Hello! I want to clarify that I know very well based on your blog that torture is not a way to get information. However it is a common misconception, and you've also said before that torture may cause memory problems. I'd like to know if it's plausible that a character after being tortured is worried that they might have revealed some important information even though they haven't? It would make for good drama/angst in my story but I want to check if it's plausible first. Thanks for your help!😊
Yes, that’s incredibly plausible and something that a lot of survivors grapple with. It’s not a universal experience but it is common.
Things like sleep deprivation, which causes delirium and significant memory problems even outside of a torture context, feed into this a lot. So do periods of unconsciousness.
The pattern I usually see has torturers feeding into these anxieties. They might tell a victim that they’ve already given up information for example or produce a confession that they say the victim has already signed. Torturers exploit the anxieties they expect victims to have.
Having said that I can also think of accounts where survivors have been genuinely unsure what they said or did not say, what they did or did not do in a way that seemed completely separate from the torturers.
I’ve also seen accounts where survivors were unsure about what happened to them at particular points because they passed out.
Some survivors do come out incredibly sure that they did not say anything. Henri Alleg is a good example of this and his account in The Question is a pretty good one to use as a model for that kind of defiance.
But his experience isn’t universal. A lot of torture survivors doubt themselves. A lot of them are aware that there are flaws in their memory or that they were delirious at some points. Memory problems can create a lot of anxieties.
So yes. This is completely plausible and I think it is a good way to create drama in your story. Especially if you’re exploring this character’s mental state. Memory problems are a huge problem for survivors and while they’re relatively well studied in the scientific literature that message doesn’t seem to have filtered down to on the ground treatment.
A lot of trauma survivors aren’t aware of how common, how normal memory problems are as a symptom. Or how they can manifest.
And I think that creates a lot of unnecessary anxiety. They don’t know what they’re going through or how to combat it which makes life that much more difficult. The impression I get from the trauma survivors who have contacted me is that most doctors either don’t know about these memories problems or don’t communicate it to their patients.
You might want to take a look at the masterpost on memory problems over here. You don’t have to use sleep deprivation in your story but the sort of thing you’re describing is more common in survivors who were sleep deprived. And I have a masterpost on sleep deprivation over here.
Beyond that, this seems like a really good scenario.
I hope that helps. :)
