Twenty seven years of treating survivors of torture and organized violence–associations between torture, gender and ethnic minority status among refugees referred for treatment of PTSD

Background: Victims of torture and organized violence are among the most vulnerable refugees. The nature of torture promotes shame, secrecy and silencing of the survivors, and there is a need for studies to provide a testimony to the experiences of survivors.

Objective: To contribute to the global knowledge base by exploring the nature and frequency of different types of torture as reported by survivors and to explore potential associations between basic sociodemographic variables and the likelihood of reporting different kinds of torture and of attending treatment for PTSD.

Method: This study is based on archival data from 27 years of clinical practice treating survivors of torture and organized violence (N = 1249) in a specialist outpatient clinic. Data was coded from patient files by two research assistants. Statistical analysis included independent samples t-tests, Pearson Chi Square tests and regression.

Results: The study found strong associations between gender of survivors and the reporting of different kinds of torture, most strongly with respect to sexual torture. Furthermore, the study found significant differences between survivors belonging to an ethnic minority and survivors who belonged to the majority populations within their countries of origin with regards to the extent of the torture, they report being subjected to. Patients who received treatment reported more torture experiences than those who did not. Conclusions: Findings from the present study document the experiences of different torture methods as reported by survivors, and suggest that belonging to an ethnic minority population is associated with an increased risk of being subjected to more severe torture, which has implications for both research and interventions aimed at treating survivors of torture.