Torture

Torture is vaguely defined as intentional infliction of extreme physical suffering in order to break a person's will. But what about mental suffering, and what is the definition of extreme?

Isn't the severity of "extreme" up to the individual person committing and receiving the torture. According to dictionary.com, extreme is defined as "utmost or exceedingly great in degree," or it could mean "going to the utmost or very great lengths in action, habit, opinion, etc..." So needless to say even the definitions allow room for interpretation. What I might assume to be extreme someone else might feel that it would be no more than a normal occurrence. An example of torture is water boarding, and for someone that is deathly afraid of drowning it could seem extremely torturous on the first dunk in the water, while someone that loves to be in the water and can hold their breath for a long time, might not find it torturous right away or ever at all. Also one form of torture may break a person's will, while that same form of torture may never break a different person's will.

In all the definitions of torture, there is nothing about mental torture. Take something like the "chinese water torture" method, according to the definition of torture, being strapped down and having a drip of water dripping on your forehead for hours on end, until your will breaks, is not a form of torture, because it is not inflicting physical suffering. In my own opinion if a will is broken in a forced way, then it is in some form a way of torture; whether it is physical or mental.