WPA Position Statement on Banning the Participation of Psychiatrists in the Interrogation of Detainees

Though torture is illegal, as stipulated by a number of well-known conventions and treaties, and thus subjected to international prosecution, psychiatrists have been sometimes involved in situations connected to ill-treatment and torture which are also ethically unacceptable on any grounds. The purpose of this Position Statement is to provide ethical guidelines for practice, in which psychiatrists are explicitly forbidden, and must refrain, from participating in any procedure linked to the interrogation of a detainee. An exception is the specific case of assessing the liability, when the person is being or has been submitted to ill-treatment or torture, and such events and possible consequences have to be documented. Many regimes around the world put pressure on the medical profession. If the reader feels this is his/her case or wishes to contact the WPA Section on Psychological Consequences of Torture and Persecution, the relevant e-mail address is pauperez@arrakis.es. Pau Pérez-Sales1,2, Joost Jan den Otter1, Lilla Hardi1,3, Thomas Wenzel1,4, Gabriel Diaconu1,5, Graciela Cors1,6, Marianne Kastrup1,7 1WPA Section on Psychological Consequences of Torture and Persecution; 2SiR(a) Centre, Madrid, Spain; 3Cordelia Foundation, Budapest, Hungary; 4Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; 5Medlife Memorial Hospital, Bucharest, Romania; 6Latif Clinics, Shfar'am, Israel; 7Copenhagen, Denmark