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Documentation of Torture and Mental (Psychiatric) Findings

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Comprehensive Guide to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Abstract

Torture is a crime against humanity and still exists despite absolute prohibition by human rights and humanitarian law. Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment provides international standards for mental evaluations for medical documentation of torture. In medicolegal evaluation of trauma patients, the biopsychological effects of the trauma and the severity of the injuries are required to be evaluated. Documentation is essential for torture victims.

Both physical and psychological findings of trauma deserve a value in terms of judgment procedures. In this chapter, we aimed to review the mental findings of torture victims and provide documentation methods to readers.

In medicolegal evaluation process of torture, the psychological symptoms must be taken into consideration. We reviewed that the presence of a psychiatric trauma is crucial to be introduced not only for the health benefit of the patient but also for his or her legal rights.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Forensic Medicine Department, Dokuz Eylul University Medical Faculty, İnciraltı, 35340, İzmir, Turkey

    Ismail Ozgur Can

  2. Psychiatry Department, Dokuz Eylul University Medical Faculty, İnciraltı, 35340, İzmir, Turkey

    Halis Ulas

  3. Forensic Medicine Department, Istanbul, Turkey and Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, Maltepe University Medical Faculty, Maltepe, İstanbul, Turkey

    Umit Unuvar

Authors
  1. Ismail Ozgur Can
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  2. Halis Ulas
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  3. Umit Unuvar
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Correspondence to Ismail Ozgur Can .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Buckinghamshire New University, Uxbridge, Middlesex, United Kingdom

    Colin R. Martin

  2. Kings College, London, United Kingdom

    Victor R. Preedy

  3. University of Westminster, London, United Kingdom

    Vinood B. Patel

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© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Can, I.O., Ulas, H., Unuvar, U. (2015). Documentation of Torture and Mental (Psychiatric) Findings. In: Martin, C., Preedy, V., Patel, V. (eds) Comprehensive Guide to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08613-2_105-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08613-2_105-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-08613-2

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