It makes it very difficult to get rid of. Many victims are disabled by depression, feelings of despair, guilt and powerlessness. They find it difficult to trust people. Flashbacks and nightmares blur the line between past and present. Survivors whose torture had a sexual component may avoid intimacy.
Some victims become dependent on drugs and alcohol or focus on phantom pains.
Suicide is not uncommon. Guardado says she was tortured for three days by a right-wing death squad in 1980 and left for dead. Those who treated her believe her gulping breaths are a physical manifestation of lingering terror. Many of them have exaggerated, startled reactions to sounds, sights and smells they associate with being tortured. New research on post-traumatic stress disorder shows that torture victims may experience shifts in brain chemistry common to others exposed to acute stress, which antidepressants can help to counteract.