Why is Waterboarding so bad?

Waterboarding is widely condemned as torture because it inflicts extreme physical and psychological pain by simulating the experience of drowning. This deliberate suffocation triggers a powerful, uncontrollable panic and terror, causing immediate and long-lasting trauma.

Physical Effects:

The procedure creates a powerful instinct to survive that can result in severe physical harm.

Suffocation and near-drowning:

Victims are strapped down (often upside down) and water is poured over a cloth covering their nose and mouth, making it impossible to breathe. The person gasps for air, inhales water, and feels like they are drowning.

Physiological distress:
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The struggle against restraints, involuntary breath-holding, swallowing water, and vomiting trigger severe physical reactions.

Risk of physical injury:

The intense struggling can lead to physical injuries, including broken bones.

Potential long-term damage:

Physical consequences can include lung damage (such as aspiration pneumonia), brain damage from oxygen deprivation, an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (due to soaring heart rate and blood pressure), and even death.

Psychological Effects

The mental trauma is often profound and permanent, as the victim experiences a total loss of control and imminent death.


Extreme panic and terror:

The feeling of "controlled death" is described as one of the most traumatic experiences a human can endure.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD):

Survivors often suffer from long-term psychological effects, including constant flashbacks, panic attacks, depression, anxiety, and personality changes.

Lasting phobias:

Everyday activities can become a source of panic; for instance, some survivors panic when taking a shower or becoming even slightly short of breath.