To ondelette, @13, you were right to point out the stress upon the physiological component, and also how the torture works on a neurological level. All psychological torture is ultimately physical torture, as it acts primarily upon the nervous system, particularly brain subsystems. But the effect is global. Glad to hear you learned to master, as much as one can, those panic storms. — I’m sure Physicians for Human Rights will have a lot more to say about the medical aspects of the torture, as revealed in the IG report.

Perhaps Grimshaw could be contacted and provide a copy of the conference papers. It might open a door to what Jessen was involved in at the time and what other conferrees were discussing.

Canada, British, UK but no US references…seems a bit odd. Maybe that’s where the Zubek tie is? But Jessen gave a presentation to NATO “Survival, Escape, Recovery, Evacuation” type programs at the HMS Daedelus school back in the ’90’s. Oh…and that citation is found in a Canadians dissertation on the psychology of the survivors of those tortured.

this is a very interesting claim but where is your evidence?

It’s now confirmed that that the majority of “evidence and confessions” and findings of the 9/11 commission was based on harsh CIA interrogation(torture) We also know KSM has said he just made up whatever to stop the abuse.

Yet by and large the liberals swallow the official 9/11 meme hook line and sinker just like the “evil right wingers”.

A side note, Gerald Posner wrote a great article regarding Abu Zubaydah, revealing that he told of the identities of at least 8 Pakistani ISI and Saudi GID officials who were helping the 9/11 hijackers…all of whom died of mysterious deaths within a few weeks.
Why doesn’t the left, right or mainstream media talk about the evidence of Saudi or Pakistani ISI involvement in 9/11, or the fact even the FBI maintains that the 9/11 hijackers had quite a lot of help within the US by persons and accomplices unknown?

So someone who is deliberately trying to elicit permanent “sympathetic nervous system arousal” is actually going to create brain damage if successful, at the microscopic level by creating pathways for panic attack. That says a lot about the reverse effects that fear tactics have on deprivation. We usually think of it the other way around, both the perps (who characterized the deprivation as “conditioning”) and those critical of the abusive treatment, who often regard the effect that deprivation has on the harsh interrogation tactics as one of it’s evils. Apparently, the fear tactics, the shouting and slapping and nudity, looked at in this light, would have an enhancing effect on deprivation, too. Never thought of it that way.

Second, I have been trying for a little while now to piece together the Aafia Siddiqui interrogations from the ones that are on record, and those were done by the FBI. So thank you for pointing me to your piece about Ali Soufan and the FBI abrogating common Article 3 as well. “Third degree” tactics are no more legal under Geneva or CAT than deprivation tortures, and in fact, modern sleep deprivation derives from them according to Darius Rejali. Tag team interrogations are a form of sleep deprivation just as surely as shackling a person on the ground, prone, with arms and legs off the ground tied to the wall (one wonders why that doesn’t cause positional asphyxiation after a while).

An approach to the management of potential violence on a General Hospital Psychiatric Unit is described as it evolved following analysis of the successful handling of a series of problem patients. The importance of an attitude of acceptance towards potentially violent persons is emphasized as is an orientation towards prevention. An approach of consistency and directness with enhancement of the patient’s positive personality features is favoured. The initial assessment is considered important and clues to the prediction of violence are highlighted, as are aspects of the supervision plan. A specific technique for prevention of violence based on the principle of Dislocation of Expectations, or doing differently than the subject expects, is introduced.

[More searching…] Ah, this is the what you are referring to, I believe:

It was a fantastic experience,” enthused Steve Stuttard, co-director of Survivorbility. “The fact that we’re the first people to ever enter the Big Brother house other than the actual contestants has given us all a huge buzz.” When asked what Survivorbility was tasked to do, Steve explained; “The core objective was to instil something called “dislocation of expectation” which is a psychological technique used in military training to keep people out of their comfort zone. It’s all about making people believe that something terrible is going to happen to them, creating expectation and the fear along with it, but they’re not actually hurt.”

…when he experienced the initial “confrontational” dislocation of expectation during an interrogation session…

“Dislocation of expectation” is an interesting phrase. It’s not commonly found in the literature in the US but is common in British versions of SERE and commando training. It’s used when they put the new set of trainees through a series of unexpected circumstances and seemingly (and really) hopeless tasks. The goal is to not necessarily to evaluate who “succeeds” but who “breaks”…or who rebounds in the next task rather than carry on the trauma emotionally.