperatures can cause heat stroke. Even if the necessary conditions are met, heat stroke is usually accompanied by death, so this form of torture can no longer be regarded as purely psychological.

Fear

Using fears and phobias in relation to prisoners can be effective, but is not always feasible. Placing arachnophobes in the same chamber with spiders is a form of this kind of torture. It assumes intimate knowledge of the victim, so it is unlikely to be used in an “official” setting.
Military psychologists interrogated detainees at Guantanamo Bay to understand which phobias were used: phobias of nudity, phobias of confined spaces, phobias of darkness...

Tactile deprivation

Sensory deprivation is an extreme form of psychological torture. This means you can't hear, see or touch anything. Imagine yourself trapped in a soundproof chamber.
Microsoft has one - they test equipment there. The noise level inside is a record -20.35 decibels. Microsoft says it is impossible to make the camera even quieter due to moving air particles that collide with each other. It is very difficult to speak inside a room completely isolated from external noise; it feels like you are screaming into a pillow. Microsoft uses the audio lab to improve its own products. For example, it can enhance the voice assistant’s “hearing” when the user is accessing a Windows device from across the room, and teach tablets and laptops to perceive subtle signals.
In the case of psychological torture, things don't look so nice. Jose Padilla was found guilty of aiding terrorists in 2007. In prison he was subjected sensory deprivation within a few weeks. For 3.5 years he was kept in a cell without natural light, there was no clock or calendar. According to Padilla's lawyer, he was so "broken" that he became convinced that his lawyers were part of a torture program and saw his guards as protectors, and this is called Stockholm syndrome.

Drowning

We now move on to more specific forms of torture. “Drowning” looks like this: a person is tied to a board, water is poured on his face to simulate being under water.
Physical effects include severe pain, lung and brain damage from oxygen deprivation. Although drowning is primarily a physical form of torture, the psychological effects can last for years.
The Bush Administration authorized the use of this form of torture after the events of September 2001. The Justice Department authorized the CIA to work with waterboarding in "enhanced interrogation." After a scandal in 2004, the government stopped the "program." Finally, in 2006, the Bush administration banned torture, including waterboarding, on detainees. Currently, President-elect Donald Trump wants reintroduce "drowning" as a legal form of torture.

Chinese water torture

Chinese waterboarding is less extreme than drowning, although just as effective. The prisoner is tied up and water is dripped onto his forehead. Despite the fact that no one could confirm that torture originated in China, the name clearly stuck. Hippolyte de Marsilius is considered the inventor of this torture: we know for sure that the Spanish Inquisition already used this method against not particularly faithful subjects.

KUBARK: a manual on torture

In 1963, the CIA published the KUBARK Counterintelligence Interrogation manual for use during the Vietnam War. Includes specialized forms of interrogation, such as interrogation by electric shock, threat/fear, sensory deprivation, and isolation.
The second manual for conducting enhanced interrogation was the Human Resource Exploitation Training Manual, expanded and supplemented, for intelligence services in Latin American countries.
The manual gives clear instructions. For example, it recommends arresting suspects early in the morning, unexpectedly, blindfolding the criminals and stripping them of their clothes. Suspects must also be deprived of food and sleep. Interrogation chambers must be sound and light proof.
The manual states that some torture methods can backfire, and the anticipation of pain may be more effective than the pain itself. The manuals were declassified and made public in May 2004 and can be found online.

Decay, disorientation, disorganization, demoralization

The method, called Zersetzung in German (decay, disorientation, disorganization, demoralization), was perfected by the Stasi in East Germany, which used it intensively against dissidents in the 1970s and 1980s.
According to former officers The Stasi's goal was to "turn off" dissidents by disrupting their social, personal or family life. The victim was subjected to ostracism, surveillance, and developed paranoid mania and other psychoses...
The method of psychological decomposition included removing paintings from the walls in the absence of the apartment owners, replacing one type of tea with another, or something else. Usually the victims had no idea that it was a set-up.
Other Zersetzung methods included espionage, opening of letters and telephone conversations, illegal entry into private property in a threatening manner, tampering with machines, food poisoning and "false cures."

Propaganda

Perhaps the most subtle and insidious of all methods of “additional influence” was and remains propaganda. It can be considered a form of psychological torture. The beginning of modern "psychological attacks" was laid in the First World War. In the beginning, countries like Great Britain and Germany began to use propaganda as one of their effective weapons. At that time, the British had one of the most authoritative news systems in the world - and controlled most of the media.
Examples of British propaganda included the creation of pamphlets that were distributed from aircraft on the battlefields. The pamphlets contained information about various atrocities - both real and fake - allegedly committed by the German army against civilians. With drawings and caricatures.
The Germans were able to successfully use propaganda to force the Ottoman Sultan to declare jihad, or " holy war"against the West. By the start of World War II, Adolf Hitler had adopted British propaganda methods and used them to influence the minds of the German people.