Loss of Empathy and Drive for Power Can Trigger Torture, Says Psychologist

A psychologist has stated that the urge to fully control and dominate another person, combined with a loss of empathy, can be a significant factor leading to acts of torture. Samanta Clara Elsener, a psychologist, explained that the need for power often stems from the perpetrator’s own deep-seated feelings of powerlessness or failure in their personal life. “The need for control and power is the most classic trigger. Perpetrators often feel powerless, like a failure, or small in their real life,” she said in Jakarta on Wednesday. According to the official from the Indonesian Psychological Association (HIMPSI), this sense of helplessness can drive individuals to seek extreme methods to gain control over a victim as a form of compensation. She noted that in such conditions, the perpetrator attempts to position themselves as superior by regulating every aspect of the victim’s life. “To compensate for that powerlessness, they seek extreme ways to absolutely control another person’s life. False imprisonment is a form of total control because the perpetrator decides when the victim eats, sleeps, or even breathes,” she elaborated. Samanta further explained that the act of torture is also influenced by a diminished ability to feel the suffering of others, or a complete loss of empathy. This condition can arise from various factors, including the accumulation of severe stress, substance abuse such as drugs and alcohol, or even disruptions in the brain regions responsible for regulating empathy. “A person can go as far as torturing someone because their brain no longer responds to another’s pain. There is a process of emotional desensitisation or the death of empathy,” she said. In some cases, she added, violent acts can also be triggered by long-suppressed rage. The victim may become a target for this displaced anger, representing a person or a past experience that hurt the perpetrator. “Sometimes the victim becomes a symbol of someone the perpetrator hated in the past. The perpetrator unleashes years of accumulated anger onto the current victim,” she stated. Samanta stressed that false imprisonment becomes a form of extreme control when the perpetrator seeks absolute dominance. In the context of violence, the loss of empathy and the drive for power can worsen the risk of degrading treatment and endanger the victim’s safety.