Psychological effects of torture: An empirical study on tortured and non-tortured non-political prisoners

Paker, M., Paker, O., & Yuksel, S. (1992). Psychological effects of torture: An empirical study on tortured and non-tortured non-political prisoners. In M. Basoglu (Ed.), Torture and Its Consequences: Current Treatment Approaches. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

(from the book) presents findings from a recent systematic study of 246 non-political prisoners [aged 18-60 years] in a prison in Turkey / this study has attempted to overcome some of the methodological shortcomings of other similar studies / it is based on a fairly large sample of subjects, the entire prison population, who were serving their term in prison at the time of the study / the sample is therefore relatively homogeneous with respect to the life circumstances during and following the trauma and the nature of ill-treatment received from the prison authorities / information on the psychological state of the prisoners has been gathered using a semi-structured interview scale and other standardized rating instruments
(from the chapter) hypothesized that a history of torture would predict higher levels of psychopathology among prisoners / subjects were also screened for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms / multiple regression analyses were performed to examine the predictors of psychopathology in the entire sample / further regression analyses examined whether the presence of physical sequelae predicted greater psychopathology among the tortured prisoners.