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Former Prisoners of War

Highlights of Empirical Research

  • Chapter
The Mental Health Consequences of Torture

Part of the book series: The Plenum Series on Stress and Coping ((SSSO))

Abstract

Former prisoners of war (POWs) endured grave physical and emotional conditions during their internment. Often they experienced a variety of traumatic events, including torture. For these reasons, research on former POWs is directly related to the problems of survivors of torture. The conditions POWs survived—enforced captivity, fear and terror, pain and suffering, and shame and humiliation—all parallel reports from survivors of torture. Clearly, torture survivors share many life experiences with former POWs, and the research conducted on POWs in many different countries may be very relevant to understanding the specific mental health consequences of torture. The research on POWs has previously been comprehensively reviewed (Engdahl & Eberly, 1990). What follows is an update highlighting POW research of particular relevance to the experiences of torture survivors.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Veterans Administration Medical Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55417, USA

    Brian Engdahl

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, 27710, USA

    John A. Fairbank

Authors
  1. Brian Engdahl
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  2. John A. Fairbank
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Neuroscience Center Building, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892, USA

    Ellen Gerrity  & Farris Tuma  & 

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, 02130, USA

    Terence M. Keane

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© 2001 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Engdahl, B., Fairbank, J.A. (2001). Former Prisoners of War. In: Gerrity, E., Tuma, F., Keane, T.M. (eds) The Mental Health Consequences of Torture. The Plenum Series on Stress and Coping. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1295-0_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1295-0_9

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-5483-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-1295-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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