JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association
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To examine factors related to long-term psychological functioning in political ex-prisoners who had been subjected to systematic torture. ⋯ These findings point to three types of stressors related to different aspects of psychopathology in survivors of torture: perceived severity of torture, secondary effects of captivity experience on various life areas, and general psychosocial stressors following captivity. Different interventions may be needed for three components of survivors' traumatic experience: cognitive and behavioral strategies for treatment of PTSD symptoms, marital or family strategies for minimizing the impact of the trauma on the family, and strategies for enhancing social support to minimize postcaptivity depression and anxiety.