Witnessing assaults 1.2 Witnessing executions 0 WITNESSING TORTURE 1.2 The group did not report frequencies of torture as high as previous groups (AMANI.1998), which again is unsurprising since most had only one encounter with the Police or the Army. Impact Torture was reported much more frequently than other forms, and, of the forms of Impact Torture, beatings were the most frequently reported. Psychological abuse was reported with the greatest frequency. One important factor in the pattern of abuse is that most of this group were tortured outside of detention. Table 14 Unconsciousness reported by Food Riots victims [n=42] >30 minutes 7 30-60 minutes 1 60-120 minutes 1 <120 minutes 1 A very high proportion (24%) of the group reported unconsciousness, but most of these reported unconsciousness of less than 30 minutes. For the majority of those reporting unconsciousness, this was associated with gunshot wounds, but two members reported unconsciousness following assaults. Unconsciousness is important to identify, both because of its association with long-term disability and its status as an indicator of the severity of the assault. Table 15 Symptoms reported by Food Riots victims on the Present Health Status Questionnaire(PHSQ) [n=42] PHSQ(t ot) 13.7 6.9 PHSQ(ps y) 5.8 4.2 PHSQ(phy s) 6.7 3.6 PHSQ(slee p) 2.3 2.3 The group as a whole reported very high numbers of symptoms after the alleged torture. The mean number of symptoms reported was 13.7[s.dev 6.9], and this was a mixture of both psychological and physical symptoms. People with ordinary psychological disorders have been shown to present with high numbers of symptoms — about 3 according to most Zimbabwean studies — and this group has a considerably higher number of symptoms. This is probably due to the combination of physical and psychological injuries. The scores obtained from the Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-8) and the Harvard Trauma Scale (HTS) additionally show that this group has experienced psychological problems as a consequence of their alleged torture. The SRQ-8 is a psychiatric screening instrument, and all scores in excess of 4/8 are strongly indicative of clinically significant psychological disorder. Fifteen (36%) members of the sample reported scores in excess of 4/8, which is lower than other Zimbabwean samples, but is undoubtedly due to the fact that most people experienced only a single experience.