PART A – The importance of the psycological evaluation in the medical ... 5 PART A THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL EVALUATION IN THE MEDICAL INVESTIGATION AND DOCUMENTATION OF TORTURE ALLEGATIONS I. THE CENTRAL ROLE OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL EVALUATION Psychological evaluation can provide critical evidence of abuse among torture victims. It has a central role in the medical investigation and documentation of torture allegations. All medical investigations and documentation of torture should include a detailed psychological evaluation because: • One of the main aims of torture is to destroy the psychological, social integrity and functioning of the victim: “Perpetrators often attempt to justify their acts of torture and ill-treatment by the need to gather information. Such conceptualizations obscure the purpose of torture and its intended consequences. One of the central aims of torture is to reduce an individual to a position of extreme helplessness and distress that can lead to a deterioration of cognitive, emotional and behavioural functions. Torture is a means of attacking the individual’s fundamental modes of psychological and social functioning. The torturer strives not only to incapacitate a victim physically, but also to disintegrate the individual’s personality: The torturer attempts to destroy a victim’s sense of being grounded in a family and society as a human being with dreams, hopes and aspirations for the future [...]” (Istanbul Protocol, § 235). Internationally accepted definitions of torture acknowledge that provoking mental suffering is often the intention of the torturer (Allden, 2002): • All kinds of torture inevitably comprise psychological processes (Kordon et al., 1988) • Torture often causes psychological/psychiatric symptoms at various levels • Torture methods are often designed not to leave physical lesions and physical methods of torture may result in physical findings that either resolve or lack specificity. Improvement in the methods of detecting and providing proof for physical torture