ABSTRACT
The debate surrounding the definition of psychological torture closely resembles the debate on the concept of trauma. After decades of international consensual classifications, psychiatry still lacks a satisfactory definition of trauma. For some authors, torture is simply a very specific kind of traumatic event (Gerrity, Keane and Tuma, 2001), while others have debated the pros and cons of developing specific diagnostic criteria for torture survivors (including diagnostic criteria for a ‘torture syndrome’) and the suitability of granting torture specific status as a complex traumatic event (Genefke and Vesti, 1998). We will briefly review the debate on the definition of psychological trauma in clinical psychiatry in order to understand the lessons and insights that psychiatry can offer for a general theory of psychological torture.
