By Any Other Name: An Exploration of the Academic Development of Torture and Its Links to the Military and Psychiatry (original) (raw)
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It was only in 2006 that the American Psychiatric Association and the American Medical Association prohibited their members from direct participation in intelligence interrogations in U.S. detention facilities such as Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib. It took the American Psychological Association, however, still two more years to tell their psychologists not to participate in the same type of interrogations. This article asks why psychology was the ‘last man standing’ and puts forward the hypothesis that the psychologization of torture is the stance which unites defenders and opponents of torture. The historical work of McCoy revealed the intricate bonds of the psychology departments with the military practice of psychological torture, but a close reading of the well-known experiments of Stanley Milgram and Philip Zimbardo, rather then being explanatory, suggests a via regia leading easily from psychology to torture. Thus, rejecting the idea that psychology is a valuable knowledge potentially dangerous when in wrong hands, it is argued that psychology carries in its core subjection and de-subjectivization.
Psychiatry and the prevention of torture
Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie, 2010
We welcome the Canadian Psychiatric Association (CPA) Position Statement on The Involvement of Psychiatrists in Coercive Interrogation and Torture. 1 The statement is short and to the point. Dr Chaimowitz states it came about as "geopolitical events suggest a need for a position statement on this matter." Unfortunately, the statement diplomatically eschews describing the events that prompted its release. As such, we feel it is necessary to describe the context and consider the broader significance of the prevalence of torture in psychiatric practice.
Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, reminded the nation half a century ago of the price of using coercion, humiliation and degradation to extract confessions from the guilty, and sometimes the innocent. Miller’s comparison of the Salem witch trials to the McCarthy hearings is again an apt message at a time when the need for information is paramount for many, regardless of the cost. Physical tortures are hardly new cultural or militaristic phenomena, what is new is when Jack Bauer, on the hit show 24, orders a man held in total sensory isolation to break him, and the audience watches as psychological disorientation and deterioration rapidly occur. It was the development of psychological torture in the mid-20th century that represented the first advances in sadistic interrogation methods in centuries.
Destroying Minds: Psychological Pain and the Crime of Torture
CUNY Law Review
Ms. Sveaass also serves as a chairperson of the Human Rights Committee of the Norwegian Psychological Association, a board member of the International Society for Health and Human Rights, and a member of the U.N. Committee Against Torture. For many years Ms. Sveaass has worked as a clinical psychologist, supervisor, and trainer in relation to traumatized refugees and health workers in the field. She has published on the subjects of human rights violations, psychology, and health care.
Torture: A Modicum of Recognition
Law and Critique, 2010
Torture has reappeared in liberal democracies in the guise of antiterrorism strategies. The acceptance of its use and the fascination with the images and documents that indicate the pain and suffering of the tortured point to more than a belief in the need for torture to counter terrorist threats. This fascination implies an enjoyment on the part of the liberal subject who is looking on while the other subject is being beaten. In this article I consider the liberal subject's acceptance of and fascination with the scene of torture. I argue that the scene of torture, as imagined by the subject looking on, provides a formula for the relief of anxiety in the liberal subject who does not know if s/he will be subject to torture at any time.
Psychologists and military interrogators rethink the psychology of torture
Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 2007
Torture interrogation does not yield reliable information. The popular belief that "torture works" conflicts with effective non-abusive methodologies of interrogation and with fundamental tenets of psychology. These were the conclusions reached at a meeting of recently retired, senior U.S. Army interrogators and research psychologists who met to rethink the psychology of torture. This article introduces the military interrogators, the psychologists, and the themes explored. In the process, this article explains why competent interrogators do not require a definition of torture, discredits the "ticking bomb scenario," and outlines the studies that comprise the meeting report, Torture is for Amateurs. The popular belief that "torture works" conflicts with effective non-abusive methodologies of interrogation and with fundamental tenets of psychology.