I'll keep this short. I'm on parole in NY. I am subject to regular polygraphs by the dept of parole to make sure I'm following the rules. I've taken one a white back and have another one coming up. 

I also have also been diagnosed with PTSD, General Anxiety, and social anxiety. My first test was very hard for me to do. I had a pubic attack while strapped into the torture device. And I was never told if i passed or failed. Although I assume I failed. Parole knows about my mental health issues as I'm in therapy and taking medication. 

My question is this. Is there any legal persistence about not being able to subjugate people to a PG if it's a traumatic ordeal? The phrase cruel and unusual punishment keeps rolling around my head. And it seems cruel and unusual to induce an anxiety attack and other disorder related issues in a mental health patient for a test with no intrinsic value.

My next test is s still several days away but I can already feel the dread and anxiety. Is literally all my triggers combined. Strangers. Authority figures. Confinement (the snug and restrictive equipment) and having someone i feel to wish me harm being out of my immediate view.

The last one was hell. This one probably will be too. Can I possibly get out of future ones?

Declan,

I am not a lawyer, and I am not familiar with New York law on such matters, but I have never heard of a person subjected to post-conviction polygraph screening receiving an exemption because of any anxiety disorder. I would consult with a local attorney with experience in criminal defense law on this.


One way to help manage your anxiety is to educate yourself about polygraphy. It's a pseudoscientific fraud that depends on the polygraph operator lying to and deceiving you. See our book, The Lie Behind the Lie Detector for a thorough exposition of polygraphy:

https://antipolygraph.org/lie-behind-the-lie-detector.pdf