Women as victims of torture

Author: Fornazzari, Ximena: Freire, Marlinda.

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Original language: English

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Nature of contents: This is a retrospective study on the effects of torture on Latin American refugee women in Toronto. Thirty-six cases of female torture victims are reviewed. The cases are divided in 2 groups, according to whether they experienced physical and psychological torture or only psychological assaults. Both groups are compared in terms of demographic characteristics, social and/or political involvement prior to the traumatic experiences, symptoms far which they sought psychiatric intervention and recovery rates. The symptoms presented by all women are consistent with those described in the literature for torture victims, regardless of their sex. The main findings are that women who experienced direct physical and psycho­logical violence more frequently had persistence of symptoms than women who experienced only psychological violence.

Imprint: Acta Psychiatr Scand 1990: 82: 257-260.

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