Traumatic experiences leave an everlasting impact on an individual. Disastrous situations can change an individual, and mold them into a whole new person. A devastating event such as a kidnapping impacts an individual in many ways. The behavior of a kidnapped victim differs greatly before and after the trauma. With the kidnapping there are many obstacles, and after the release there are even more difficulties to be faced. How an individual [victim] handles those effects and challenges all depends on their mind and effort to overcome them. Kidnappings have many effects on victims including: compromising their ability to trust, undermining their ability to feel safe, and causing the suffering they face with Stockholm syndrome.
A survivor of a kidnapping may have a harder life after their release compared to when they were held hostage. After ones release, the next step is healing. According to Liss Hart- Haviv, a director of organization dedicated to help kidnapped victims recover, The most challenging of all obstacles is healing, and it is a never ending process (Hart-Haviv). While in captivity a victim grows dependent of their kidnapper, and grows used to a life in captivity. They become so comfortable that they forget about the life they were suddenly stolen from. If a victim is lucky enough to be released by their captor, they will be reentered into the life they had prior to their captivity. The life they are returned into will be a different life that they were used to. There will be many challenges they will have to overcome to begin to feel that they are back to their ‘normal life’. One of those challenges a survivor must face is the hardship of being able to trust others.
The hardest thing to build, but the easiest thing to break is trust. Trust is when someone is able to believe and have faith in someone else. Not being able to trust is something that released kidnapped victims suffer from. In an article by psychologist Allison Gamble, she states, “The most unfortunate aspect of kidnappings; however, is the psychological effects it has on victims. People who have survived kidnapping often go on to battle issues of trust for the rest of their lives, as being deprived of freedom and being held against their can erode trust in humanity as a whole. Some victims may even become distrustful of family members….This can begin a vicious cycle of disordered thinking within victims’ lives, leading to difficulty in relationships both personal and professional.” Most psychologists would agree with what Allison Gamble issaying. Having trust issues after ones’ release is normal. A victim will have ahard time being able to trust other people. This is a struggle not only for thevictim, but others who are close to them. Trusting others is something thatwill be a long process for a victim to regain, but it is something that will beneeded throughout the healing process.
The healing process consists of many different aspects. Not only does a victim face the issue of regaining trust they also face the problem of feeling safe. After experiencing things that the human mind should never have to see or feel, they might be a little distorted. In Ingrid’s memoir she tells readers, “I could feel I was being assaulted, driven to convulsions, as if borne away by a high-speed train. I don’t think I lost consciousness, but although I suppose I had my eyes open wide, the blows I’d received no longer allowed me to see. My body and my heart were frozen during the short span of eternity” (Betancourt 15).Overcoming such events as above are normal scenario for returning victims to overcome. During their kidnapping they are treated horribly, and they teach themselves self-defense.Throughout their time in captivity they have to learn to protect themselves and always be on guard. This leads to later complications after their release. According to Allison Gamble, a psychologist, sometimes kidnapped victims can’t even fall asleep because they are so petrified to close their eyes and let their guard down. This is a horrible effect a kidnapping can have onindividuals. Poor victims don’t even feel safe in their own home after their return. They could end up living their whole life in fear if they don’t overcome the obstacles that have been put on their paths.
The lack of trust in others and the ability to feel safe in their own environment are not the only lasting effects left for a victim to overcome. Another endeavor placed in their paths is that of a syndrome. Stockholm syndrome causes a victim to grow attached to their captor, and become dependent on them. Once the victim returns home they feel lonely and struggle with revisiting the past horrors they have just experienced. This is a horrible syndrome, and every case is different. A former kidnapping victim, Jaycee Dugard suffers from Stockholm Syndrome. She is working on overcoming this complication. Her doctor, Dr. Keith Ablow writes, “Her road back depends upon the mind’s agility, to somehow find her original sense of self, revisit the horror it must have been to cede all control to her assailant and take the journey from viewing herself as a helpless victim to seeing herself as a survivor.” Being a survivor, like Jaycee, requires much effort. In order for her to overcome this syndrome she must first find herself, and the only way to do that is by regaining trust, and start being able to feel safe. The hurdles that have been set before Jaycee are struggles that most victims will have to face. Trust and safety are things that make a person who they are. Without them one will fall apart. Even though Jaycee may not want to rediscover trust and safety, she must or her life will never be the same.
The effects of kidnappings can destroy a person’s life all together. The only way for a kidnapped victim to overcome her abduction is to focus hard and overcome the hurdles that have been placed in front of them. A former kidnapped victim speaks for herself. Jaycee Dugard says,” Why not look at it? Stare it down until it can’t scare you anymore. I didn’t want there to be any more secrets.” The only way for an individual to survive after her release is to open up to others and share her story. The ‘it’ that Jaycee is talking about is something that many victims are afraid to ever think about. The ‘it’ she is referring to is the past. For Jaycee to be willing to share her past story she had to regain trust, and the feeling of safety. Dr. Charles Raison, a professor of psychiatry, says that a person that lives through a kidnapping will have to redevelop a sense that the world’s a safe place, and the only people who can help the victim are ones who regain his trust and are supportive. Being kidnaped can have many effects on an individual. Their life will change, but once they are released, it’s their choice to take what they’ve been through and use it to help them grow in their life or drag them down. Terry Anderson has taken his past and decided to grow from it. In his story he tells us, “No man can ever start anew completely; he’s everything he’s ever done or said or failed to do. Each bit is added on, altering the whole, but covering, not replacing what has gone before. A piece of unfired clay, he bears the marks and scars of all his years. Not just clay, though- sculptor, too. He helps to mold himself “(Anderson 66). Terry decided to take the cards that were dealt to him, and prosper from them. He shows us all that it is possible to take the worst experiences in life and use them as a lesson to learn from. In the end it is all up to each individual to decide the path they want their life to continue on.
Works Cited
Ablow, Dr. Keith. "Former Kidnap Victim Struggles With Stockholm Syndrome Fox News." Fox News - Breaking News Updates Latest News Headlines Photos& News Videos. Fox News, 3 Sept. 2009. Web. 25 Feb. 2013. < http://www.foxnews.com/health/2009/09/03/kidnap-victim-struggles-stockholm-syndrome/>.
Anderson, Terry A.. Den of Lions: memoirs of seven years. New York: Crown, 1993. Print.
Betancourt, Ingrid, and Alison Anderson. Even silence has an end: my six years of captivity in the Colombian jungle. New York : Penguin Press, 2010. Print.
CNN wire staff. "Kidnap victim Jaycee Dugard talks about her 18 years of terror - CNN." Featured Articles from CNN. CNN U.S., 10 July 2011. Web. 21 Feb. 2013. < http://articles.cnn.com/2011-07-10/us/dugard.abc.interview_1_jaycee-dugard-phillip-garrido-nancy-garrido?_s=PM:US>.
Gamble, Allison. "Kidnapping, Murder and Mayhem: What Happens to Surviving Kidnap Victims?." Kidnapping, Murder and Mayhem. KMM , 15 Apr. 2008. Web. 21 Feb. 2013. < http://kidnappingmurderandmayhem.blogspot.com/2011/11/what-happens-to-surviving-kidnap.html>.
Landau, Elizabeth. "After being kidnapped, the recovery ahead - CNN.com." CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. CNN Health, 5 Feb. 2013. Web. 21 Feb. 2013. < http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/05/health/mental-health-alabama-hostage>.
Works Cited
Ablow, Dr. Keith. "Former Kidnap Victim Struggles With Stockholm
Syndrome Fox News." Fox News -
Breaking News Updates Latest News Headlines Photos& News Videos. Fox News, 3
Sept. 2009. Web. 25 Feb. 2013.
< http://www.foxnews.com/health/2009/09/03/kidnap-victim-struggles-stockholm-syndrome/>.
Anderson,
Terry A.. Den of Lions: memoirs of seven years. New York: Crown, 1993.
Print.
Betancourt,
Ingrid, and Alison Anderson. Even silence has an end: my six years of
captivity in the Colombian jungle. New York : Penguin Press, 2010.
Print.
CNN wire staff. "Kidnap victim Jaycee Dugard talks about her 18
years of terror - CNN." Featured Articles from CNN. CNN U.S., 10 July 2011. Web.
21 Feb. 2013.
< http://articles.cnn.com/2011-07-10/us/dugard.abc.interview_1_jaycee-dugard-phillip-garrido-nancy-garrido?_s=PM:US>.
Gamble, Allison. "Kidnapping, Murder and Mayhem: What Happens to
Surviving Kidnap Victims?." Kidnapping, Murder and Mayhem. KMM , 15 Apr. 2008.
Web. 21 Feb. 2013.
< http://kidnappingmurderandmayhem.blogspot.com/2011/11/what-happens-to-surviving-kidnap.html>.
Landau, Elizabeth. "After being kidnapped, the recovery ahead -
CNN.com." CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment &
Video News. CNN Health, 5 Feb. 2013. Web. 21 Feb. 2013.
< http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/05/health/mental-health-alabama-hostage>.
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