Amnesty International Prisoners of War / Report on TORTURE report.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/act400011975eng.pdf
Page 42 (23 in PDF)
Although the 'chronic' behavioural response to severe stress would radically impair one's ability to live in a "normal" low-stress society, it is often essential for self-preservation in extreme pressure situations.
A continuous state of anxiety may develop, often with profound depression of mood and pessimism in outlook. Thought processes, bodily desires and functions become retarded.
In this state external stress produce little distress, the body and mind being already maximally distressed.
As in acute stresses, a paradoxical situation may occur in which the victim develops a condition of total denial such as an hysterial fugue.
He appears to 'switch off' all awareness, looks bland and untroubled, exhibits no response topain.
His memory or voice may be 'lost', he may lie apparently paralysed.
It is as though the mind, being too overstimulated, tripped its relays or blew a fuse and ceased to recognise any bodily or sensory stimuli.
In those who cannot 'retire' into either of these two main responses, the mind may 'give up' living.
War-time experience is full of cases of individuals who exposed themselves to being shut - a fatal injury was apprehended as a merciful release; a non-fatal wound offered a ticket in a base hospital.
Although this was sometimes done deliberately, it was usually subconscious, in that over-stressed men became accident prone.
At other times death came by suicide or by just not eating and 'lying down to die' as occurred in the more rigorous prison camps in World War II.
'Giving up' could also take other forms; men became susceptible to illnesses like broncopneumonia, to psychosomatic diseases such as duodenal ulcers, asthma and bronchitis, to coronary disease, T.B. and even to cancer.
It is evident therefore, that from the point of view of resistance in war-stress and torture-stress, it is the factors to the 'chronic' respose (i.e. from fight to flight) that are critical.
It is precisely in this area that military conditioning seeks to reinforce individuals and that torture seeks to break them down.
Before analysing the mechanisms of eroding sub-acute stress-resistance, it is important first to deal with two popular misconceptions.
"What? You are depressed now? You have long-covid!!"
"What? You are stressed by wearing masks all day and getting chronically stressed by Tell-A-Vision and developed bronchitispneumonia because of that? That means you got covid!!!"