Supporting interventions after exposure to torture.
A wide range of reactions as panic, demoralisation, feelings of being insecure and unsafe, hopelessness and any kind of dysfunction dominate after torture. The range of PTSD and other psychiatric disorders can be explained by variations in severity, frequency and duration of traumatic events. The advanced numbers of refugees and asylum seekers illustrate the need of people after the experience of torture to find a safe place for recovery. The various steps for immediate coping strategy after being tortured are evaluated. Stressors after torture, as pressure on families, decline of social and economic life, threats, feelings of guilt and shame and health problems due to torture act as remainders for the torture experience. Coping with exposure to torture starts immediately during the experience. A phase-oriented research, taking into consideration internal and external resources, risk factors and protective factors, as well as pre-trauma status, could help to understand more about the needs torture survivors have after being released from detention.
University of Vienna, Austria. brigitte.lueger-schuster@univie.ac.at
Brigitte
B
Lueger-Schuster
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D003469:Culture; D006801:Humans; D011584:Psychology; D012036:Refugees / Q000523:psychology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012931:Social Environment; D012944:Social Support; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology; D014104:Torture / Q000523:psychology