Abuse, Trauma, and Torture - Their Consequences and Effects (10 page)

"It is very tempting to take the side of the
perpetrator. All the perpetrator asks is that the bystander do
nothing. He appeals to the universal desire to see, hear, and speak
no evil. The victim, on the contrary, asks the bystander to share
the burden of pain. The victim demands action, engagement, and
remembering."

But, more often, continued attempts to repress
fearful memories result in psychosomatic illnesses (conversion).
The victim wishes to forget the torture, to avoid re-experiencing
the often life threatening abuse and to shield his human
environment from the horrors. In conjunction with the victim's
pervasive distrust, this is frequently interpreted as
hypervigilance, or even paranoia. It seems that the victims can't
win. Torture is forever.

Note – Why Do People
Torture?

We should distinguish functional torture from
the sadistic variety. The former is calculated to extract
information from the tortured or to punish them. It is measured,
impersonal, efficient, and disinterested.

The latter – the sadistic variety – fulfils
the emotional needs of the perpetrator.

People who find themselves caught up in anomic
states – for instance, soldiers in war or incarcerated inmates –
tend to feel helpless and alienated. They experience a partial or
total loss of control. They have been rendered vulnerable,
powerless, and defenseless by events and circumstances beyond their
influence.

Torture amounts to exerting an absolute and
all-pervasive domination of the victim's existence. It is a coping
strategy employed by torturers who wish to reassert control over
their lives and, thus, to re-establish their mastery and
superiority. By subjugating the tortured – they regain their
self-confidence and regulate their sense of self-worth.

Other tormentors channel their negative
emotions – pent up aggression, humiliation, rage, envy, diffuse
hatred – and displace them. The victim becomes a symbol of
everything that's wrong in the torturer's life and the situation he
finds himself caught in. The act of torture amounts to misplaced
and violent venting.

Many perpetrate heinous acts out of a wish to
conform. Torturing others is their way of demonstrating obsequious
obeisance to authority, group affiliation, colleagueship, and
adherence to the same ethical code of conduct and common values.
They bask in the praise that is heaped on them by their superiors,
fellow workers, associates, team mates, or collaborators. Their
need to belong is so strong that it overpowers ethical, moral, or
legal considerations.

Many offenders derive pleasure and
satisfaction from sadistic acts of humiliation. To these,
inflicting pain is fun. They lack empathy and so their victim's
agonized reactions are merely cause for much hilarity.

Moreover, sadism is rooted in deviant
sexuality. The torture inflicted by sadists is bound to involve
perverted sex (rape, homosexual rape, voyeurism, exhibitionism,
pedophilia, fetishism, and other paraphilias). Aberrant sex,
unlimited power, excruciating pain – these are the intoxicating
ingredients of the sadistic variant of torture.

Still, torture rarely occurs where it does not
have the sanction and blessing of the authorities, whether local or
national. A permissive environment is sine qua non. The more
abnormal the circumstances, the less normative the milieu, the
further the scene of the crime is from public scrutiny – the more
is egregious torture likely to occur. This is especially true in
totalitarian societies where the use of physical force to
discipline or eliminate dissent is an acceptable
practice.

Also Read:

The Business of
Torture

The Argument for
Torture

How Victims are
Affected by Abuse

Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder (PTSD)

Return

Trauma

Torture

Abuse

Effects and
Consequences

How Victims are Affected by
Abuse

Repeated abuse has long lasting pernicious and
traumatic effects
such as panic attacks, hypervigilance, sleep disturbances,
flashbacks (intrusive memories), suicidal ideation, and
psychosomatic symptoms. The victims experience shame, depression,
anxiety, embarrassment, guilt, humiliation, abandonment, and an
enhanced sense of vulnerability.

C-PTSD (Complex PTSD) has been proposed as a
new mental health diagnosis by Dr. Judith Herman of Harvard
University to account for the impact of extended periods of trauma
and abuse.

In
"Stalking – An Overview of
the Problem"
[Can J Psychiatry 1998;43:473–476], authors Karen
M Abrams and Gail Erlick Robinson write:

"Initially, there is often much
denial by the victim. Over time, however, the stress begins to
erode the victim's life and psychological brutalisation results.
Sometimes the victim develops an almost fatal resolve that,
inevitably, one day she will be murdered. Victims, unable to live a
normal life, describe feeling stripped of self-worth and dignity.
Personal control and resources, psychosocial development, social
support, premorbid personality traits, and the severity of the
stress may all influence how the victim experiences and responds to
it
…
Victims stalked by ex-lovers may experience
additional guilt and lowered self-esteem for perceived poor
judgement in their relationship choices. Many victims become
isolated and deprived of support when employers or friends withdraw
after also being subjected to harassment or are cut off by the
victim in order to protect them. Other tangible consequences
include financial losses from quitting jobs, moving, and buying
expensive security equipment in an attempt to gain privacy.
Changing homes and jobs results in both material losses and loss of
self-respect."

Surprisingly, verbal, psychological, and
emotional abuse have the same effects as the physical variety
[Psychology Today, September/October 2000 issue, p.24]. Abuse of
all kinds also interferes with the victim's ability to work. Abrams
and Robinson wrote this [in "Occupational Effects of Stalking", Can
J Psychiatry 2002;47:468–472]:

"
…
(B)eing
stalked by a former partner may affect a victim's ability to work
in 3 ways. First, the stalking behaviours often interfere directly
with the ability to get to work (for example, flattening tires or
other methods of preventing leaving the home). Second, the
workplace may become an unsafe location if the offender decides to
appear. Third, the mental health effects of such trauma may result
in forgetfulness, fatigue, lowered concentration, and
disorganisation. These factors may lead to the loss of employment,
with accompanying loss of income, security, and
status."

Still, it is hard to generalise. Victims are
not a uniform lot. In some cultures, abuse is commonplace and
accepted as a legitimate mode of communication, a sign of love and
caring, and a boost to the abuser's self-image. In such
circumstances, the victim is likely to adopt the norms of society
and avoid serious trauma.

Deliberate, cold-blooded, and premeditated
torture has worse and longer-lasting effects than abuse meted out
by the abuser in rage and loss of self-control. The existence of a
loving and accepting social support network is another mitigating
factor. Finally, the ability to express negative emotions safely
and to cope with them constructively is crucial to
healing.

Typically, by the time the abuse reaches
critical and all-pervasive proportions, the abuser had already,
spider-like, isolated his victim from family, friends, and
colleagues. She is catapulted into a nether land,
cult-like
setting
where reality itself dissolves into a continuing
nightmare.

When she emerges on the other end of this
wormhole, the abused woman (or, more rarely, man) feels helpless,
self-doubting, worthless, stupid, and a
guilty
failure
for having botched her relationship and
"abandoned" her "family". In an effort to regain perspective and
avoid embarrassment, the victim denies the abuse or minimises
it.

No wonder that survivors of abuse tend to be
clinically depressed, neglect their health and personal appearance,
and succumb to boredom, rage, and impatience. Many end up abusing
prescription drugs or drinking or otherwise behaving
recklessly.

Some victims even develop Post-Traumatic
Stress Disorder (PTSD).

(I use "she" throughout this
article but it applies to male victims as well)

Contrary to popular misconceptions,
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Acute Stress Disorder (or
Reaction) are not typical responses to prolonged abuse. They are
the outcomes of sudden exposure to severe or extreme stressors
(stressful events). Yet, some victims whose life or body have been
directly and unequivocally threatened by an abuser react by
developing these syndromes. PTSD is, therefore, typically
associated with the aftermath of physical and sexual abuse in both
children and adults.

This is why another mental health diagnosis,
C-PTSD (Complex PTSD) has been proposed by Dr. Judith Herman of
Harvard
University to account for the impact of extended periods of trauma
and abuse. It is described here:

How Victims are
Affected by Abuse

One's (or someone else's) looming death,
violation, personal injury, or powerful pain are sufficient to
provoke the behaviours, cognitions, and emotions that together are
known as PTSD. Even learning about such mishaps may be enough to
trigger massive anxiety responses.

The first phase of PTSD involves
incapacitating and overwhelming fear. The victim feels like she has
been thrust into a nightmare or a horror movie. She is rendered
helpless by her own terror. She keeps re-living the experience
through recurrent and intrusive visual and auditory hallucinations
("flashbacks") or dreams. In some flashbacks, the victim completely
lapses into a dissociative state and physically re-enacts the event
while being thoroughly oblivious to her whereabouts.

In an attempt to suppress this constant
playback and the attendant exaggerated startle response
(jumpiness), the victim tries to avoid all stimuli associated,
however indirectly, with the traumatic event. Many develop
full-scale phobias (agoraphobia, claustrophobia, fear of heights,
aversion to specific animals, objects, modes of transportation,
neighbourhoods, buildings, occupations, weather, and so
on).

Most PTSD victims are especially vulnerable on
the anniversaries of their abuse. They try to avoid thoughts,
feelings, conversations, activities, situations, or people who
remind them of the traumatic occurrence ("triggers").

This constant hypervigilance and arousal,
sleep disorders (mainly insomnia), the irritability ("short fuse"),
and the inability to concentrate and complete even relatively
simple tasks erode the victim's resilience. Utterly fatigued, most
patients manifest protracted periods of numbness, automatism, and,
in radical cases, near-catatonic posture. Response times to verbal
cues increase dramatically. Awareness of the environment decreases,
sometimes dangerously so. The victims are described by their
nearest and dearest as "zombies", "machines", or
"automata".

The victims appear to be sleepwalking,
depressed, dysphoric, anhedonic (not interested in anything and
find pleasure in nothing). They report feeling detached,
emotionally absent, estranged, and alienated. Many victims say that
their "life is over" and expect to have no career, family, or
otherwise meaningful future.

The victim's family and friends complain that
she is no longer capable of showing intimacy, tenderness,
compassion, empathy, and of having sex (due to her post-traumatic
"frigidity"). Many victims become paranoid, impulsive, reckless,
and self-destructive. Others somatise their mental problems and
complain of numerous physical ailments. They all feel guilty,
shameful, humiliated, desperate, hopeless, and hostile.

PTSD need not appear immediately after the
harrowing experience. It can – and often is – delayed by days or
even months. It lasts more than one month (usually much longer).
Sufferers of PTSD report subjective distress (the manifestations of
PTSD are ego-dystonic). Their functioning in various settings – job
performance, grades at school, sociability – deteriorates
markedly.