Pharmacological torture is the use of

psychotropic A psychoactive drug, psychopharmaceutical, psychoactive agent or psychotropic drug is a chemical substance, that changes functions of the nervous system, and results in alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition or behavior. Th ...

or other drugs to punish or extract information from a person.Pharmacological Torture"
World Problems Online. Union of International Associations The aim is to force compliance by causing distress, which could be in the form of pain, anxiety, psychological disturbance, immobilization, or disorientation.< One form of this

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. definitions of tortur ...

involves forcibly injecting a person with

addictive drug Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to engage in certain behaviors, one of which is the usage of a drug, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use of ...

s in order to induce physical dependence. The drug is then withdrawn, and, once the person is in withdrawal, the interrogation is started. If the person complies with the torturer's demands, the drug is reintroduced, relieving the person's withdrawal symptoms. Chemical lobotomy is widely advertised by activists in several nations as the cure for schizophrenia, as is the now largely banned practice of

Electroconvulsive therapy Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a psychiatric treatment where a generalized seizure (without muscular convulsions) is electrically induced to manage refractory mental disorders.Rudorfer, MV, Henry, ME, Sackeim, HA (2003)"Electroconvulsive th ...

and in some cases the now discredited and largely UK banned procedure of surgical lobotomy. They all had the potential to backfire badly, be used as a form of torture and cause unnecessary brain damage to patients.

Alleged use

Brazil

In Brazil, pharmacological torture involved the injection of alcohol into the tongue in the 1940s, the injection of ether into the scrotum in the 1960s, and drugs were used to cause strong contractions in the 1970s. Also,

muscle relaxant A muscle relaxant is a drug that affects skeletal muscle function and decreases the muscle tone. It may be used to alleviate symptoms such as muscle spasms, pain, and hyperreflexia. The term "muscle relaxant" is used to refer to two major therap ...

s were used to minimize muscular rigidity and bone fractures caused by electric shock in the 1970s.<

Iran

Amir Mirza Hekmati Amir Mirza Hekmati ( fa, امیر میرزا حکمتی); is a United States Marine veteran who was arrested in August 2011 for allegedly spying for the CIA in Iran. On January 9, 2012, he was sentenced to death for the charges. On March 5, 20 ...

accused Iran of torturing him with forced drug withdrawal sometime during his captivity between 2011 and 2016 for being an alleged

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

agent.Former Marine Amir Hekmati sues Iran for alleged torture
CNN, May 11, 2016 By making him take

Lithium (medication) Certain lithium compounds, also known as lithium salts, are used as psychiatric medication, primarily for bipolar disorder and for major depressive disorder. In these disorders, it sometimes reduces the risk of suicide. Lithium is taken orally ...

. Furthermore,

Kianush Sanjari Kianush Sanjari ( fa, کیانوش سنجری), is an Iranian journalist and activist. He has a history of being arrested, imprisoned, and imprisoned in solitary confinement several times in Iran. He previously worked for Voice of America Televi ...

indicated he was injected with

Haloperidol Haloperidol, sold under the brand name Haldol among others, is a typical antipsychotic medication. Haloperidol is used in the treatment of schizophrenia, tics in Tourette syndrome, mania in bipolar disorder, delirium, agitation, acute psychosi ...

at Aminabad Psychiatric Hospital with out diagnosis in 2019. Author,

Hengameh Shahidi Hengameh Shahidi ( fa, هنگامه شهیدی; born 14 May 1975) is an Iranian journalist, political activist, and political prisoner currently serving a six-year sentence for "gathering and colluding with intent to harm state security" and "propa ...

, also reports similar stories at Aminabad Psychiatric Hospital where she was forcibly injected with

while resisting.

Romania

In the 1960s, prisoners were reportedly given drugs to make them talk in their sleep.

South Africa

Neuropharmacological torture has been reported in South Africa. In 2013, leaked video footage shot inside South Africa's Mangaung Prison showed a prisoner with no record of mental illness being forcibly injected, apparently with anti-psychotic drugs. The

Legal Resources Centre The Legal Resources Centre (LRC) is a human rights organisation based in South Africa with offices in Johannesburg (including a Constitutional Litigation Unit), Cape Town, Durban and Grahamstown. It was founded in 1979 by a group of prominent South ...

, a non-governmental organization, is representing 13 clients who allege they were forcibly injected with the drugs.

Soviet Union

Neuropharmacological torture was reported in the USSR. In the former

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, drugs were advised to be used as a form of punishment under the guise of "helping" in psychiatric institutions and most likely whenever it fit.

, an

antipsychotic Antipsychotics, also known as neuroleptics, are a class of psychotropic medication primarily used to manage psychosis (including delusions, hallucinations, paranoia or disordered thought), principally in schizophrenia but also in a range of ...

medication, was a preferred agent. See Diagnosis. Furthermore, patients were illuded to believe that their torturous state was of their own making. It was used to induce intense restlessness,

Parkinson's Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

-type symptoms and overwhelming apathy which rendered the subjects unfit for public presentation in the process. Another antipsychotic medication, chlorpromazine (trade name Thorazine™), was also used to induce grogginess, sedation, and (in high doses)

vegetative state A persistent vegetative state (PVS) or post-coma unresponsiveness (PCU) is a disorder of consciousness in which patients with severe brain damage are in a state of partial arousal rather than true awareness. After four weeks in a vegetative stat ...

s. Other alleged uses of pharmacological torture included: *Use of

insulin shock therapy Insulin shock therapy or insulin coma therapy was a form of psychiatric treatment in which patients were repeatedly injected with large doses of insulin in order to produce daily comas over several weeks.Neustatter WL (1948) ''Modern psychiatry ...

to render people comatose. *Administering Sulfazin to induce severe

fever Fever, also referred to as pyrexia, is defined as having a temperature above the normal range due to an increase in the body's temperature set point. There is not a single agreed-upon upper limit for normal temperature with sources using val ...

s. *Use of sodium amobarbital with

LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known colloquially as acid, is a potent psychedelic drug. Effects typically include intensified thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception. At sufficiently high dosages LSD manifests primarily mental, vi ...

to cause loss of inhibition. *Psychiatric drugs

United States

In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, in a series of hearings in the fall and winter of 1977, Congressional committees drew forth disclosure of project

MKULTRA Project MKUltra (or MK-Ultra) was an illegal human experimentation program designed and undertaken by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), intended to develop procedures and identify drugs that could be used in interrogations to weak ...

, which was most active between 1953 and 1966 and conducted experiments that included the

agents administering

and

Truth Serum "Truth serum" is a colloquial name for any of a range of psychoactive drugs used in an effort to obtain information from subjects who are unable or unwilling to provide it otherwise. These include ethanol, scopolamine, 3-quinuclidinyl benzilate, ...

to soldiers, citizens, and foreign nationals without their knowledge or consent. Activities of

resulted in at least one death, that of

Frank Olson Frank Rudolph Emmanuel Olson (July 17, 1910 – November 28, 1953) was an American bacteriologist, biological warfare scientist, and an employee of the United States Army Biological Warfare Laboratories (USBWL) who worked at Camp Detrick (now ...

, an army scientist who was given LSD without his knowledge, and committed suicide as a result of his experience.< In 1953

Harold Blauer Harold Blauer (1910 – January 8, 1953) was an American tennis player who died as a result of injections of 450 mg 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (code-named EA-1298) as part of Project MKUltra, a covert CIA mind-control and chemical interro ...

died in a New York State psychiatric institute after doctors there administered

3,4-Methylenedioxyamphetamine 3,4-Methylenedioxyamphetamine (also known as MDA and sass) is an empathogen-entactogen, psychostimulant, and psychedelic drug of the amphetamine family that is encountered mainly as a recreational drug. In terms of pharmacology, MDA acts most ...

derivatives to him without his consent, as part of a 1950s secret program run by the US army that tested chemical warfare agents on US citizens.

UK

A few cases of unjustified lobotomy were reported in the UK at the hand of abusive surgeons in the 1970s and it's virtual banning in the 1980s. Furthermore there it evidence that the British,

MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...

, has experimented using Truth Drugs.

Uruguay

Neuropharmacological torture has been reported in Uruguay. In

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

, people have allegedly been

paralyzed Paralysis (also known as plegia) is a loss of motor function in one or more muscles. Paralysis can also be accompanied by a loss of feeling (sensory loss) in the affected area if there is sensory damage. In the United States, roughly 1 in 5 ...

using

curare Curare ( /kʊˈrɑːri/ or /kjʊˈrɑːri/; ''koo-rah-ree'' or ''kyoo-rah-ree'') is a common name for various alkaloid arrow poisons originating from plant extracts. Used as a paralyzing agent by indigenous peoples in Central and South ...

derivatives.

Chile

Neuropharmacological torture has been reported in Chile.

El Salvador

Neuropharmacological torture has been reported in El Salvador.

Colombia

Neuropharmacological torture has been reported in Colombia.

Iraq

Neuropharmacological torture has been reported in Iraq.

Israel

Neuropharmacological torture has been reported in Israel.

Zaire

Neuropharmacological torture has been reported in Zaire.

Bibliography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pharmacological Torture Torture Political repression Psychiatry controversies Ethics in psychiatry Ethically disputed political practices Ethically disputed judicial practices Ethically disputed medical practices