Documentation of Torture and Mental (Psychiatric) Findings Ismail Ozgur Can a *, Halis Ulas b and Umit Unuvar c a Forensic Medicine Department, Dokuz Eylul University Medical Faculty, İzmir, Turkey b Psychiatry Department, Dokuz Eylul University Medical Faculty, İzmir, Turkey c Forensic Medicine Department, Istanbul, Turkey and Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, Maltepe University Medical Faculty, Maltepe, İstanbul, Turkey 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 consid- eration. 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. Introduction It is known that some types of trauma, especially domestic violence, sexual assault/abuse, and torture may cause severe and permanent mental problems. Torture is a crime against humanity and still exists despite absolute prohibition by human rights and humanitarian law all over the world. One of the main reasons for persistence of torture is ineffective investigation, examination, and documentation. Also, torture is one of the most common forms of human rights abuse in countries with a history of military coups such as Turkey (Gerbasi 2004; Bryant et al. 2010; Unuvar et al. 2013). Torture is defined in the United Nations Convention Against Torture, 1984: Torture means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him, or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in, or incidental to, lawful sanctions. The Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Istanbul Protocol 2001) provides international standards for medical documentation of torture (Istanbul Protocol 2001). Istanbul Protocol, which has been endorsed *Email: ozgurcan_99@yahoo.com *Email: ozgur.can@deu.edu.tr Comprehensive Guide to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-08613-2_105-1 # Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 Page 1 of 15