Can a person endure torture? The answer depends only on a combination of three circumstances.
The first is who uses torture and for what. If torture is used by a master of "his job", then even a specially trained person with a low threshold of pain sensitivity and high simple motivation has no chance.
The second is the degree of importance of the "military secret" and the amount of time the enemy has to get the "correct answer". Degree of importance is the key concept. Yes, something great, such as "special school numbers and drop targets" is usually known to quite a lot of people and therefore such information is relatively easily accessible. Which makes the torture itself pretty much pointless. By the way, because in reconnaissance activities, the romance of James Bond with shooting and chases is hardly 5%. Everything else is the painstaking and unhurried work of analysts, many of whom have only seen the gun in the picture. Torture, as a tool, is used when you need to get a simple answer (for example, a key call sign or password to pass a secret) in the shortest possible time. When there is simply no time to engage in lengthy psychological duels.
The third is the degree of importance of hiding a secret for the secret carrier itself. Relatively speaking, the bearded Wackhabites removed you from the post, dragged you quietly to a secluded place and demanded to tell, for example, the route for safely crossing the minefield (or the currently valid password-revocation for passing ambushes and secrets). Whether you will overcome the pain of torture at all costs or not depends on what is more important for you personally, your own skin (although in the vast majority of cases death follows torture, because those who torture, as a rule, do not distinguished by nobility) in the hope of life if you "tell everything" or the life of those people who will be killed as a result of the fact that you break down.
Each specific situation is nothing more than the instantaneous value of combinations of these three factors. Because here every choice makes himself. Silence and pray that the torturers will be too stupid and you will pass out before the pain becomes completely unbearable, or immediately defecate "to the very bottom" in the desperate hope of saving your life no matter what it costs, even if this price will be the lives of people with whom you lived, ate, slept, shared the last cigarette.
In different armies of the world, the official position in relation to torture is very different in form, but the same in essence. A captured soldier has the right to immediately indicate his belonging to the army of a particular country. This extends to him the effect of many international conventions, such as regulating the methods of warfare and the treatment of prisoners of war. In practice, quite often the parties wanted to spit on all these conventions, but the theory remains the theory. A prisoner of war has the right to give his name, surname, rank, registration military number. Under pressure, he is still allowed to give his unit number. And that's it! Everything else is officially considered actions close to betrayal. Although usually the information told under torture is treated rather mildly.
This all applies, so to speak, to conventional troops. In the special forces (not to be confused with special forces), the requirement to maintain secrecy, even at the cost of one's own life, is an absolute norm. By the way, the norm is very, very justified. Therefore, in particular, during the execution of a mission, if a fighter was injured that completely prevented him from completing his task (he broke his leg while parachuting, "caught" a heavy bullet, went blind or deaf from a nearby grenade explosion, etc.), then his own kill him.
Well, as for the personal choice of everyone - to endure or not - then that's what it is and a personal choice. Everyone decides for himself. One on one. And with the consequences of such a step, he, too, will then live alone. If he lives. 06/17/2002 09:53:46,
Who will endure torture longer - a man or a woman?
Each individual has their own pain threshold. Moreover, it can vary depending on the state of health and mentality. If a person is tired, ill or depressed in some way, he endures pain much worse than in a state of complete health and emotional upsurge.
It is easier for trained people to endure pain: athletes, military personnel, etc. The pain threshold differs in men and women, as well as the ability to endure pain for a long time. Women, by virtue of their anatomy and the historical role of guardians hearth more responsive to pain.
Men - born warriors, who have honed their defense mechanisms for centuries - in the general mass have a higher pain threshold and can endure physical suffering longer. The hormone testosterone helps representatives of a strong half of the world's population cope with them. It acts as an anesthetic. The higher the level of this hormone in a man, the easier he copes with intense and prolonged pain.
An interesting study on this topic was published in 2005 by the British University of Bath (BathUniversity). This is one of the ten most prestigious universities in the UK, known for its extensive research base. Bath University scientists have conducted a series of experiments that refute the generally accepted hypothesis that women are more enduring.
Two groups of male and female volunteers were selected for the study. Of course, no one tortured them with the Rack or the Spanish Boot, the favored instruments of torture of the Medieval Inquisition. Bath specialists found a more humane version of medieval torture: lowering the non-dominant hand alternately first into warm (37 ° C) and then into ice water (1-2 ° C).
Scientists were interested in 2 points: the pain threshold (the point when a person begins to feel pain) and the tolerance threshold (the time when he is able to endure it). Men by both indicators outperformed women with a significant advantage. Practice has shown that women are more painful, and they can endure pain for a very short time.
So the torture that the "witches" were subjected to in the Middle Ages was an exorbitant test for the unfortunate. The opposite point of view - as if women are more enduring - arose erroneously due to incorrect evaluation parameters: they did not take into account physiological features, health, etc.
People of different genders deal with pain differently. Women usually concentrate on her emotional aspect, so it is harder for them to endure the torment. Coloring pain with emotions only exacerbates suffering. Men in this regard act more simply: they are fixed only on their physical sensations.
If ladies completely immerse themselves in pain, torturing themselves at the same time also morally, then gentlemen immediately look for a way to get rid of torment or come to terms with pain and live on. For this reason, they can endure the most terrible tortures longer. With this approach, men are not only able to endure more intense pain, but they can also significantly increase their pain threshold and stamina through regular exercise.
Ed Keogh, leader of the group of British researchers, insisted on these conclusions. When Gavin Kenny, Professor of Anesthesia at the Royal Hospital in Glasgow, got acquainted with them, he was very surprised. Kenny did some research work on this issue and found that men after major operations require an average of 25% more painkiller (morphine). The specialist suggested that this also manifests a male strategy for getting rid of pain as quickly as possible.
Pain can occur suddenly or, in the case of chronic diseases, pester the person regularly. To get rid of pain, a person resorts to various means: medicines, meditation, etc. by the most effective method getting rid of pain is to eliminate the cause of its occurrence. However, for this, one also has to endure pain, for example, pain during injections, dental procedures (if the introduction of an anesthetic is impossible for any reason) - there are a lot of such cases when a person has no choice but to endure pain. Therefore, we bring to your attention small tricks that will help you in this difficult task.
1. Relaxation. Not too much pain is best tolerated in a state of relaxation. As pain increases, you can connect the tension of exclusively power and combat muscles, not the diaphragm and the collar zone. new wave pain is better to endure on the exhale.
2. Attention. The next tip on how to learn to endure pain is to manage attention. Here it is also important to take into account the nature of the pain: relatively mild pain can be considered, studied, and tried to find a description for it. With severe pain, this will not work - in this case, you need to be distracted. To do this, do not focus on one thing: constantly quickly look in different directions so that the brain is busy processing information coming from the visual organs. In the meantime, you confuse him, your mind does not concentrate on pain. Another way to reduce pain is good old-fashioned pain-bearing: pinch yourself elsewhere, bite your lip, etc.
3. To endure pain after a sharp blow, say, with the little finger on the corner of the bed, screaming and swearing will help. The short-term healing effect of abuse has been proven for a long time.
4. Motivation. If you understand why you endure pain, it will be easier for you to endure it.
5. Breathing. Above, we have already said that the most intense pain, for example, with an injection, is easier to endure on the exhale. Think about your breath. Concentrate on it: maintain the rhythm of breathing, be aware of the inhalations and exhalations that you make to distract from pain.
Tips on how to learn to endure pain include the right attitude. Whether you like it or not, pain is inevitable. Therefore, accept it, think that it will pass soon, imagine how pain becomes less and less pronounced with every second.
Especially for those who panic at the thought of an injection, a device has been developed that can reduce pain during such a procedure. The principle of operation of the device is as follows: due to the cooling of the injection site and accompanying the process with vibration, the sensitivity of the nerves in a certain place is “misled”, they send impulses to the brain about the effects of temperature and vibration, again distracting it from concentration on pain sensations. In addition, Buzzy is made in the form of a bee, which will cheer up not only children, but also adults.
If pain overcomes you during work or an important event that you cannot leave due to certain circumstances, make every effort to maintain a positive attitude, communicate with others - this will at least minimally help to endure pain.
Torture is a purposeful impact on an individual with the aim of causing him physical and mental suffering. Torture is most often used for:
Receiving information.
sensitive punishment.
Breaking the will of man.
Methods of torture influence, as a rule, are consistent with its potential purpose, the time factor, the available possibilities, the limit of admissibility and, of course, the initial state of the subject. It should be borne in mind that the release of adrenaline during torture destroys the heart.
If there is a lot of time left, it is more humane and more effective to use the tension gradually injected into the psyche, in combination with physical pain. When there is almost no time, it is easier to use gross physical violence.
On a person's attitude to pain:
Gypsies, Negroes, Chinese and hardened professional criminals have a lower perception of pain, and many peoples of the north and blue-eyed fair-haired Europeans tolerate it very badly.
Socially inclined subjects endure pain better than those who prefer to be alone.
Castrates and drug addicts who are not under the influence of a drug experience pain very acutely.
Sagittarians and Leos are afraid of pain, while Capricorns stubbornly ignore it.
Strong emotions (grief, hatred, sexual arousal) usually muffle the pain.
When pain is expected, sensitivity to it increases markedly, especially if the subject is cowardly and cowardly.
Significant pain is easily and permanently remembered.
The pain is most acute at night. Weaker - during the day, even weaker - in the evening.
Elbow and knee joints are very sensitive to impacts with hard objects, such as a stick or steel bar. The front of the lower leg has a similar sensitivity. A hammer can crush fingers lying on a hard surface.
Breath blocking:
Very painful is the blocking of breathing without bringing to a blackout of consciousness. The most commonly used technique seen in films is immersing the face in water for a short period of time (about 30 seconds) and then throwing the head back so that the water enters the nose.
Another simple method is to pull a plastic bag over the subject's head. Just don't overdo it! This method leaves a lasting impression on the victim.
Using the gifts of nature:
The great masters in this area were the ancient Chinese. Their ingenuity knew no bounds! Leaving aside the attachment of an individual to young bamboo shoots, which after a few days, pierced him. Let us leave aside all such frills, since they belong rather to the field of "high art" than to practice.
Of the methods currently used, we mention the whipping of fresh nettles on the genitals. This causes sharp pain, then the affected area swells up.
If you have time and Natural resources, you can use ants or mosquitoes. The Chinese tied their naked victim to an anthill and these small insects literally pulled it apart piece by piece. Some sadists cut the victim's stomach, near the liver, and let ants in there. Mosquitoes, unlike ants, do not need to be searched - they will find you themselves. Or rather, not you, but your victim. It is enough to tie an individual naked in a damp shaded forest to a tree - little vampires will flock and suck all the blood out of him. Or they put a hungry rat under a cap on the stomach (genitals) of the victim.
Thermal effect:
A simple and practical method of torture that doesn't require anything exotic.
The shoulder craftsmen of past centuries heated various steel objects on charcoal braziers. It's very cumbersome and somewhat pompous. Be simple!
A lit cigarette cauterizes the face, eyeballs, back surface of the hands, chest, nipples, neck. In addition to a simple touch, the pressing of a smoldering "bull" into the body is also used, such as extinguishing cigarettes on the body of the victim. If you do not smoke, then use a gas lighter that cauterizes the subject's fingers, eyebrows, hair on the genitals, under the arms and on the head. Cauterization of the head of the penis is very painful.
The famous Bandyuk torture device is an iron. This household item is placed on the bare stomach of the victim and is connected to the power supply network. It starts to heat up slowly… The skin starts to burn. First there is a burn of the 1st degree, then the 2nd and 3rd. Then the skin and underlying tissues are charred and the iron falls into the intestines. The victim usually dies from a painful shock. But, as a rule, this does not happen - already at the stage of a 2nd degree burn, you can find out everything you need.
If you do not currently have an iron, then a piece of burning tow is placed on your stomach or genitals.
A more effective and psychologically traumatic method is to stick a soldering iron or electric curling iron into the anus or vagina. Some professionals manage to shove even a spiral electric boiler up the victim's ass. After heating the electric boiler to the peak temperature, in the absence of water, it has the peculiarity of exploding ...
Speaking of explosions! The client becomes more talkative when he has a large firecracker or a standard electric detonator in his ass, and your finger plays with the button ... The same can be done with a woman, using, of course, her vagina.
The soldering iron itself can be used in a variety of ways. In addition to cauterization, the tip of the soldering iron penetrates the body and injures the underlying tissues. Targets: face, neck, nipples, abdomen, buttocks, genitals, inner thighs, knee and elbow joints.
Chemical substances:
Some substances have a strong irritant, suffocating and burning effect.
With the help of a syringe, ether, battery acid, concentrated salt solution or ordinary cow's milk is injected under the nails, into the scrotum or just under the skin. Ether and acid cause severe pain: the victim is ready to literally tear out the painful place with his nails. Milk under the skin gives severe inflammation and prolonged, debilitating pain.
Intravenous administration of 40 mg of Ditilin is very effective. It is used in operations with anesthesia as well as in veterinary medicine when immobilizing animals. Ditilin relaxes the muscles and paralyzes them. It will take no more than a minute, as the heart will begin to beat less frequently, the muscles of the limbs will be seized by paralysis, passing, then to the chest, diaphragm and respiratory muscles. At the same time, the object remains fully conscious, he clearly experiences a feeling of impending death, with active manifestations of indescribable horror, which lasts from 2 to 5 minutes. At the moment when suffocation appears, the person is required to give the necessary information, with a promise to introduce an antidote.
For the same purpose, instead of ditilin, 1-2 ml of clonidine solution can be injected subcutaneously. Next, tell the subject that you injected him with poison and, if not injected within 20 minutes. antidote, he will die. The victim will experience increasing dizziness and blackouts and eventually collapse. Antidote - 1 ml of caffeine solution and 2 ml of cordiamine intravenously.
"Technical ammonia solution 25%" has a strong irritating effect. Getting even its vapors into the face causes a sharp pain in the nose and eyes.
The pharmacy sells "Finalgon" - a warming ointment for radiculitis. Spreading negligible amounts of it on the genitals or eyes causes severe burning pain, although the action of the finalgon is absolutely safe (it does not leave burns). It is impossible to wash off the finalgon with water, it can be wiped off with a napkin with vegetable oil. If there is no finalgon, use a small cayenne pepper instead.
Electric current:
One of the marvels of our civilization, which brought a fresh variety to the craftsmanship. Suffice it to recall the electric chair. But let's not talk about the sad!
Functional electrodes are attached with a plaster to various parts of the body. Under the electrodes, you can put napkins moistened with a salt solution.
Places of application of electrodes are very diverse. For example, a pair of electrodes is attached to different fingers of the left hand, to the temples, to the legs, to the genitals. Attachment to both arms or to the left arm and left leg is not recommended due to the high risk of cardiac arrest.
It is possible to use portable electric current generators with sufficient power: piezo lighters for gas stove, stun guns, magnetos, electric whips for animals.
In extreme cases, you can simply touch the body of the victim with a cord with bare ends plugged into an electrical outlet or the antennae of a broken light bulb ... The duration of exposure must be strictly metered, otherwise the object will simply bend. The higher the voltage value, the shorter the impact should be. A voltage above 100 V should not be applied for more than a few seconds. Sometimes a metal bucket is put on the victim's head and an electric current is connected. The victim screams and is deafened by their own screams. This further enhances the feeling of pain. After the application of electric current, all muscles and joints excruciatingly hurt, and heart rhythm disturbances are possible.
injections
Relatively safe, but very painful procedure.
Used: sewing needles, thin sharpened knitting needles, sharpened matches and wooden pegs, sharpened pieces of thin steel wire, nails. For torture with needles, one must know the anatomy well so as not to damage the vital organs. The simplest thing is to stick needles under the victim's nails. Very painful! If you use wooden pegs or matches for this procedure (which break off after being stuck in), then severe suppuration and inflammation of the subungual region occurs, which is painful in itself.
The next technique is muscle leakage: biceps, triceps, shoulder muscles, calf, femoral muscles, abdominal muscles, the upper edge of the muscle above the collarbone, buttocks. First, the muscle is slightly pinched and pulled, then a needle is inserted. Thus, you can pierce the muscle through and through.
Penetration of the abdomen with thin, long needles is relatively safe and has a strong psychological effect on the subject. The same can be said about piercing the scrotum. But piercing the penis and eyeballs is extremely, extremely unpleasant!
Professionals know the location of the nerve nodes in the human body and can get directly into the nerve. This gives rise to indescribable pain! One of the varieties of "prickly" torture is threading fishhooks into the body of the victim, and then pulling them out with pliers. A thin drill is clamped into the electric drill, with which the muscles (hands, feet) of the experimental person are drilled.
The hands and feet of the victim are nailed to any wooden surface. This is one of the methods of fixation, when the victim himself hurts himself when trying to escape.
cuts
The cuts are made with a razor blade or a sharp knife.
Facial cuts are very painful and cause heavy bleeding. When the forehead is cut, the subject literally goes blind from the streams of blood pouring into the eyes. Painful incisions in the chest and abdomen.
A neck cut, even the smallest one, causes panic fear. Cuts of the interdigital membranes and corners of the mouth are also painful. Even more painful is the peeling off of skin after cutting. Abraded wounds are then sprinkled with salt or poured over with acid.
squeezing
Squeezing gives rise to slowly growing and easily dosed pain sensations. The simplest is pinching the victim's fingers in the door jamb. Or in a vice. Or with pliers.
The same pliers can pinch the skin on different parts of the body.
An encircling bracelet made of wetted leather is put on the fingers. When dry, the skin shrinks and strongly squeezes the fingers. Squeezing of the genitals gives rise to a feeling of extreme helplessness and a pulling, piercing pain.
Rack
The device is as old as the world. You need a block attached to the ceiling or just a thick beam through which a fairly thick rope is thrown.
The subject's hands are tied behind their back and tied to one end of a rope. Then the other end of the rope is pulled and the subject's hands begin to twist out of their joints. Sometimes it comes to complete dislocation, when the body rises into the air. During this procedure, the victim tries his best to tighten the muscles, but this only intensifies and prolongs the pain.
For greater persuasiveness, the operator can pull the victim down by the legs.
petty self-mutilation
Applicable when it is necessary to punish the victim, humiliate, suppress psychological resistance. Possible actions:
Cutting off the ear, nose, tongue (possible death from bleeding).
Cutting off individual fingers.
Cutting off the scrotum and penis (danger of severe bleeding!), nipples.
Piercing the eardrums with a thin needle.
Gouging out the eye with a needle or needle.
Methods for overcoming pain during torture
Our story will not be complete if we do not tell you about how to overcome the pain of torture. And it's done like this:
US Air Force pilots are said to have undergone mass training after the Korean War, during which they were taught to resist the psychological impact of the enemy. They also say that psychological torture is 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-corporal impact." Here are just a few examples from the Torture Report.
The US Senate Intelligence Committee published an abridged version of its study on the use of torture by the CIA in 2014. 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 US Air Force School of Emergency Survival.
According to the Americas Human Rights Research Center, psychological torture must meet the following four criteria:
1. Suffering;
2. Punishment;
3. Duration;
4. Absence of direct physical violence.
Sleep deprivation is a type of torture where a prisoner is deprived of sleep for a long time. Sleep is vital importance for people and animals. It is not yet clear how long a person can stay awake. The current record is held by Randy Gardner, who stayed awake for 264.4 hours without the use of stimulants.
Sleep-depriving methods include loud blast music, bright strobe lights, and placing a person on the steps of a pedestal from which they receive an electrical shock as they fall... After a period of time without sleep, hallucinations begin. If the lack of sleep becomes constant for several months, it leads to mental illness.
Other, milder, effects may include worsening emotional state. David Dinges, professor of psychology and director of the Department of Experimental Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, states that "when a person is deprived of sleep, he stops experiencing positive emotions. He may claim to be happy - but he actually does not experience anything."
Public shaming is a form of psychological torture that has its roots in the Middle Ages. Remember the expression "pillory"? Here we are: the first mention of this beautiful device dates back to 1274. So this torture has a long history.
A pillory with holes for the head and hands of a person was installed in the most crowded place: on the market square or near the town hall. This made it possible to humiliate the guilty person, scold him, throw stones at him, and sometimes even beat him.
An interesting incident occurred in 1703, when Daniel Defoe was sentenced to the pillory for slander. However, public opinion of him as a hero was so high that he was pelted with flowers rather than dirt or excrement.
At a time when Saddam Hussein was still in power, one of the most famous prisons in the world was Abu Ghraib. After Hussein was overthrown, the US military prison was located there. It turned out that the US Army officers mocked the captured Iraqis. A nationwide scandal erupted and eleven soldiers were convicted of crimes.
One of the types of torture used in Abu Ghraib was forced nudity. Male prisoners were forcibly undressed and forced to stand in front of others in what their mother gave birth to.
In Arab culture, nudity and being exposed in front of others is humiliating for men.
One of the favorite methods of psychological pressure is the long-term isolation of the prisoner. A former prisoner, Ghairat Bahir, recalled:
- If you don't cooperate, they close you in a box as long as 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 macaques conducted in the 1950s, psychologist Harry Harlow found that within a day or two the animals "become deeply restless, listless, or anxious. Wander around the cage, maiming themselves, or swaying wildly from side to side." side without responding.
Sound torture is used to influence prisoners with loud music or white noise. Compared to physical torture, so-called "no-touch" torture could be considered more humane, but it is no less effective.
Like the pillory, sound 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 Metallica's Enter Sandman, 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.
Rudyard Kipling's "Steps" are constantly played in the school of survival in difficult conditions.
Sgt. Mark Hadsell of Psychic Ops says that if a person has never listened to heavy metal, they can't stand around the clock with this music - "the brain and body begin to lose their functions. The train of thought slows down and the will is broken."
The use of drugs, especially hallucinogens, was often used in psychological torture. In an infamous program called Project MK-ULTRA, the CIA experimented with control mental activity. These experiments contained drugs to "weaken the will of the individual through the control of mental operations."
MK means that the project was organized for the technical services of the CIA, while "Ultra" is usually used to refer to secret intelligence data from the Second World War.
The most common drug is LSD, although the agency has also experimented with developing truth sera. The CIA's own website gives an account of the types of drugs used to find the truth: various sera, including scopolamine and various barbiturates.
- There is no such magic tool as in the movies. Barbiturates, by lowering defense mechanisms, can sometimes be useful during interrogation, but even in the best cases, they will cause illusions, fantasies, distorted speech, etc.
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...
So far this view psychological impact is considered one of the most effective and is widely used in practice in the most different countries. From staging execution and hanging to partial "suffocation" or "drowning".
Another form is the "waiting" of death - being on the so-called "list of those sentenced to death". It is said that the consequences are irreversible - prisoners become suicidal or acquire all sorts of manias.
The use of extreme temperatures is one of the "enhanced interrogation" options used by the CIA and the FBI. Even though this torture involves physical abuse, it is considered psychological because it has a mental impact.
Lowering the temperature is also used for sleep deprivation. However, hypothermia is common side effect, this form of torture has high level mortality - up to 50%. A decrease in temperature can affect memory - prisoners suffer from amnesia. Use extremely high temperatures can lead to heat stroke. Even when the necessary conditions are met, heat stroke is usually fatal, so this form of torture can no longer be regarded as purely psychological.
The use of fears and phobias in relation to prisoners can be effective, but not always feasible. Placing arachnophobes in the same cell as spiders is one 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 to understand which phobias were used: phobias of nudity, phobias of enclosed space, phobias of darkness...
Sensory deprivation is an extreme form of psychological torture. This means that you cannot hear, see or touch anything. Imagine yourself trapped in a soundproof cell.
Microsoft has one - they test equipment there. The noise level inside is a record -20.35 decibels. Making the camera even quieter, says Microsoft, is impossible because of the moving air particles that collide with each other. Talking inside a room completely isolated from outside noise is very difficult, 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 “hearing” of a voice assistant when a user accesses a Windows device from the other side of the room, and it can teach tablets and laptops to perceive subtle signals.
In the case of psychological torture, things do not look so nice. José Padilla was found guilty of aiding and abetting terrorists in 2007. In prison, he was subjected to sensory deprivation for several 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 already called Stockholm syndrome.
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, damage to the lungs and brain from oxygen deprivation. While drowning is mostly a physical form of torture, the psychological effects can last for years.
The Bush administration authorized this form of torture after the events of September 2001. The Department of Justice authorized the CIA to work with water under "enhanced interrogation". After a scandal in 2004, the state stopped the "program". Finally, in 2006, the Bush administration banned torture, including water torture, on detainees. Currently, President-elect Donald Trump wants return "drowning" as one of the permitted forms of torture.
Chinese water torture is less extreme than drowning, although just as effective. The prisoner is tied up and water is dripped on his forehead. Despite the fact that no one could confirm that torture was born in China, this name has clearly taken root. Hippolyte de Marsilius is considered the inventor of this torture: so we know for sure that the Spanish Inquisition already used this method against not very faithful subjects.
In 1963, the CIA issued the KUBARK Counterintelligence Interrogation for use during the Vietnam War. Includes specialized forms of interrogation such as electric shock, threat/fear, sensory deprivation, and isolation.
The second manual for advanced interrogation was the Human Resource Exploitation Training Manual, expanded and supplemented, for intelligence agencies in Latin America.
The guide gives clear instructions. For example, it recommends arresting suspects early in the morning, unexpectedly, blindfolding the criminals, depriving them of their clothes. Suspects must also be deprived of food and sleep. Interrogation chambers must be sound and light proof.
The manual argues that some methods of torture can backfire, and the expectation of pain can be more effective than the pain itself. The manuals were declassified and released to the public in May 2004 and can be found online.
The method, called in German Zersetzung (decomposition, disorientation, disorganization, demoralization), was perfected by the Stasi in East Germany, which used it extensively against dissidents in the 1970s and 1980s.
According to former Stasi officers, the goal was to "turn off" dissidents by disrupting their social, personal or family life. The victim was ostracized, followed, she developed paranoid mania and other psychoses...
The method of psychological decomposition included removing paintings from the walls in the absence of the owners of the apartment, replacing one type of tea with another, or something else. Usually the victims didn't know it was a set up.
Other Zersetzung methods included espionage, opening letters and wiretapping, trespassing on private property in a threatening manner, manipulating machines, food poisoning and "false medicines."
Perhaps the most subtle and insidious of all methods of "additional influence" was and remains propaganda. It can be seen as a form of psychological torture. The beginning of modern "psychological attacks" was laid in the First World War. In the beginning, countries such as Great Britain and Germany began to use propaganda as one of the effective weapons. At the time, the British had one of the world's most respected news systems - 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 cartoons.
The Germans were able to successfully use propaganda to force the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire to declare a 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.
