WEBVTT

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[MYSTICAL MUSIC]

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Every healthcare prison
in the United States

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should realize that our
communities have changed

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so dramatically that they
will see a survivor torture

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in their experience.

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Any person emerging in
the field, eventually

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is going to see a survivor.

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There are so many here.

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They permeate our societies.

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They may be more
concentrated in big cities.

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But we have small towns
of 2,000 in Minnesota,

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that are now 25% refugee, with
many torture victims living

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there.

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And they need to be equipped
emotionally and intellectually

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to take this issue seriously.

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Equip themselves with the
ability to ask questions,

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and the ability to
provide counsel,

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or support referrals, or care,
depending on where they sit.

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And I believe that
we know so much now,

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that the failure to do so,
becomes a kind of malpractice.

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[SOFT MUSIC]

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This is not a new story.

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We are, and always have
been a nation of immigrants

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and a nation of survivors.

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As far back as the pilgrims,
some of those who came here

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were, and always
have been, victims

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of war, political oppression,
rape, and torture.

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This is not a new story.

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Britains, Irish, Poles, Greeks,
Italians, Germans, Jews,

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Armenians, Roman Latinos,
Political dissidents,

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sexual minorities, religious
nonconformists, intellectuals.

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They left their homes
to escape persecution,

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and they came to America.

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African-Americans left the
plantation for freedom,

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not just from slavery, but
from torture and lynching.

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This is not a new story, but
some things have changed.

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There are about 30 centers
in the United States

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dedicated to the treatment
and rehabilitation

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of torture survivors.

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The Center for
Victims of Torture

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is one of the
first in the world.

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In [INAUDIBLE],, one
of my sons was killed.

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He went to play a soccer game
while, on the field of play,

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the rebel came in talking out.

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When I went, I dare
say, I've met my son,

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body lying on the floor.

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The hair was on this stick.

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I started crying.

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One other commanders came to
tell, "Are you the Moses Top

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here?"

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Or will you provide the
one we are looking for?

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They lie me on the
ground, and one

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of the members of the
rebels said he was hungry.

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So I take his intestine.

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Cook it for a food.

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They gash me here in my stomach.

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I only remember when
they took the knife,

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or whatsoever they
had, blade to cut me.

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Well, when I opened my
eyes, I had spent five days

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in the Acoma hospital.

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You know, if you get
into a car accident,

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you can, presumably, tell
your family about it.

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Tell your neighbors about it.

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Tell the story again
and again and again,

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and get a lot of support.

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But to talk with the
general public or even

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your family, or friends, about
how you were stripped naked,

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how you were raped, how
you were repeatedly beaten.

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Our clients talk about
this, again and again.

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I was treated worse
than an animal.

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I was treated like a dog.

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It's designed, purposely,
to be humiliating

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and so debilitating.

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So absolutely this is what
we work on in therapy,

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to sort of get to
the point where

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people can feel like
it wasn't their fault.

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They're given these--

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choose between being
tortured themselves,

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or torture their sister, who
they can hear on the phone.

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These are impossible, Sophie's
Choice, kind of dilemmas

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that it's really hard for
people to recover from.

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Moses credits his counselor
and a CVT therapy group

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for helping him deal with
the pain of long separation

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from his family.

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There was a time I was
about to commit suicide.

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I open a window
at my apartment, I

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wanted just forget about this.

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Then I decided to call her.

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Don't do it!

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Don't jump.

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Don't do it.

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You have life to live.

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Think of your children.

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Don't do it.

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And I sat down, cry, wept,
and closed the window.

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I know that, at times, you
have felt very discouraged

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and you have felt very hopeless.

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When I came to the group that
first day, after all those,

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seeing how happy that night.

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Look at my friends
smiling with each other.

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It's everywhere.

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If these guys can come laughing
and smiling with each other--

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now what I was doing?

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What was I thinking of?

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I began to get hope.

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Every day they took
me out to question me.

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And when they asked me
some question after,

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the questioner beat me and
they asked me to do something

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at home, something--

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they told me to do something
very-- or rape her.

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They move my clothes off.

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They smoke.

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That policeman, they
smoke and they burn my--

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you understand?

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Yes.

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A sympathetic guard, a woman,
agreed to help Sylvie escape.

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She look at me, and she says,
she know what can happen to me,

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because it's not my
first time I was here.

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Is the three times, and she
know what going to happen.

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And she going to try
to help me to go out.

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And if she can--

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the police, they are
going to kill me.

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It is difficult for
a survivor of torture

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to talk about his
or her experience

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to other people who have not
gone through an experience.

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And it's difficult
for those who have not

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experienced it to understand,
really, what happens.

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So we decided that we would
form our own organization.

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Unlike programs, which follow a
traditional professional client

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model, the Torture Abolition
and Survivor Support Coalition

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is a mutual self-help group.

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Orlando was a community
organizer in the Philippines.

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He was imprisoned and
tortured for four years.

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When he was released, he
came to the United States.

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I never went through
therapy until that time.

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I met a Vietnam
veteran, became friends,

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and I was in Chicago
at that time.

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And then he told me
about experiences

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of Vietnam veterans.

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Some of them being helped
with Mollica, through therapy.

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One of the first treatment
centers in the US

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was in Chicago, Kovler Center.

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So I went there
and talked to them.

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When I give my name,
everything, he says sit down.

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When I sit down, I start crying.

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And he asked me,
do you want to say

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what happened to you with me?

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I say, no.

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And he say, do you want to--

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do you want me to help you to--

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I just say, no.

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And he say, OK, but if you're
ready any time to talk about,

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you can come and see me.

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And when I will go
back home, I breathe.

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Because I see somebody,
and Mr. Orlando told me,

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I know what happened to
you, because me, also,

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I have a problem in my country.

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I'm a survivor.

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And somebody told me
before, but now is the past.

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In here, we can help you.

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The Harvard program
and refugee trauma

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emphasizes long-term
relationships with survivors

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and their communities,
and intensive knowledge

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of their cultures.

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In Worcester, Massachusetts,
25 years post-Pol Pot,

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we know the prevalence
rate of depression

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in Cambodian community is 50%.

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So one out of every two
Cambodian adults you see

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is going to have a serious
depression that's an illness,

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not just a reaction to
a terrible event that

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happened 25 years ago.

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You cannot have a therapeutic
relationship with another human

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being, and partnership with
another human being unless you

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know their life experience.

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You have to know--

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you can't have a woman
with diabetes coming

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in who's been raped six
times in a refugee camp,

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be treating that diabetes, and
not know that a rape occurred.

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You can't.

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It just doesn't add up.

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Our patients are our teachers.

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I basically say to the patient,
you're a Cambodian patient.

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You've lived through Pol Pot.

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You lived through
the refugee camp.

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You came to the United States.

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You don't speak English.

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You're having trouble
with your kids.

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How the heck do
you deal with this?

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I mean, try to teach me,
as a doctor, how you cope.

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These scenes are, yeah, we
can put ourselves right back

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in there.

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As a child, Vong Ros survived
the Cambodian genocide

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under Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge.

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Today, he's a leader in
the Cambodian community

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of Lowell, Massachusetts.

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I was about, I would
say, four years old.

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And they put us on a train.

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I remember, you know,
not I look back,

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it's similar to what they did
with the Holocaust people,

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and Jewish people, where they
shove us into loads of people,

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and there's only standing room.

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I remember I was so thirsty.

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I was screaming to my
dad to give me water.

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And the train stopped.

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And my dad found a pot, and he
just jumped out of the train.

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He knew that the train
was going to go back.

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He jumped out of the train
and saw a little puddle.

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He didn't have any shoes,
and he had cut his foot,

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and he barely made
it back on a train.

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I got water.

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And to this day, I feel really
bad to put him through that.

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All your life changed.

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The things you used
to have, luxuries

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to not having the basic needs.

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I think a month or so
later, I got really sick.

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One day later, my
cousin got sick, too.

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One of my cousins got sick, and
he was in the bed next to me.

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And we each get an orange.

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He ate his, and I
didn't want to eat mine

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because I want to
wait for my family

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to come to share it with them.

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And so, one morning,
early morning, my dad

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came and tapped me on
the foot, and he says,

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I come here to tell
you that I'm going away

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for a couple of days.

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And now I have the orange,
and I said, take the orange.

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He said, no, you, you're sick.

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Eat it.

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He didn't want to leave.

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But he has to leave, and I
say, well, OK, we'll split it.

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After we split it, he left.

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We split the orange, and
I never saw him again.

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My name is Wilson.

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And I wanted to show
this illustration, here.

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This is where we come from.

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And we jump in the sea
and swim without anything.

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We come out here, almost
naked and picked up by you.

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And you will restore
whatever we have lost.

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We're back in suit and tie,
and you're a professional.

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[LAUGHTER]

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So thank you very much for
everything you're doing for us.

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Thank you.

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[APPLAUSE]

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The Boston Center for Refugee
Health and Human Rights

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is a program of Boston Medical
Center, New England's largest

00:15:07.140 --> 00:15:09.152
safety net hospital.

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Peter was a client of
the center while he

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was applying for asylum.

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The cells are pretty small
and they put a lot of people

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in there.

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They strip you naked.

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We sleep on a wet floor.

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There's no toilet
facility or bathroom

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facilities in the cell.

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And mostly, you get a bucket,
a small bucket for defecation.

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And you stay there
all day, all night.

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It is smelling.

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They take you out of the cell
every morning, and beat you.

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In the evening, the same thing.

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Beat you all over on your body,
on the soles of your feet.

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I knew that if I continue, I
will definitely lose my life.

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And my family will be the loser.

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I have often seen
patients who have

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been detained and tortured, not
just once, but two times, three

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times.

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They tell me stories of how
they went back and continued

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to try to organize
a youth group,

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or continued to participate
in demonstrations.

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These are remarkable people.

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The simple fact that
they managed to get here,

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identifies them as people
who are particularly

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resourceful and competent.

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I could no longer read.

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They would not give any
assistive technology.

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Before I got here, yes, I
could still read a little bit.

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But when I got here,
it actually got worse.

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Peter is an accountant.

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But after being
fire-hosed and beaten

00:16:24.270 --> 00:16:27.090
during demonstrations
and while in prison,

00:16:27.090 --> 00:16:29.540
his vision began to
deteriorate rapidly.

00:16:29.540 --> 00:16:31.080
And number one, you can't work.

00:16:31.080 --> 00:16:33.430
So you don't have any
financial support,

00:16:33.430 --> 00:16:35.040
which is very sensitive.

00:16:35.040 --> 00:16:36.310
You're not with your family.

00:16:36.310 --> 00:16:38.070
There's nothing to comfort you.

00:16:38.070 --> 00:16:40.280
So those are the kind of
sensitive problems of there.

00:16:40.280 --> 00:16:42.650
And most people end
up being depressed.

00:16:42.650 --> 00:16:47.180
You know, you could imagine,
I stayed for over a year

00:16:47.180 --> 00:16:50.245
without being able to even pick
up a paper that was en route.

00:16:50.245 --> 00:16:54.850
I have to remind myself how
selective the patients are

00:16:54.850 --> 00:16:56.230
who I see.

00:16:56.230 --> 00:16:59.234
The people who are tortured
and die, I never see.

00:16:59.234 --> 00:17:01.650
The people who are maimed,
such so that they can't travel,

00:17:01.650 --> 00:17:02.790
I never see.

00:17:02.790 --> 00:17:05.510
The people who don't have
the means to come to the US,

00:17:05.510 --> 00:17:07.030
I never see.

00:17:07.030 --> 00:17:09.089
And I suppose, there
are people in the US,

00:17:09.089 --> 00:17:13.770
who at least, as
yet, haven't met

00:17:13.770 --> 00:17:15.794
the right person who
would direct them

00:17:15.794 --> 00:17:16.710
to the refugee center.

00:17:22.010 --> 00:17:24.800
The director of Atlanta's
Center for Torture and Trauma

00:17:24.800 --> 00:17:28.369
Survivors, psychologist,
Ibrahim Kira.

00:17:28.369 --> 00:17:30.815
Dr. Kira experienced
the impact of torture

00:17:30.815 --> 00:17:32.900
within his own family.

00:17:32.900 --> 00:17:36.760
I have a brother he
was 17 years old,

00:17:36.760 --> 00:17:41.100
and they came, the Secret
Service, Egyptian Secret

00:17:41.100 --> 00:17:43.210
Service, this time.

00:17:43.210 --> 00:17:44.960
4:00 in the morning.

00:17:44.960 --> 00:17:49.005
Wake up, hold your family,
and they came in and took him.

00:17:49.005 --> 00:17:51.860
Disappeared for six years.

00:17:51.860 --> 00:17:55.460
And of course, I know
how this affected me

00:17:55.460 --> 00:17:57.110
and affected my family.

00:17:57.110 --> 00:18:00.770
My parents, my mother was
waking up during the night,

00:18:00.770 --> 00:18:03.140
crying, where are you, my son?

00:18:03.140 --> 00:18:07.070
I'll tell you about a kid, a kid
who, himself, was unfortunately

00:18:07.070 --> 00:18:08.240
kidnapped and tortured.

00:18:08.240 --> 00:18:11.870
He was 6 years when
he was kidnapped.

00:18:11.870 --> 00:18:16.490
He saw his best of friends
slaughtered in front of him.

00:18:16.490 --> 00:18:20.000
And they told him, the
kidnappers, if your parents

00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:23.240
don't pay, you'll be like this.

00:18:23.240 --> 00:18:28.460
So this kid, who
was 6 year old, he

00:18:28.460 --> 00:18:32.000
called the parents in the
presence of the kidnappers.

00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:33.980
Please, help me!

00:18:33.980 --> 00:18:38.030
So the parents had to
sell the house, and sell--

00:18:38.030 --> 00:18:45.830
pay lots of money and lots
of big ransom to save him.

00:18:45.830 --> 00:18:48.830
And he came here, each
time he would go to school,

00:18:48.830 --> 00:18:51.790
he will have behavior
problems, emotional problems,

00:18:51.790 --> 00:18:53.450
fighting with the other kids.

00:18:53.450 --> 00:18:59.030
So the teacher would scorn,
scold him, give him time outs,

00:18:59.030 --> 00:19:00.530
sometimes yell at him.

00:19:00.530 --> 00:19:05.600
He would remember kidnappers,
and he will get more depressed.

00:19:05.600 --> 00:19:09.440
The problem is even
though he has Medicaid,

00:19:09.440 --> 00:19:13.520
no therapist would
take Medicaid here.

00:19:13.520 --> 00:19:16.790
So there is no therapy.

00:19:16.790 --> 00:19:21.050
And so I see him, talk
with him and see him,

00:19:21.050 --> 00:19:26.990
as much as I could, even
though my job is with adults.

00:19:26.990 --> 00:19:32.810
But fortunately, the
director, Dr. Kira, he said,

00:19:32.810 --> 00:19:35.150
do whatever you need
to do with this kid.

00:19:35.150 --> 00:19:38.810
The center's founder and first
director was Kitty Kelley.

00:19:38.810 --> 00:19:44.180
I was working on a grant
for elderly mental health,

00:19:44.180 --> 00:19:47.230
providing mental health
services for elderly refugees.

00:19:47.230 --> 00:19:49.340
And it was pretty exciting.

00:19:49.340 --> 00:19:54.050
I had about 300 elderly
Vietnamese in my program.

00:19:54.050 --> 00:19:56.570
That was in 1996.

00:19:56.570 --> 00:20:02.060
And to my surprise
and shock, they

00:20:02.060 --> 00:20:05.300
told me that they were
all torture victims.

00:20:05.300 --> 00:20:08.590
Obviously, there were thousands
of elderly Vietnamese.

00:20:08.590 --> 00:20:11.150
Well, there are other
ethnic populations here

00:20:11.150 --> 00:20:13.190
in Georgia, who were
also torture victims.

00:20:13.190 --> 00:20:17.210
It just was an eye opener.

00:20:17.210 --> 00:20:18.860
Me and my father,
we went to jail,

00:20:18.860 --> 00:20:22.730
because when they come in, on
December, on the 15th, that's

00:20:22.730 --> 00:20:24.950
where they took us.

00:20:24.950 --> 00:20:27.080
We went to jail, but
we didn't stay in.

00:20:27.080 --> 00:20:31.270
I did not know where my father
was, because we didn't even--

00:20:31.270 --> 00:20:34.610
they didn't even take
us in the same car.

00:20:34.610 --> 00:20:36.800
I was tortured, you know?

00:20:36.800 --> 00:20:39.310
Sometimes, I have to--

00:20:39.310 --> 00:20:42.335
they put me in a
tank, like, water,

00:20:42.335 --> 00:20:49.020
make you stand, you know,
for hours in a building.

00:20:49.020 --> 00:20:51.336
Went through all that,
because you don't know

00:20:51.336 --> 00:20:52.460
what they're talking about.

00:20:56.480 --> 00:20:57.500
You don't.

00:20:57.500 --> 00:20:58.210
No idea.

00:20:58.210 --> 00:21:00.310
Do I have to lie?

00:21:00.310 --> 00:21:04.820
Sometimes, yeah, you have to lie
to get away, just to slow them,

00:21:04.820 --> 00:21:06.680
to stop the pain.

00:21:06.680 --> 00:21:11.660
To have a young
person, like you were,

00:21:11.660 --> 00:21:13.250
to go through what
you went through,

00:21:13.250 --> 00:21:16.130
and then have the challenges
of having to leave

00:21:16.130 --> 00:21:17.530
the country by yourself.

00:21:17.530 --> 00:21:19.160
It's just like a nightmare.

00:21:19.160 --> 00:21:21.680
Sometimes, I don't
think about it.

00:21:21.680 --> 00:21:26.120
It's like, when I'm alone,
I don't think about it.

00:21:26.120 --> 00:21:33.680
Like those practice that me and
Sam was doing, the breathing,

00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:37.100
the thought, the imagination.

00:21:37.100 --> 00:21:40.250
But because me and Sam, we
work on that, like breathing.

00:21:40.250 --> 00:21:42.650
Sometimes, something happen.

00:21:42.650 --> 00:21:44.210
You by yourself, you do.

00:21:44.210 --> 00:21:45.860
You think about it.

00:21:45.860 --> 00:21:50.530
But now you have the skills to
cope with it in a healthy way.

00:21:50.530 --> 00:21:52.370
Yeah, to move myself.

00:21:52.370 --> 00:21:55.880
And I never know how
psychologists work before.

00:21:55.880 --> 00:21:58.730
We do have doctor for malaria.

00:21:58.730 --> 00:22:03.320
Something where, I guess, a
doctor that can listen to you,

00:22:03.320 --> 00:22:09.920
and make you feel worse,
like you a human being.

00:22:09.920 --> 00:22:12.470
Yes, you don't need that.

00:22:12.470 --> 00:22:15.290
You didn't need that.

00:22:15.290 --> 00:22:19.070
Because this is not
a family society,

00:22:19.070 --> 00:22:20.810
like Africa, where
you have your father,

00:22:20.810 --> 00:22:24.320
your mom, or some places
where people are connected.

00:22:24.320 --> 00:22:27.350
You can talk to
somebody in your family.

00:22:27.350 --> 00:22:29.900
Here, you talk to
a psychologist.

00:22:29.900 --> 00:22:33.284
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]

00:22:49.200 --> 00:22:53.430
One of my torture survivors was
arrested and thrown in prison

00:22:53.430 --> 00:22:54.240
and tortured.

00:22:54.240 --> 00:22:57.270
Six times he was
arrested because he

00:22:57.270 --> 00:22:58.665
was overheard speaking Kurdish.

00:23:01.290 --> 00:23:03.450
So what would you call that?

00:23:03.450 --> 00:23:05.956
Is that religion?

00:23:05.956 --> 00:23:06.455
Ethnicity?

00:23:09.150 --> 00:23:10.920
Well, I call it politics.

00:23:10.920 --> 00:23:11.730
I mean, jeez.

00:23:11.730 --> 00:23:12.990
Are you kidding me?

00:23:12.990 --> 00:23:17.010
He was like 17, and
he was whispering

00:23:17.010 --> 00:23:20.640
to his buddy on the way home
from high school in Kurdish

00:23:20.640 --> 00:23:23.220
language, and somebody
ratted him out.

00:23:23.220 --> 00:23:26.910
My problem started when I
was looking for my sister.

00:23:26.910 --> 00:23:30.060
My sister and her boyfriend
disappeared on campus.

00:23:30.060 --> 00:23:31.410
By that time, I was already--

00:23:31.410 --> 00:23:33.165
I was in the city.

00:23:33.165 --> 00:23:35.995
And I was getting too close
to finding out what happened.

00:23:35.995 --> 00:23:38.120
And when you're thrown into
the military detention,

00:23:38.120 --> 00:23:40.440
it means you're
really a traitor.

00:23:40.440 --> 00:23:43.170
You are there to be killed.

00:23:43.170 --> 00:23:46.062
So that was-- they did
a lot of bad things.

00:23:46.062 --> 00:23:46.895
A lot of castration.

00:23:46.895 --> 00:23:47.790
They did a lot of--

00:23:50.410 --> 00:23:53.480
they cut people up and
all kinds of stuff.

00:23:53.480 --> 00:23:57.000
And if you're still alive,
your job is to clean it up.

00:23:57.000 --> 00:24:03.930
I was intercepted by a couple
of cars, which were following me

00:24:03.930 --> 00:24:06.990
shortly from my house.

00:24:06.990 --> 00:24:12.840
And they stopped-- they
crashed my car from the back,

00:24:12.840 --> 00:24:14.190
and they stopped me.

00:24:14.190 --> 00:24:16.560
And with the guns
and several men,

00:24:16.560 --> 00:24:20.340
they made me get out of the car.

00:24:20.340 --> 00:24:23.550
Carmen was a physician, a
professor of pediatrics,

00:24:23.550 --> 00:24:25.110
and an activist.

00:24:25.110 --> 00:24:27.240
Her captors intended
to force her to film

00:24:27.240 --> 00:24:29.700
a public confession,
before they released her.

00:24:29.700 --> 00:24:33.540
They were very
careful not to beat me

00:24:33.540 --> 00:24:38.070
in the parts that
could be visible.

00:24:38.070 --> 00:24:40.500
Like, they beat me in my thighs.

00:24:40.500 --> 00:24:44.250
My thighs were, by then,
like the color of eggplant.

00:24:44.250 --> 00:24:49.530
They had broken a couple of
my wrists when beating me.

00:24:49.530 --> 00:24:54.810
And they had kept me with
handcuffs the entire time.

00:24:54.810 --> 00:24:56.820
And they did other
things, like they put me

00:24:56.820 --> 00:25:02.370
in a filthy bathroom, and they
wet all my clothes, and left me

00:25:02.370 --> 00:25:07.320
there the entire night,
sitting on the floor.

00:25:07.320 --> 00:25:10.500
And that they wanted
to break me, of course.

00:25:10.500 --> 00:25:15.680
And they wanted to show
power, which is the game.

00:25:15.680 --> 00:25:21.090
One day, and it's not
only physical torture,

00:25:21.090 --> 00:25:25.440
it's also mental
humiliation and all that.

00:25:25.440 --> 00:25:29.400
I went to a rally.

00:25:29.400 --> 00:25:33.020
I went to a rally talking
about human rights,

00:25:33.020 --> 00:25:35.640
and someone took my picture.

00:25:35.640 --> 00:25:41.690
My husband was politically
active, and he wasn't home,

00:25:41.690 --> 00:25:45.770
so they arrested me instead.

00:25:45.770 --> 00:25:47.660
The reasons were endless.

00:25:47.660 --> 00:25:50.630
Just endless, endless reasons.

00:25:50.630 --> 00:25:53.810
They wanted information
from me about my brother.

00:25:53.810 --> 00:25:57.800
They wanted--
everybody knew why.

00:25:57.800 --> 00:26:01.130
Whether it was the real
"why" or not, we don't know.

00:26:04.070 --> 00:26:09.750
The "why" didn't seem
to matter to anyone.

00:26:09.750 --> 00:26:16.230
Once the physical torture
began, what mattered was pain.

00:26:16.230 --> 00:26:20.850
When you are up to a point in
which you are feeling the pain,

00:26:20.850 --> 00:26:24.730
or when they were putting a
plastic bag around my head

00:26:24.730 --> 00:26:27.510
and tightening it, and
I couldn't breathe.

00:26:30.030 --> 00:26:32.760
They will say, stomp your
feet when you cannot breathe

00:26:32.760 --> 00:26:36.210
anymore, and then you
will tell us something.

00:26:36.210 --> 00:26:39.930
So I would just try to
think fast, and tell

00:26:39.930 --> 00:26:42.560
them just anything.

00:26:42.560 --> 00:26:47.940
And it's like a game;
like a very diabolic game.

00:26:47.940 --> 00:26:51.540
Brandon Kohrt is the founder
of the Atlanta Asylum Network,

00:26:51.540 --> 00:26:54.300
based at Emory University,
and a physician

00:26:54.300 --> 00:26:56.910
who has worked with
survivors of torture.

00:26:56.910 --> 00:26:58.560
We can look at the
body, and see signs

00:26:58.560 --> 00:26:59.850
of different types of torture.

00:26:59.850 --> 00:27:01.290
For example, one
of the techniques

00:27:01.290 --> 00:27:03.570
is called filanga, where
the feet are beaten.

00:27:03.570 --> 00:27:05.205
There are actually
specific ruptures

00:27:05.205 --> 00:27:08.850
in the tissues of the foot
that are unique to filanga

00:27:08.850 --> 00:27:10.470
that you can
demonstrate to a court.

00:27:10.470 --> 00:27:12.120
Also, issues like
cigarette burns

00:27:12.120 --> 00:27:14.730
that are very often in torture,
produce a specific sign.

00:27:14.730 --> 00:27:17.280
There are different types
of suspension hanging,

00:27:17.280 --> 00:27:20.680
where the nerves in the under
part of the arm get disrupted.

00:27:20.680 --> 00:27:24.540
And so, there are characteristic
immobility's of the limbs

00:27:24.540 --> 00:27:26.040
that go along with that.

00:27:26.040 --> 00:27:28.980
And also, not just the
body, but the psyche also,

00:27:28.980 --> 00:27:32.130
is really a form of
testimony for torture,

00:27:32.130 --> 00:27:35.160
looking at signs of depression,
anxiety, and especially

00:27:35.160 --> 00:27:37.060
post-traumatic stress disorder.

00:27:37.060 --> 00:27:40.050
Many of these individuals
will have flashbacks.

00:27:40.050 --> 00:27:41.370
They'll have nightmares.

00:27:41.370 --> 00:27:44.370
They'll avoid people who
resemble the perpetrators.

00:27:44.370 --> 00:27:45.210
We look sick.

00:27:45.210 --> 00:27:46.590
We take on that affect.

00:27:46.590 --> 00:27:50.160
We go into the doctor's
office and we're down.

00:27:50.160 --> 00:27:51.570
We look that way.

00:27:51.570 --> 00:27:55.245
But torture victims don't
always take on that same affect.

00:27:55.245 --> 00:27:58.050
Sometimes they're standing
very proud and very strong.

00:27:58.050 --> 00:28:02.280
And they take on this
very different appearance.

00:28:02.280 --> 00:28:04.560
They don't look sick.

00:28:04.560 --> 00:28:06.210
Some of it is a cultural thing.

00:28:06.210 --> 00:28:10.710
Some of it is just a, no
one's going to believe me,

00:28:10.710 --> 00:28:12.570
so why bother to show it things.

00:28:12.570 --> 00:28:15.720
Some of it is a refugee
issue, where people think,

00:28:15.720 --> 00:28:18.240
I'm going to get deported
if I don't look strong.

00:28:18.240 --> 00:28:20.110
I mean it's a very
complicated issue.

00:28:20.110 --> 00:28:22.110
But certainly, physicians
need to understand

00:28:22.110 --> 00:28:24.000
what the presentation is.

00:28:24.000 --> 00:28:26.310
It's a different presentation.

00:28:26.310 --> 00:28:29.730
And oftentimes, when a
physician says, hi, how are you?

00:28:29.730 --> 00:28:31.820
They'll say, fine.

00:28:31.820 --> 00:28:32.510
Anything wrong?

00:28:32.510 --> 00:28:33.740
No?

00:28:33.740 --> 00:28:34.550
Everything OK?

00:28:34.550 --> 00:28:35.880
Great.

00:28:35.880 --> 00:28:37.569
I'm great.

00:28:37.569 --> 00:28:39.110
But then, you look
under the surface,

00:28:39.110 --> 00:28:41.090
and you've got
fractures and bullets

00:28:41.090 --> 00:28:42.950
and post-traumatic
stress disorder,

00:28:42.950 --> 00:28:45.670
and inability to hear.

00:28:45.670 --> 00:28:49.760
It's not uncommon for me to
find 20 medical issues going on

00:28:49.760 --> 00:28:52.190
with a torture victim.

00:28:52.190 --> 00:28:54.760
But in the first five
minutes of conversation,

00:28:54.760 --> 00:28:57.380
that's really not
going to be revealed.

00:28:57.380 --> 00:28:59.330
So it's a different picture.

00:28:59.330 --> 00:29:02.450
Survivors may have difficulty
in trusting physicians

00:29:02.450 --> 00:29:04.310
and other health care providers.

00:29:04.310 --> 00:29:06.080
Sometimes, with good reason.

00:29:06.080 --> 00:29:10.310
If your client in front of
you doesn't have the ability

00:29:10.310 --> 00:29:13.160
to trust you or you don't
address their trend,

00:29:13.160 --> 00:29:14.817
there's difficulty
with trust coming

00:29:14.817 --> 00:29:19.070
from wartorn areas,
where many of them

00:29:19.070 --> 00:29:23.900
have been tortured by people
in authority, and some of them,

00:29:23.900 --> 00:29:27.720
by people in authority who
were health care professionals.

00:29:27.720 --> 00:29:31.340
So that issue has to
be addressed upfront.

00:29:31.340 --> 00:29:36.980
So a physician outfit
would traumatize the person

00:29:36.980 --> 00:29:37.880
immediately.

00:29:37.880 --> 00:29:39.830
Sometimes, it's the table.

00:29:39.830 --> 00:29:42.480
Sometimes, it's the room.

00:29:42.480 --> 00:29:47.690
Sometimes, it's the light or
the just the room configuration.

00:29:47.690 --> 00:29:55.230
Often, it's the waiting So
when I took a man, for example,

00:29:55.230 --> 00:29:58.770
to a neurologist to
have an examination,

00:29:58.770 --> 00:30:02.070
I told the receptionist,
I said, we cannot wait,

00:30:02.070 --> 00:30:03.960
even five minutes.

00:30:03.960 --> 00:30:08.880
And so he and I paced
outside, outdoors.

00:30:08.880 --> 00:30:12.600
And she called me when we could
walk into the doctor's office.

00:30:12.600 --> 00:30:14.910
He could not wait
at all, because

00:30:14.910 --> 00:30:17.100
of the waiting for torture.

00:30:17.100 --> 00:30:19.080
They would come in
and tell him, you're

00:30:19.080 --> 00:30:20.730
going to be tortured
at 10 o'clock.

00:30:20.730 --> 00:30:24.140
And then they'd put
a clock on his table.

00:30:24.140 --> 00:30:26.180
So he could see the time.

00:30:26.180 --> 00:30:31.930
They, government police,
they beat me on my head.

00:30:31.930 --> 00:30:35.990
That inflammation is
gone, but my headache

00:30:35.990 --> 00:30:39.800
is persistently coming.

00:30:39.800 --> 00:30:48.290
My cousin, he was shot by police
government, and he passed away.

00:30:48.290 --> 00:30:52.280
And my brother, he was detained.

00:30:52.280 --> 00:30:58.820
So my father, he told me, I
mustn't come back to home.

00:30:58.820 --> 00:31:01.520
Some survivors have had
discouraging experiences

00:31:01.520 --> 00:31:04.310
with doctors in the US, as well.

00:31:04.310 --> 00:31:08.060
After escaping from Ethiopia
by way of Kenya, South Africa,

00:31:08.060 --> 00:31:11.630
and Mexico, Seble was thrown
into immigration detention,

00:31:11.630 --> 00:31:14.690
after crossing the border
into the United States.

00:31:14.690 --> 00:31:20.030
When I was in prison,
I have headache,

00:31:20.030 --> 00:31:23.710
and they give me
medicine, a painkiller.

00:31:23.710 --> 00:31:36.370
And now, in that detention
center, and one of the nurse,

00:31:36.370 --> 00:31:42.570
she told me, why you don't
give me some more medication?

00:31:42.570 --> 00:31:48.530
Or why you don't see how,
or what happened to my head?

00:31:48.530 --> 00:31:53.730
Why you don't make
X-ray or CAT scan?

00:31:53.730 --> 00:32:01.740
I thought, she told me, we
just gave a painkiller, to make

00:32:01.740 --> 00:32:03.660
come down your headache.

00:32:03.660 --> 00:32:08.460
We don't give any more
medication over here.

00:32:08.460 --> 00:32:10.320
After her release
from detention,

00:32:10.320 --> 00:32:12.750
Seble went to a
hospital emergency room.

00:32:12.750 --> 00:32:16.230
And they told me-- even
the doctor, he told me,

00:32:16.230 --> 00:32:19.300
maybe your hair--

00:32:19.300 --> 00:32:24.840
you are tying your hair
tightly, very much.

00:32:24.840 --> 00:32:27.690
That's why you having headache.

00:32:27.690 --> 00:32:33.150
He asked me about the insurance,
and I told him, I am immigrant.

00:32:33.150 --> 00:32:34.140
I don't have money.

00:32:34.140 --> 00:32:35.730
I don't have any insurance.

00:32:35.730 --> 00:32:37.350
I told to him.

00:32:37.350 --> 00:32:42.830
And I think, he doesn't
like that who I am.

00:32:42.830 --> 00:32:46.250
There was no way to come out
and say, look, I was tortured.

00:32:46.250 --> 00:32:48.440
And this what happened to me.

00:32:48.440 --> 00:32:53.030
And was very difficult to
really come out and say it.

00:32:53.030 --> 00:32:56.540
So you said I'm having
nightmares, and I can't sleep.

00:32:56.540 --> 00:32:57.560
And I--

00:32:57.560 --> 00:33:00.320
Richard felt that he had to
hide his trauma symptoms.

00:33:00.320 --> 00:33:02.472
After his experiences
in prison, he

00:33:02.472 --> 00:33:04.430
was terrified at the
thought of being committed

00:33:04.430 --> 00:33:07.430
to a psychiatric hospital.

00:33:07.430 --> 00:33:09.290
And that's the scary
part, when he meet you.

00:33:09.290 --> 00:33:12.380
To me, what was scaring me,
was when they were beginning

00:33:12.380 --> 00:33:14.420
to say, maybe I
was schizophrenic,

00:33:14.420 --> 00:33:16.610
or I had a drug addiction.

00:33:16.610 --> 00:33:18.230
That is the theory
that was mostly

00:33:18.230 --> 00:33:20.540
coming up from the
clinics I was going to.

00:33:20.540 --> 00:33:24.450
So I started withdrawing from
going to the health care.

00:33:24.450 --> 00:33:28.160
They went to a
specialist, a pneumologist

00:33:28.160 --> 00:33:31.100
from the Columbia
University Presbyterian

00:33:31.100 --> 00:33:32.370
whatever, hospital.

00:33:36.280 --> 00:33:41.080
The guy was so arrogant, and
so, kind of, just spiteful.

00:33:41.080 --> 00:33:43.060
Like, I'm here.

00:33:43.060 --> 00:33:43.720
Your there.

00:33:43.720 --> 00:33:46.030
You're just a student.

00:33:46.030 --> 00:33:49.630
And it was even
worse, when I used

00:33:49.630 --> 00:33:52.630
to tell them that I, myself, was
a physician, because then they

00:33:52.630 --> 00:33:54.420
feel trapped.

00:33:54.420 --> 00:33:59.470
And I put in a special place,
in the clinical history.

00:33:59.470 --> 00:34:02.290
It says, any other
event that you think

00:34:02.290 --> 00:34:05.140
could be affecting all this.

00:34:05.140 --> 00:34:11.710
And I put there on purpose, I
was tortured in February 1990,

00:34:11.710 --> 00:34:13.150
for three days.

00:34:13.150 --> 00:34:16.840
And I put in parentheses, was
beaten, this, this, and this,

00:34:16.840 --> 00:34:17.880
and this.

00:34:17.880 --> 00:34:20.560
I just gave it to him,
and I just waited.

00:34:20.560 --> 00:34:24.550
He didn't even read the
damn clinical history.

00:34:24.550 --> 00:34:26.590
Even those who have
escaped the conflicts

00:34:26.590 --> 00:34:29.889
in their native countries
may be indirectly traumatized

00:34:29.889 --> 00:34:33.429
by what happens to friends
or family left behind.

00:34:33.429 --> 00:34:35.469
Doris is the director
of a community

00:34:35.469 --> 00:34:39.219
program for women and girls
in the Liberian community.

00:34:39.219 --> 00:34:43.060
I was fortunate, I wasn't
in Liberia for the war.

00:34:43.060 --> 00:34:48.790
But when I left, I had a
sister who was six years old.

00:34:48.790 --> 00:34:52.315
And then four years
later, she was 10.

00:34:52.315 --> 00:34:54.370
And the war broke out.

00:34:54.370 --> 00:34:58.360
But my 10-year-old sister
was captured by rebels.

00:34:58.360 --> 00:34:59.530
She was raped.

00:34:59.530 --> 00:35:02.550
She was held for 12 years.

00:35:02.550 --> 00:35:05.650
So from 1990, we
knew nothing of her.

00:35:05.650 --> 00:35:07.510
We thought she was dead.

00:35:07.510 --> 00:35:09.300
When we found her,
she had a child,

00:35:09.300 --> 00:35:11.590
and she was eight
months pregnant.

00:35:11.590 --> 00:35:12.910
She was an adult now.

00:35:12.910 --> 00:35:19.750
But in our family, we never,
never, ever talked about it.

00:35:19.750 --> 00:35:22.010
My father, who is--

00:35:22.010 --> 00:35:24.820
he's going to be 78 in October.

00:35:24.820 --> 00:35:28.380
The only thing he told that
he kept having nightmares.

00:35:28.380 --> 00:35:31.570
And every time he had dreams,
my sister would show up, and ask

00:35:31.570 --> 00:35:34.450
him, why did you leave me?

00:35:34.450 --> 00:35:36.760
So for me, as someone
who was even educated

00:35:36.760 --> 00:35:38.470
and went to school
and were a nurse,

00:35:38.470 --> 00:35:40.560
I really didn't
know where to go.

00:35:40.560 --> 00:35:44.830
And I felt like, who's
going to care anyway?

00:35:44.830 --> 00:35:47.320
Immigration status is
an important factor

00:35:47.320 --> 00:35:50.440
in whether survivors feel
secure and able to move on

00:35:50.440 --> 00:35:52.090
with their lives.

00:35:52.090 --> 00:35:55.050
There was fighting at a port.

00:35:55.050 --> 00:35:59.340
And my daughter, 4 and 1/2
years old, got missing.

00:35:59.340 --> 00:36:01.660
I came in the United
States before I

00:36:01.660 --> 00:36:04.780
learned that she was alive.

00:36:04.780 --> 00:36:07.430
And luckily, she
still knew her name.

00:36:07.430 --> 00:36:10.970
And I was able to talk to her.

00:36:10.970 --> 00:36:14.770
Went to a lottery
council of judges.

00:36:14.770 --> 00:36:18.940
Got a letter from there so
that she can be resettled here.

00:36:18.940 --> 00:36:23.780
Because of my state,
she was denied.

00:36:23.780 --> 00:36:28.970
Imagine you have a child 4 and
1/2 years, and up to that time,

00:36:28.970 --> 00:36:32.060
you don't know how she
looks, beside the pictures,

00:36:32.060 --> 00:36:34.110
beside her voice.

00:36:34.110 --> 00:36:36.090
I think, it's been
almost a year now,

00:36:36.090 --> 00:36:38.760
that you've been without
your work permit--

00:36:38.760 --> 00:36:41.730
Moses' appeal for
asylum was denied.

00:36:41.730 --> 00:36:45.300
But he was given withholding
of deportation status.

00:36:45.300 --> 00:36:48.480
He can work, but he cannot
bring his children here,

00:36:48.480 --> 00:36:50.910
nor can you leave the
country to visit them.

00:36:50.910 --> 00:36:53.070
He can be deported at any time.

00:36:53.070 --> 00:36:57.860
My prayers, now, that I'm
desperate over is my children.

00:36:57.860 --> 00:37:00.420
What will become
of them tomorrow?

00:37:00.420 --> 00:37:03.570
I would say status--

00:37:03.570 --> 00:37:05.794
refugee status, asylum status.

00:37:05.794 --> 00:37:06.960
Temporary protective status.

00:37:06.960 --> 00:37:09.750
All of these legal
statuses, being

00:37:09.750 --> 00:37:13.020
able to stay in this
country have a huge impact

00:37:13.020 --> 00:37:15.600
on our ability to
do psychotherapy,

00:37:15.600 --> 00:37:17.100
in the first place.

00:37:17.100 --> 00:37:19.890
When you talk about
post-traumatic stress disorder,

00:37:19.890 --> 00:37:22.304
it implies that the
trauma is in the past.

00:37:22.304 --> 00:37:23.970
But for people who
don't know if they're

00:37:23.970 --> 00:37:27.780
going to be allowed to
stay in this country,

00:37:27.780 --> 00:37:29.860
there's no "post"
in post-trauma.

00:37:29.860 --> 00:37:32.460
So in therapy, what
you're trying to do

00:37:32.460 --> 00:37:35.430
is to work through the trauma,
to be able to process it,

00:37:35.430 --> 00:37:37.440
to be able to integrate
their experience

00:37:37.440 --> 00:37:39.840
into their current
experience, and to go on

00:37:39.840 --> 00:37:41.605
to live a thriving life.

00:37:41.605 --> 00:37:43.230
But if somebody
doesn't know if they're

00:37:43.230 --> 00:37:45.420
going to be able to stay
here, they don't they

00:37:45.420 --> 00:37:47.620
don't have that sense
of safety and security.

00:37:47.620 --> 00:37:50.130
So to go beyond
that, and to process

00:37:50.130 --> 00:37:53.160
trauma and painful
memories, often people

00:37:53.160 --> 00:37:54.930
don't feel safe to do that.

00:37:54.930 --> 00:37:58.246
[SOFT MUSIC]

00:37:58.746 --> 00:38:01.900
Much of the work of recovery
takes place in groups,

00:38:01.900 --> 00:38:03.580
in interaction with others.

00:38:07.195 --> 00:38:08.820
One of the things we
know about torture

00:38:08.820 --> 00:38:12.820
is it has a really intense
impact on a person's ability

00:38:12.820 --> 00:38:15.760
to continue to
function in community.

00:38:15.760 --> 00:38:17.860
One of the reasons, one
of the, by definition,

00:38:17.860 --> 00:38:21.850
what torture tries to do
is to break those bonds.

00:38:21.850 --> 00:38:23.740
And the point of
what we're trying

00:38:23.740 --> 00:38:25.960
to do with helping
people get reconnected

00:38:25.960 --> 00:38:29.200
with the external community,
is that it not only

00:38:29.200 --> 00:38:31.270
helps them reconnect
with that community,

00:38:31.270 --> 00:38:33.760
but it helps them to
reconnect with themselves,

00:38:33.760 --> 00:38:36.300
with their healthy
self, pre-trauma.

00:38:36.300 --> 00:38:38.290
And then, you really
can only do that when

00:38:38.290 --> 00:38:41.050
you're in interaction
with other people.

00:38:41.050 --> 00:38:45.850
I have a group about
six to eight people.

00:38:45.850 --> 00:38:47.435
Sometimes, more.

00:38:47.435 --> 00:38:50.440
Psychiatrist Yassar Kanawati
has been working with groups

00:38:50.440 --> 00:38:52.650
of Iraqi torture survivors.

00:38:52.650 --> 00:38:55.270
As I said, they
all were tortured.

00:38:55.270 --> 00:38:57.460
And basically, the
goal of this group

00:38:57.460 --> 00:39:05.380
is to give them the support.

00:39:05.380 --> 00:39:08.780
For them to be able to
express their thoughts,

00:39:08.780 --> 00:39:12.700
their feelings, how to
deal with this trauma.

00:39:12.700 --> 00:39:18.370
With that trauma and
how to go on with life.

00:39:18.370 --> 00:39:20.020
They come here, and
they'll tell you

00:39:20.020 --> 00:39:23.740
that I was tortured
by Sunni, every Shia.

00:39:23.740 --> 00:39:25.750
And then, if they're
Sunni, they'll tell you,

00:39:25.750 --> 00:39:27.400
I was tortured by a Shia.

00:39:27.400 --> 00:39:29.980
But they are all
together, there.

00:39:29.980 --> 00:39:33.430
And that's wonderful, because
that gives you an idea

00:39:33.430 --> 00:39:35.620
that they are not really enemy.

00:39:35.620 --> 00:39:38.170
Group work can help
survivors re-establish

00:39:38.170 --> 00:39:39.970
a sense of community.

00:39:39.970 --> 00:39:43.030
Joanna Colrain led groups at the
Center for Torture and Trauma

00:39:43.030 --> 00:39:45.520
Survivors for several years.

00:39:45.520 --> 00:39:51.115
There was one woman that
I worked with who was--

00:39:53.800 --> 00:39:56.230
she was not put in
prison, but she was

00:39:56.230 --> 00:40:01.330
held captive in her village.

00:40:01.330 --> 00:40:05.350
She had young twins.

00:40:05.350 --> 00:40:09.130
Babies, who were just
a few months old.

00:40:09.130 --> 00:40:13.150
When she didn't give them
information, because she didn't

00:40:13.150 --> 00:40:16.840
have information to give
them, they killed both babies

00:40:16.840 --> 00:40:19.840
in front of her.

00:40:19.840 --> 00:40:24.070
After they killed the
babies, they all raped her,

00:40:24.070 --> 00:40:27.970
and then they shot her
and left her for dead.

00:40:27.970 --> 00:40:30.040
She survived.

00:40:30.040 --> 00:40:33.910
She ended up spending 16
years in a refugee camp,

00:40:33.910 --> 00:40:37.120
before she finally
came to the States.

00:40:37.120 --> 00:40:41.170
When I met her, it
was about 20 years

00:40:41.170 --> 00:40:48.760
after her babies had
died, and she was still

00:40:48.760 --> 00:40:51.670
living through that moment.

00:40:51.670 --> 00:40:57.490
She was still grieving, as
though they had died yesterday.

00:40:57.490 --> 00:41:01.660
So in this group, in this
Somali women's group,

00:41:01.660 --> 00:41:03.285
she was able to tell her story.

00:41:06.870 --> 00:41:15.390
And was able to see other
women nodding, crying,

00:41:15.390 --> 00:41:22.290
holding her hand,
and at the same time,

00:41:22.290 --> 00:41:25.770
to go on in the group
and laugh with her

00:41:25.770 --> 00:41:28.290
and tell happy stories.

00:41:28.290 --> 00:41:31.170
Not only did they come out
of isolation with their pain,

00:41:31.170 --> 00:41:34.080
and find support
with women who had

00:41:34.080 --> 00:41:37.050
been through the same
thing, but they also

00:41:37.050 --> 00:41:44.760
were able to remember
with other women

00:41:44.760 --> 00:41:47.670
the things that were
joyful in their life.

00:41:47.670 --> 00:41:51.030
A time that was good.

00:41:51.030 --> 00:41:56.430
Remembering their homeland
when it was fruitful and safe.

00:41:59.310 --> 00:42:01.890
And it gave them
something to hold on to.

00:42:01.890 --> 00:42:04.050
We work at building trust.

00:42:04.050 --> 00:42:08.820
We work at empowering
clients to bring these issues

00:42:08.820 --> 00:42:11.130
to their primary care doctors.

00:42:11.130 --> 00:42:14.010
Survivors may hesitate to
raise the issue of torture

00:42:14.010 --> 00:42:16.090
with their health
care providers.

00:42:16.090 --> 00:42:18.400
And all too often, no one asks.

00:42:18.400 --> 00:42:22.636
Providers are-- I think
they're strapped for time.

00:42:22.636 --> 00:42:23.760
I think they're overworked.

00:42:23.760 --> 00:42:25.290
I don't-- I think they care.

00:42:25.290 --> 00:42:28.890
I think they truly do care,
but the system, itself

00:42:28.890 --> 00:42:32.670
prevents them from being
able to change anything.

00:42:32.670 --> 00:42:35.610
Being able to open themselves
up, to ask questions,

00:42:35.610 --> 00:42:37.980
to spend more time
with patients.

00:42:37.980 --> 00:42:39.900
You don't get any more
time with a patient

00:42:39.900 --> 00:42:41.760
if you're using an interpreter.

00:42:41.760 --> 00:42:44.370
There's things like that,
that just don't make sense,

00:42:44.370 --> 00:42:46.800
and that's a system problem.

00:42:46.800 --> 00:42:50.954
And then, the other issue
is what do you do about it?

00:42:50.954 --> 00:42:54.270
It's the same reason that they
don't ask about alcoholism

00:42:54.270 --> 00:42:57.195
or domestic abuse.

00:42:57.195 --> 00:43:02.030
It will shoot a hole in
your day a mile wide,

00:43:02.030 --> 00:43:05.910
and you've got to do
something about it.

00:43:05.910 --> 00:43:09.030
If you ask the question,
it's like, if you

00:43:09.030 --> 00:43:10.920
don't want to know, don't ask.

00:43:10.920 --> 00:43:15.520
If you don't have a
treatment, don't do the test.

00:43:15.520 --> 00:43:20.320
Once you ask, then you're
obligated, ethically, to act.

00:43:20.320 --> 00:43:22.860
They keep a lot of those
wounds from the past hidden

00:43:22.860 --> 00:43:24.220
for all kinds of reasons.

00:43:24.220 --> 00:43:26.910
They think people
aren't interested.

00:43:26.910 --> 00:43:28.620
They think they
won't be believed.

00:43:28.620 --> 00:43:32.700
They want to forget themselves.

00:43:32.700 --> 00:43:36.675
There's a lot of shame,
fear, social stigma,

00:43:36.675 --> 00:43:38.130
all kinds of reasons.

00:43:38.130 --> 00:43:41.640
But we did find that,
when providers showed

00:43:41.640 --> 00:43:44.989
a genuine sense of caring
and interest, even in asking,

00:43:44.989 --> 00:43:46.530
you don't seem like
you're from here.

00:43:46.530 --> 00:43:48.090
Where have you--
where are you from?

00:43:48.090 --> 00:43:52.650
And being aware that it's a
country where war has taken

00:43:52.650 --> 00:43:54.240
place.

00:43:54.240 --> 00:43:58.170
Just being able to say,
you've come from a place

00:43:58.170 --> 00:43:59.910
where there was war recently.

00:43:59.910 --> 00:44:01.350
Did that affect your life?

00:44:01.350 --> 00:44:03.780
Those kind of-- just a
few questions like that,

00:44:03.780 --> 00:44:06.480
and our clients are very
responsive Torture survivors

00:44:06.480 --> 00:44:08.970
are very responsive to
that if they feel like they

00:44:08.970 --> 00:44:10.800
have permission to open up.

00:44:10.800 --> 00:44:15.300
The irony is that
being a torture victim

00:44:15.300 --> 00:44:18.210
makes a person stigmatized.

00:44:18.210 --> 00:44:21.455
Where it should be the
torture that's stigmatized.

00:44:21.455 --> 00:44:27.510
The fact that you were
raped with a baton,

00:44:27.510 --> 00:44:33.540
or were taken to a prison
and beaten until you cried

00:44:33.540 --> 00:44:36.700
is something that produces a
sense of shame and humiliation

00:44:36.700 --> 00:44:38.780
in you.

00:44:38.780 --> 00:44:44.280
So for me to be able to
ask you about those things,

00:44:44.280 --> 00:44:51.060
I can't do it until we have
established enough of a trust,

00:44:51.060 --> 00:44:54.960
in terms of our
bilateral relationship.

00:44:54.960 --> 00:45:00.810
Enough of a private space,
and enough of a parody of

00:45:00.810 --> 00:45:05.830
personhood to be able to
speak about these things.

00:45:05.830 --> 00:45:09.780
And so you can't just put
torture on the checklist.

00:45:09.780 --> 00:45:10.770
Hi, Doc.

00:45:10.770 --> 00:45:13.500
Hi there, Mr. So-and-so.

00:45:13.500 --> 00:45:16.140
Do you have fever,
chills, weight-loss?

00:45:16.140 --> 00:45:17.280
Were you tortured?

00:45:17.280 --> 00:45:18.930
Do you have high blood-pressure?

00:45:18.930 --> 00:45:21.870
It doesn't work that way.

00:45:21.870 --> 00:45:25.680
Torture is an intimate
form of shaming,

00:45:25.680 --> 00:45:28.560
and it requires an intimate
form of relationship

00:45:28.560 --> 00:45:30.720
to actually access it.

00:45:30.720 --> 00:45:32.870
For many people
who've been tortured,

00:45:32.870 --> 00:45:35.140
the health professional
would be the first person

00:45:35.140 --> 00:45:36.990
they've ever told about it.

00:45:36.990 --> 00:45:41.070
And if you look
like you're standing

00:45:41.070 --> 00:45:43.320
at the door ready to
leave in two minutes,

00:45:43.320 --> 00:45:45.390
you're not going
to get anything.

00:45:45.390 --> 00:45:48.540
I think I saw my first torture
survivor, probably a month

00:45:48.540 --> 00:45:49.800
after I started.

00:45:49.800 --> 00:45:52.980
My comfort level, being a new
psychiatrist on staff here,

00:45:52.980 --> 00:45:55.415
was already kind of shaky.

00:45:55.415 --> 00:45:58.175
And then to be thrown into
something so delicate.

00:45:58.175 --> 00:45:59.910
But I'm realizing
now that it doesn't

00:45:59.910 --> 00:46:01.515
have to feel that delicate.

00:46:01.515 --> 00:46:04.240
I think, again, my approach of--

00:46:04.240 --> 00:46:06.330
I treat my patients
consistently,

00:46:06.330 --> 00:46:09.600
the same way I screen for
trauma with everybody.

00:46:09.600 --> 00:46:12.150
I've talked to
enough of my clients.

00:46:12.150 --> 00:46:15.480
Certainly, after I heard
about this project, when

00:46:15.480 --> 00:46:20.099
I saw my patients, who
I know are survivors,

00:46:20.099 --> 00:46:22.140
I asked them, what was it
like the first time you

00:46:22.140 --> 00:46:23.590
talked about it?

00:46:23.590 --> 00:46:26.730
And most of them answered,
they felt relieved.

00:46:26.730 --> 00:46:28.530
It wasn't
retraumatizing for them.

00:46:28.530 --> 00:46:32.250
I think that's a big fear
that clinicians, doctors have.

00:46:32.250 --> 00:46:39.030
They were eager to talk about
it and wanted to be asked.

00:46:39.030 --> 00:46:42.450
There is the danger,
when you do this work,

00:46:42.450 --> 00:46:45.750
of secondary
post-traumatic stress.

00:46:48.450 --> 00:46:52.680
Some people have nightmares.

00:46:52.680 --> 00:46:55.380
I'm a very visual
person, and so when

00:46:55.380 --> 00:46:58.680
clients were telling me
what had been done to them,

00:46:58.680 --> 00:47:00.780
I got pictures in my
head, and I couldn't

00:47:00.780 --> 00:47:03.120
get the pictures to go away.

00:47:03.120 --> 00:47:08.100
It affected how
I view the world.

00:47:08.100 --> 00:47:14.040
And can I live in a world
that has this much evil,

00:47:14.040 --> 00:47:15.790
if you want to call it that?

00:47:15.790 --> 00:47:16.935
The dark side.

00:47:20.160 --> 00:47:27.480
And I really had to go through
that existential crisis,

00:47:27.480 --> 00:47:32.520
and either get crushed by it,
and not do this work anymore,

00:47:32.520 --> 00:47:34.560
or come out on the
other side of it.

00:47:34.560 --> 00:47:37.620
When I had my first opportunity
to have an internship here

00:47:37.620 --> 00:47:39.390
at the center, I
declined it because I

00:47:39.390 --> 00:47:43.650
was frightened of the sad
nature, the overwhelming nature

00:47:43.650 --> 00:47:44.340
of torture.

00:47:44.340 --> 00:47:46.614
And didn't know if I
wanted to work in that.

00:47:46.614 --> 00:47:48.030
I never, in a
million years, would

00:47:48.030 --> 00:47:50.220
have thought that that
place could be a place where

00:47:50.220 --> 00:47:54.020
I feel good and mostly joyful.

00:47:54.020 --> 00:47:58.320
Even though I sit with sadness,
on a one on one with people,

00:47:58.320 --> 00:48:01.140
I might have that client
at 9:00 and at 10:00, I

00:48:01.140 --> 00:48:03.750
have someone who's a little
further along in the process.

00:48:03.750 --> 00:48:07.540
So it balances out, and that 10
o'clock appointment makes me--

00:48:07.540 --> 00:48:10.290
it gives me hope
for the 9 o'clock.

00:48:10.290 --> 00:48:13.410
Each time a survivor
tells his or her story

00:48:13.410 --> 00:48:15.540
can be therapeutic,
because they're

00:48:15.540 --> 00:48:17.520
reworking it in their mind.

00:48:17.520 --> 00:48:19.950
They're handling it
with more confidence.

00:48:19.950 --> 00:48:23.830
It's not causing them
as much distress.

00:48:23.830 --> 00:48:25.950
They're realizing that
people in their lives

00:48:25.950 --> 00:48:30.180
are trustworthy now, or more
trustworthy than before.

00:48:30.180 --> 00:48:32.430
They have successes in
what they're doing now.

00:48:32.430 --> 00:48:34.920
They're feeling better, and
the next time I see them,

00:48:34.920 --> 00:48:36.140
they might be smiling.

00:48:36.140 --> 00:48:38.709
And the time after,
that they might tell me

00:48:38.709 --> 00:48:40.500
more about their family
and their children,

00:48:40.500 --> 00:48:43.050
and introduce me more to
their day to day lives.

00:48:43.050 --> 00:48:45.390
Currently, I know that
connection has been made,

00:48:45.390 --> 00:48:47.370
and that's a great feeling.

00:48:50.130 --> 00:48:55.260
Before everything
happened, I think,

00:48:55.260 --> 00:49:00.340
maybe we've married one day.

00:49:00.340 --> 00:49:06.270
Best one now, I didn't
think any more about--

00:49:06.270 --> 00:49:13.090
Because all these men would
do this thing with me.

00:49:13.090 --> 00:49:20.018
He's someone he's married
have his children.

00:49:20.018 --> 00:49:21.494
Understand what I am saying?

00:49:25.422 --> 00:49:25.922
Yeah.

00:49:29.860 --> 00:49:36.280
I start to miss my appointment
with my counselor, seeing him.

00:49:36.280 --> 00:49:38.790
When I have an
appointment, I didn't go.

00:49:38.790 --> 00:49:42.550
And then he called me to
say, to ask, what happened?

00:49:42.550 --> 00:49:47.050
Why you didn't want
to come anymore?

00:49:47.050 --> 00:49:49.720
And he said, just try.

00:49:49.720 --> 00:49:52.640
If you doesn't have
a time, because it's

00:49:52.640 --> 00:49:57.550
three times per week, you just
try to come, maybe one time

00:49:57.550 --> 00:49:59.320
per week.

00:49:59.320 --> 00:50:02.320
He did thought, going
to help you now.

00:50:02.320 --> 00:50:03.100
Right now.

00:50:03.100 --> 00:50:10.090
They just keep coming,
and I keep going.

00:50:10.090 --> 00:50:13.560
I still dream bad dream.

00:50:13.560 --> 00:50:20.290
But the first time when I
see him, I feel comfortable.

00:50:20.290 --> 00:50:26.760
I could not recognize my
person, who I was before.

00:50:26.760 --> 00:50:33.910
Yes, in this time, I'm
a very hard worker.

00:50:33.910 --> 00:50:36.610
Very strong lady.

00:50:36.610 --> 00:50:42.460
I was, in my country,
I was a businesswoman.

00:50:42.460 --> 00:50:46.320
I educated my child by myself.

00:50:46.320 --> 00:50:52.360
My daughter, when
she speak to me,

00:50:52.360 --> 00:50:58.510
the counselor spoke to
me, and one, or two times,

00:50:58.510 --> 00:50:59.830
I recognized myself.

00:50:59.830 --> 00:51:06.220
I say, no, I can't become
very weak, like that.

00:51:06.220 --> 00:51:07.840
What happened to me?

00:51:07.840 --> 00:51:10.990
I know, sometimes,
somebody say, you don't--

00:51:10.990 --> 00:51:14.470
you can forget.

00:51:14.470 --> 00:51:16.750
You are boss.

00:51:16.750 --> 00:51:19.580
But I think, I need
to forget, because I

00:51:19.580 --> 00:51:21.140
don't forget this thing.

00:51:21.140 --> 00:51:22.160
I won't become crazy.

00:51:26.140 --> 00:51:31.510
The way I deal with this
is just to remember the--

00:51:31.510 --> 00:51:33.820
both my family and
other people's family,

00:51:33.820 --> 00:51:42.010
they died to try to do something
every day to help contribute.

00:51:44.590 --> 00:51:50.230
Not to have that kind
of event happen again.

00:51:50.230 --> 00:51:54.190
And I don't
anticipate to be done

00:51:54.190 --> 00:51:57.170
with this, with my lifetime.

00:51:57.170 --> 00:52:00.310
The sad part for me is that
I'll die with this pain.

00:52:00.310 --> 00:52:06.280
The people my parents age,
will die with this pain.

00:52:06.280 --> 00:52:13.830
Each of my commune members have
the same pain, the same events,

00:52:13.830 --> 00:52:16.750
the same loss as I do.

00:52:16.750 --> 00:52:21.750
And so, I will have been
forever tied to that.

00:52:21.750 --> 00:52:25.620
Somebody was harmed, terribly,
at the hands of another human

00:52:25.620 --> 00:52:26.130
being.

00:52:26.130 --> 00:52:28.440
And the lesson they've
internalized, often from that,

00:52:28.440 --> 00:52:30.810
is that human beings are bad.

00:52:30.810 --> 00:52:32.880
You can't trust human beings.

00:52:32.880 --> 00:52:35.790
Distance yourself as much as
possible to protect yourself

00:52:35.790 --> 00:52:37.360
from further harm.

00:52:37.360 --> 00:52:39.270
So in a sense, all
of the providers,

00:52:39.270 --> 00:52:41.790
no matter what our
specific background is,

00:52:41.790 --> 00:52:44.520
what we're doing is,
we're sitting with people,

00:52:44.520 --> 00:52:47.522
we're listening to them,
we're believing them.

00:52:47.522 --> 00:52:49.230
And we're, hopefully,
sending the message

00:52:49.230 --> 00:52:52.140
that human beings
actually can be kind.

00:52:52.140 --> 00:52:56.190
That you may be able to
go on and trust again.

00:52:56.190 --> 00:52:58.500
That this is a safe
place to start.

00:52:58.500 --> 00:53:00.960
If a guy walks in
after a year and a half

00:53:00.960 --> 00:53:03.390
with a new cell
phone in his ear,

00:53:03.390 --> 00:53:05.304
and a baseball cap
on, and doesn't

00:53:05.304 --> 00:53:07.470
have time to talk to you,
because he's on the phone,

00:53:07.470 --> 00:53:08.070
he's better.

00:53:10.800 --> 00:53:13.430
If he's got a date, he's better.

00:53:13.430 --> 00:53:15.780
If he's got a better
job, he's better.

00:53:15.780 --> 00:53:18.330
If he moves to another
state, he's better.

00:53:18.330 --> 00:53:19.600
Is he going to stay better?

00:53:19.600 --> 00:53:21.115
Heck, I don't know.

00:53:21.115 --> 00:53:23.440
I don't know.

00:53:23.440 --> 00:53:27.170
You just hope that you
have instilled in them.

00:53:27.170 --> 00:53:30.040
some of the cautionary tales.

00:53:30.040 --> 00:53:33.220
These are the stress
sores to watch out for.

00:53:33.220 --> 00:53:36.160
If this happens, if
somebody from home dies,

00:53:36.160 --> 00:53:38.260
some of the bad memories
are going to come back.

00:53:38.260 --> 00:53:41.220
And if that happens,
you need to call me.

00:53:41.220 --> 00:53:42.390
Call me if--

00:53:42.390 --> 00:53:43.770
I try to give them the list.

00:53:43.770 --> 00:53:46.750
Call me if blah,
blah, blah, blah.

00:53:46.750 --> 00:53:51.660
Other than that, go with
God, peacefully, and be well.

00:53:51.660 --> 00:53:54.710
Hope you never need me again.

00:53:54.710 --> 00:53:58.040
I think it's-- yes, I
think they're better.

00:53:58.040 --> 00:54:01.320
It was just a miracle that I
got the address and I called.

00:54:01.320 --> 00:54:05.330
And I said, I need to talk
someone about nightmares.

00:54:05.330 --> 00:54:09.100
For the first time, I started
connecting to my losses

00:54:09.100 --> 00:54:09.890
as well.

00:54:09.890 --> 00:54:13.250
My sister, my brother,
my wife, my father

00:54:13.250 --> 00:54:14.960
would die during that time.

00:54:14.960 --> 00:54:18.710
Because you don't have time
to cry for someone who's dead.

00:54:18.710 --> 00:54:22.520
I came, one day, came up
here, and I just cried.

00:54:22.520 --> 00:54:25.910
And I just cried for
about 30 minutes.

00:54:25.910 --> 00:54:28.250
It left me crying, just crying.

00:54:28.250 --> 00:54:30.380
And after that, that was
the end of the session.

00:54:30.380 --> 00:54:31.970
It was perfect.

00:54:31.970 --> 00:54:34.870
And something that had never,
never happened for years,

00:54:34.870 --> 00:54:37.220
I never cried.

00:54:37.220 --> 00:54:39.800
I think, easily, the
brain is telling me,

00:54:39.800 --> 00:54:40.920
you need to be fine.

00:54:40.920 --> 00:54:42.560
You need to relax.

00:54:42.560 --> 00:54:45.020
If I don't relax,
then it hits me hard,

00:54:45.020 --> 00:54:49.960
with one nasty nightmare.

00:54:49.960 --> 00:54:51.714
It's never completely over.

00:54:57.020 --> 00:55:00.330
June 26 is celebrated throughout
the world as a day of support

00:55:00.330 --> 00:55:02.505
for survivors of torture.

00:55:02.505 --> 00:55:05.390
And the celebration of their
courage and resilience.

00:55:05.390 --> 00:55:10.050
In the United States, advocates
for torture survivors,

00:55:10.050 --> 00:55:13.320
dedicated health care, and
social service professionals,

00:55:13.320 --> 00:55:15.600
and hundreds of
citizen volunteers

00:55:15.600 --> 00:55:17.430
have united to
create programs that

00:55:17.430 --> 00:55:20.220
provide care and support
to survivors who've

00:55:20.220 --> 00:55:22.560
come here to make new lives.

00:55:22.560 --> 00:55:25.140
This film is dedicated
to all of them

00:55:25.140 --> 00:55:27.960
and to all survivors
of abuse and torture

00:55:27.960 --> 00:55:29.670
with special
gratitude to those who

00:55:29.670 --> 00:55:31.860
volunteered to help us
tell you their stories.

00:55:31.860 --> 00:55:35.210
[SOFT MUSIC]