With the flight of ousted President Bashar al-Assad, the armed opposition was able to free what is estimated to be thousands of detainees from the Syrian regime’s prisons. Many of them appeared in videos in a state of shock, some of them lost their memory and some became unable to speak.
In light of this, questions are raised about the most prominent psychological illnesses that may appear among victims of Assad’s prisons, the psychological treatment required for detainees released from Assad’s prisons, and what is the length of treatment that these people need? Is it possible to recover from the psychological conditions these victims went through?
Dr. Walid Sarhan, senior consultant in psychiatry, says, “There must be a clear psychological plan to deal with those released from prisons in Syria after the success of the revolution.”
For his part, the head of the Jordanian Psychiatric Association and the first specialist in psychiatry and addiction treatment, Dr. Alaa Al-Faroukh, says about the duration of treatment that victims of the Assad regime’s prisons need, that it may last for months, and in some cases for years.
Dr. Amer Al-Ghadhban, a psychologist and family educational counselor, said that what happened with the prisoners of the Syrian regime is unprecedented, and therefore there are no scientific studies that have investigated something similar, as the prisoners were as if they were imprisoned by a mafia, not a state.
What happened in Assad’s prisons is unprecedented
Al-Ghadhban added – in an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera Seha – “Therefore, what is said about the prisoner or what is written in terms of studies about the conditions of prisoners and other things may not completely apply to this segment (those who were in Assad’s prisons). This segment has different circumstances. The cases of deprivation are more severe.” “The targeting cases are more aggressive and therefore we can expect the resulting disruptions to be more severe.”
Al-Ghadban continued, adding, “However, this does not mean that this person will emerge sick and helpless. In some cases, these difficult circumstances provoke more resistance in the person and stimulate new mechanisms for adapting to the difficult conditions of prison.”
Al-Ghadhban – who had previously treated victims who were in Assad’s prisons – said that these people were exposed to what others were exposed to in terms of war operations, raids, escape, asylum, and so on, and then they went through the process of arrest – which is a great shock in itself – within these circumstances and these fierce conflicts, and in Syria. Many detainees were subjected to prolonged detention.
He continued, “Also, the process of sudden release itself and living in new conditions is something that also constitutes a kind of shock. This is a new challenge and shock. You may feel that it is a new burden on him; he wants to return again to live his life in his community.”
The cochlea
Dr. Al-Ghadhban said, “If we wanted to delve more into the diseases that exist among a group of these detainees, we would talk about depression, which is the dominance of negative feelings, negative moods, negative expectations about life, and a lack of confidence that the person is capable of getting out of these feelings, and even if he gets out of them, the feelings remain.” Negativity accompanies it.
The doctor spoke about, “The case of the prisoner may apply to the story of the ‘shell’, which spoke about political prisoners in Syria, as the released person carries the shell with him. He is like a snail that remains within his shell. What was deposited on him in the prison state became like the oyster that surrounds him and accompanies him in Outside: This is the idea of the novel, and it is a true story that told about a prisoner who was in Tadmur prison in Syria.
He added that there are prisoners who can break free from their shell. But we must pay attention to this phenomenon.
Care required
Al-Ghadhban said that there is specialized care provided by doctors and psychologists. There are also psychological and social support operations provided by some volunteers. These operations are not only important for the individual, but also important for the community that provides support, so that the community realizes that it has become able to recover and rise again.
Al-Ghadhban said, “Specialized psychological treatment operations are important and support operations are important. Therefore, we need intensive efforts and interconnected efforts. We need administrative institutions that coordinate the condition of the patient who is in the hospital, and when he comes out, he must be with family or friends. This patient needs follow-up.”
Al-Ghadhban concluded with a final word addressed to those who had a detainee freed from Assad’s prisons: “We must understand him before we ask him to understand us. We must not despair of the patients’ recovery. Perhaps some patients recover slowly. Some recover quickly, and he also encourages us to recover.”
What are the most common psychological diseases that affect detainees?
We asked the head of the Jordanian Psychiatric Association and the leading specialist in psychiatry and addiction treatment, Dr. Alaa Al-Faroukh, about the most prominent psychological diseases that afflict detainees. He said that the problems that prisoners liberated from Assad’s prisons who were subjected to long imprisonment and torture could be exposed to are very many psychological problems.
Al-Faroukh said – in exclusive statements to Al Jazeera Net – that something happens to some people called post-traumatic stress disorder, which is a type of psychological anxiety that makes them have a high degree of stress, anxiety, anticipation and attention, and detainees remember the moments of torture and trauma they experienced as if they were happening now, always… They have a sense of anticipation. Their senses and attention are always alert, as if some manifestations of the torture that happened to them previously will occur, and they have some ability to remember situations and constantly recall traumatic memories.
Al-Faroukh adds, “They may also recall it in the form of visual images that they see in their imagination or sometimes in dreams. Therefore, they have great difficulty sleeping. They have symptoms of tension and constant anxiety. They have difficulty being able to deal normally with people because they feel a kind of separation from the surrounding environment. The ability to have normal social communication, and they become a kind of avoidant of anything that might remind them of the traumatic event, for example if they see a place that looks like a prison or even find bars next to each other that resemble prison bars, or sometimes if they see a person wearing “Military uniform, this can remind them of what they went through.”

Detainees released from Assad’s prisons may also suffer from generalized anxiety disorders and severe depression. Also, in some cases, they may have some type of psychotic state. By psychotic disorders, we mean disorders in which a person is disconnected from reality, imagines things that do not exist, or has sensory hallucinations.
Al-Faroukh explains, “These people sometimes have the illusion of being watched, that is, they think that there are people who want to harm them, or that there are people following them. And sometimes they hear voices that do not exist or see ghosts that do not exist. This is the result of severe torture, especially for people who are in solitary confinement for a long time.” Without any sensory interaction with others, such a person develops a psychotic disorder.”
Al-Faroukh says, “Of course, there are other psychological disorders that can affect them, but these three that were mentioned, general anxiety, severe depression, and psychotic disorders, are among the most prominent of them.”
We asked Dr. Al-Faroukh, “What is the expected percentage of people who will suffer from psychological illnesses among detainees in Assad’s prisons?”, to which he answered, “Based on what we heard in the news about the extent of torture in prisons, and unfortunately, the majority of detainees, or we can say almost all of them, were subjected to severe torture. I “I expect that the majority of people released from prison will have psychological problems and need careful psychological evaluation.”
Al-Faroukh said, “The treatment that must be provided to liberated detainees depends on their conditions, because as I mentioned, there are different psychological disorders that vary from one person to another. Although the extent of harm and torture was great for most detainees, it is logical that there should be different levels of torture. Not all “The detainees were subjected to the same type of torture. It depends on the situation they were in, the type of prison, and the nature of the charges against them.”
amnesia
In our interview with Al-Faroukh, we asked him, “We have witnessed many cases of people who came out of Assad’s prisons with no memory or the ability to speak. Is it possible through treatment to restore memory and the ability to speak?”, to which he answered, “Some detainees develop a type of psychological disorder related to stress and severe anxiety.” Such as psychological amnesia, this occurs as a result of the severe torture they are subjected to, and is a type of psychological defense method.”
Al-Faroukh added, “Many people sometimes use psychological defense methods that work unconsciously. These methods occur within the psyche and have psychological functions to protect the person’s entity from collapse. Psychological amnesia is an example of this, where the person becomes unable to bear extreme torture, so his mind helps him.” This condition is called unconscious amnesia (dissociative amnesia).
Regarding the duration of treatment that these people need, Al-Faroukh said, “I believe that the treatment will continue for months, and in some cases, it will continue for years.”
He added, “With the presence of psychotherapy techniques, behavioral therapy, cognitive therapy, and sometimes even psychoanalysis, and the benefits of some medications, some cases may be cured, God willing. There is hope for recovery and the person’s return to normal, God willing.”
isolation
Dr. Walid Sarhan, senior consultant in psychiatry, says – in exclusive statements to Al Jazeera Seha – “Isolation for long years in difficult circumstances and the loss of hope of getting out of prison makes a person reach a stage of losing communication and awareness of reality, time, time and place, and this takes days and may be “Weeks or months for some people to come out of isolation after its actual end.”
He adds that staying in prison for long periods in difficult conditions and being subjected to torture leads to many psychological problems that will be apparent to those who leave prison. Each case must be evaluated individually, and it is difficult to give a general diagnosis and treatment for all of them.
Dr. Sarhan confirms that dealing with prisoners who have been released in Syria requires cooperation from all mental health workers inside and outside Syria in order to identify their needs and problems and deal with them professionally with all competence and competence.
He concludes by saying, “Any prisoner who has left Syrian prisons after many years, from a psychological standpoint, the responsibility falls on mental health specialists and not on the public and volunteers, because this is professional work that requires great experience and expertise.”