The sense of helplessness is exacerbated by their knowledge that no judicial or legal intervention is permitted and that family visits are entirely at the discretion of their interrogators. Several former detainees have suffered mental breakdowns as a result of prolonged intense psychological pressure during interrogation. Others have been forced to make false confessions. By dehumanizing and breaking the will of their victims, security personnel seek to make an example of their victims, it suggests. The Istanbul Protocol states that a number of symptoms seem to occur regularly with torture survivors.
Many victims experience profound emotional reactions and psychological symptoms.
The main psychiatric disorders associated with torture are posttraumatic stress disorder and major depression''. Dr Munawar Anees, former prisoner of conscience, chained to his hospital bed after being detained and tortured under the Internal Security Act, September 1998. Dr Munawar Anees, ex-prisoner of conscience, friend and former speech writer of Anwar Ibrahim, was arrested under the ISA in 1998, held incommunicado and forced under torture to confess to having had a sexual relationship with Anwar. I found I was in a small room. There were four men in that room.