It's also about bad stuff we can imagine being torture, vs. bad stuff that is hard to empathize with, unless you have some background in it. The concept of stress positions only really becomes horrifying if you've ever been forced, or forced yourself, to try and hold one. By the same token, what is the subjective experience of being hooded, while someone uses an OTC "stun" electroshock weapon to jolt your genitals, face, and anus?

Some things are easy to imagine, in the place of another; getting shocked in the taint is an easy thing to be horrified by. The more pernicious and subtle effects of sleep deprivation, loss of a sense of time and self control, isolation, fear, and of course the total loss of self determination and freedom are hard for a lot of people to grasp.

You deal with people who lack imagination or empathy, or people who imagine themselves as being far tougher than they are. You have people who think that anything survivable, that doesn't maim, and doesn't leave someone a gibbering wreck, can't be torture.

It's always easier to get through to people with scars from a whip, or lost limbs, than it is with a complicated story of months spent in captivity. If you're like many torture victims, most of what you'll be able to describe is the inside of a hood, or the inside of a small, unpleasant cell.