Stress Induction Tactics Used In Controversial Prisoner Torture

The supposed purpose behind stress induction tactics used with prisoners by their captives is to get the prisoner to confess confidential information that may be vital to the national security of their county. However, more often than not, the stress induction tactics used are less to gain tactical or secure information and more for the sheer purpose of torturing the prisoner. Here are some of the stress induction tactics used in controversial prisoner torture.

5 Controversial Stress Induction Techniques

Sleep Deprivation

The reported purpose behind sleep deprivation of a prisoner is to create a feeling of stress so that the prisoner breaks down and talks. However, this tactic becomes controversial when it is carried too far not just keeping the prisoner awake for 24 or 48 hours, but by doing so for even longer periods of time, which can often result in a complete psychotic breakdown. In other cases, sleep deprivation is achieved by inflicting pain each time the prisoner falls asleep, making them too afraid of the pain to be able to sleep even after the torture has stopped.

Sensory Deprivation

Another stress induction tactic used in controversial prisoner torture is sensory deprivation. A prisoner is locked into a dark, sound-proof room with no sense of time or place for long periods of time. The prisoner loses all sense of time, and eventually no longer knows what day it is or whether they are awake or asleep, or alive or dead.

Sensory Overload

On the opposite end of sensory deprivation is sensory bombardment. In this type stress induction tactic used in controversial prisoner torture, the prisoner is bombarded with lights, sounds, and perhaps even by poking or prodding the prisoner continually. There is no relief from the light, or sound, or poking; it goes on and on until the prisoner breaks. However, in many cases the prisoner mentally breaks and still is unable to give his captives any useful information, and he or she may be subjected to even more sensory overload torture.

Temperature Extremes

The use of temperature extremes as a stress induction tactic is controversial and can actually lead to a prisoner’s death either from hypothermia or from heat exhaustion. When alternating temperature extremes are used on patients, these extremes can result in heart failure and sudden death.


Waterboarding mimics the sensation of drowning and can actually have the result of actually drowning the prisoner if carried too far. This stress induction tactic is designed to gain information through the fear of death and often has the result of making a prisoner fearful to talk, because they believe that once they do they will actually be killed. Forcing a prisoner to watch a mock execution is likely to have the same effect.

In most cases, stress induction tactics used in controversial prisoner torture only result in making the torturer less humane and destroying the physical, mental, and emotional health of the prisoner being tortured. In cases where the prisoner may be completely innocent or have no useful information to give, the torture results in destroying a human life for no purpose whatsoever.

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