REFUGEES who have been tortured are afraid to approach hospitals, because doctors may have assisted their torturers, according to a psychotherapist involved in a bid to establish a treatment centre here.
Ms Maired Ryan said the problems of refugees who haven been tortured are largely invisible in Ireland. Yet, there were 1,000 people applying for asylum here, some of whom were tortured in their own countries, she said.
But their fear of hospitals and - in the case of those tortured with government sanction - of officials meant that they don't get the treatment they need.
People who have been tortured "are in a state of constant anxiety and mistrust everyone".
Ordinary, everyday things or events can cause them to relive the torture, she said. These could include music, light, fans, enclosed spaces, cigarettes, knives, wire or rope.
"Anything in the environment can trigger the response."
With psychologist Ms Rosemary Troy and a group of other people working with refugees she is planning to establish an Irish centre for the rehabilitation of torture victims.
The group will hold a fund raising conference on the topic in the Central Hotel, Dublin, next Friday. Admission is £40, or £20 for the unwaged.