title: The role of abusive states of being in interrogation.
abstract: Interrogation, the questioning of persons detained by police, military, or intelligence organizations, is designed to extract information that a subject may resist disclosing. Interrogation techniques are frequently predicated on inducing mental states of despair, dread, dependency, and debility that weaken an individual's resistance. Descriptions of techniques from 2 Central Intelligence Agency training manuals are illustrated by examples from interviews of and writings by Murat Kurnaz, who was held at Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp for 5 years. Interrogation techniques are designed to create a destabilizing sense of shock; undermine an individual's grasp on reality; and provoke internal psychological division, self-conflict, and confusion. The long-term effects of interrogation often include posttraumatic stress disorder as well as states of anxiety, depression, and depersonalization.
authors: Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA. frank_putnam@med.unc.edu
authors: Frank W
authors: FW
authors: Putnam
mesh_terms: D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D003068:Coercion; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D003861:Depersonalization / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D030881:Disclosure; D004213:Dissociative Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D004291:Dominance-Subordination; D045809:Human Rights Abuses / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D009014:Morals; D016495:Police; D011209:Power, Psychological; D011936:Reality Testing; D012926:Social Control, Formal / Q000379:methods*; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D014104:Torture / Q000523:psychology*; D014342:Truth Disclosure