ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the nature and characteristics of particular human rights violations which cause traumatic stress to those on whom they are inflicted, and the response of non-governmental agencies to such abuse. Disappearance occurs when a person is abducted by an agent of the state which then denies all knowledge of the whereabouts of the abducted person. The effects of disappearances are felt both by the abducted person and the family of the disappeared whose members are left in a suspended state, psychologically unable to move on freely without news of their loved ones to give direction to their lives. Some workers described torture as a challenge to medical science; others viewed the psychological, psychosocial, and sociopolitical dimensions as central to a response to torture. The role of professional associations in providing any medical care is usually limited to nonexistent. The Filartigas were assisted by a number of legal and human rights non-governmental organizations.
