Quote:Jester says that you cannot control your subconscious, and I disagree and believe that with some training you can overcome the fear of being out of control in that situation.Woah. I didn't say you can't control your subconscious. Fear can be overcome, although it can never be entirely dispelled. I said there are reflexes (like the drowning reflex) that you can't control. As I said earlier, that's not an emotion. It triggers from biological conditions, not emotional states.
I admit, I was technically wrong earlier. You *might* be able to pass out before it kicks in, if you hyperventilate beforehand, drop your blood CO2 levels down far enough, and hold your breath, not that your interrogators are just going to sit helplessly while you do that. But if you're conscious when the water starts dripping through your nose? You're going to lose it. The best of the best might go a couple minutes, but nobody can suppress that reflex for any meaningful length of time, at least not without a hell of a lot of drugs.
But don't take my word for it. Feel free to do what all those reporters and commentators Zenda linked to did: get a qualified professional interrogator, and a paramedic, and give it a shot. (Nobody should do this without the experts around, drowning is not cool.) If you last more than 30 seconds, I'll be impressed. If you last more than 5 minutes, maybe you should have a chat with MI5. I'm sure they're looking for double-0 agents. Navy SEALs and CIA agents say that their people last maybe 15 seconds on average. I don't know what cards you have to play that they don't, but they'd have to be pretty impressive.
This is not to say that you will inevitably give up information, or "succumb" in the sense of betraying any given thing. But the torture will most certainly *work*. No quantity of fear suppression will overcome that.
-Jester