Pippin 1 Mia Pippin

Instructor: Malcolm Campbell

English 1103

April 2nd, 2015

Shut In and Locked Out: Exploring the Mind of a Kidnap Victim

She met Phillip Garrido on June 10, 1991. Their paths crossed when he was

driving down her street in South Lake Tahoe, California. Three years later they had their

first child, three years after that they had another. On August 26, 2009 their relationship

came to an end when Garrido was imprisoned. Her name was Jaycee Lee Dugard, and her

18 years of captivity that began with her kidnapping at the age of 11 ended on this

August afternoon.

Jaycee Lee Dugards abduction is a well-known and discussed case. Although

Dugard was definitely pulled away from her own family, it appeared that she found a new

family with Garrido and his wife. In fact when Dugard walked into the police station on

August 26, it was to defend Garrido when he violated his parole by having 2 young girls

(Dugard and Garridos daughters) in his home rather than accuse him of taking her all

those years previous. Through my research of Dugards story from both her case file and

her autobiography it was evident that Dugard was definitely aware that she had been

taken from her parents and that she knew the continual sexual abuse she faced was

wrong, but rather than attempt to escape Dugard tried her hardest to make the best out of

her new living arrangement, even going as far as to help Garrido run his out of home

Pippin 2 business. All things considered, it became evident to me that Dugard had become

mentally altered by the experience that she went through. In order to analyze the actions

of Dugard during and after her abduction, I wanted to look at the psychological state of

similar long-term kidnap victims. To look further into the state of mind of other long-

term kidnap victims however, I had to take a step back and research kidnappings

throughout all of the United States.

According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (which

gathers their reports directly from the U.S. Department of Justice reports) there are

800,000 children reported missing ever year. Since approximately 203,000 of these

reportedly missing children are actually taken by family members and many are

runaways that leaves around 58,200 that are kidnaped by non-family members.

Fortunately even though these are extremely high statistics only about 200 of them

qualify as the type of kidnapping situations that typically make the news, (ex; asking for

ransom, killing the children, or intentions to keep these children permanently) which

were the ones that I needed to look at. Looking even further into these reports, about 43%

suffer fates such as long term kidnapping, and it is these cases that I have made the basis

of my research. (Falcon)

What is Stockholm syndrome?

The common factor behind almost all long-term kidnappings is a development of

Stockholm syndrome or conditions very similar to it. Stockholm syndrome can best be

described as the psychological state when a hostage begins to feel such strong empathy

towards their kidnappers that they will defend them and make excuses for them when

they are abusive. Stockholm syndrome is something that has always been around, but it

Pippin 3 gets its name from the Norrmalmstorg bank robbery of Kreditbanken that took place in

Stockholm, Sweden. The Stockholm bank robbery took place in August 1973. During

this bank robbery a group of 4 bank employees were held hostage for a period of 6 days

by an escaped prisoner named Janne Olsson. Olsson barricaded himself, his partner, and

the hostages in the banks vault. The employees had such close and constant contact with

the bank robbers that it was obviously evident that they began to feel empathetic towards

them. In fact they had formed such a strong emotional bond with their captors that they

astounded law enforcement by defending the men after they were released. Even previous

to their release the hostages didnt want to be rescued because they felt that they were in

a way similar to the bank robbers and they viewed the whole situation as an us versus

them scenario. According to the FBIs Hostage Barricade Database System, 8% of

kidnap victims do develop Stockholm syndrome.

What Causes Stockholm?

Stockholm syndrome is not only found in the cases of kidnap victims, but its

more common in todays society in cases of soldiers in combat and people who suffer

from domestic abuse. Even with all of these different situations causing Stockholm,

unfortunately there is not much research on Stockholm Syndrome as a whole. The journal

I looked into that studies the fact or myth of Stockholm provided a list of four usual

precursors that may cause Stockholm Syndrome. The precursors are as follows; 1) if

there is a perceived threat to survival and belief that the threat will be carried out 2) if the

captive perceive some small kindness from the captor in the context of terror 3) if the

hostage experiences isolation from perspectives other than those of the captor 4) if the

hostage has a perceived inability to escape (Namnyak, M Sampson, E Szekely, M Toal, S

Pippin 4 Tufton, R and Worboys. 6) Once I had this list of general causes of Stockholm, I looked

back at the case of Jaycee Lee Dugard to see if these precursors had their part in her

development of what I have to come to believe was in fact Stockholm. 1) When Dugard

was first taken Garrido informs her that she must be quiet so she wouldnt be injured by

his very aggressive dogs (Dugard 13). 2) Throughout her time with Garrido, Dugard was

given many gifts such as pets and a television. 3) Garrido constantly told Dugard that the

things he did to her were caused by thoughts in his head placed their bad bad angels and

that she was helping him get rid of his sickness. 4) From the beginning of her captivity

Dugard was locked into multiple different buildings, therefore giving her a sense of an

inability to escape. With clear evidence of each and every one of the 4 precursors in the

case of Jaycee Dugard, it is strong supported evidence of how and why she in fact

developed Stockholm. As helpful as Grahams set of precursors were, unfortunately there

are not many additional scholarly articles or studies on the formation of Stockholm so I

couldnt judge the dependability of Grahams ideas.

Recovery?

When a long-term kidnap victim attempts to recover from the months to years of

abuse that they have faced, there are two main aspects of their recovery. The first in

recovery back into society, more of a physical recovery, and then of course there is the

psychological recovery. The people that have the hardest time recovering are those that

were kidnapped as children and grew up while still being held hostage. The reasoning

behind this is that fact childrens brains are susceptible to change based on their

surroundings and living conditions especially those that experience trauma at a young

age. This also helps to explain why many kidnap victims dont take the risk of trying to

Pippin 5 escape even when an opportunity presents itself; it all has to do with their brain

formation. When we try to help these people shift back into a life in normal society, there

are a few things that prove more beneficial. One of the most important things during this

recovery is to keep a healthy distance from the media. Although everyone else jumps at

the chance to hear the first hand story from any type of victim, all of the pestering and

attention will cause a victim to retreat into themselves, therefore putting a halt on their

adaptation back into society.

Psychological recovery is definitely the hardest because so much has mentally

been taken from these victims. Kluger states that something breaks the mind and will of

anyone so stripped of autonomy The typical mental conditions caused by being held

hostage are impaired memory, denial, shock, anxiety, and a sense of helplessness. One

can not give an exact regiment for what will help to repair ones mental state, but

continual visits to a psychiatrist/therapist and the constant support of friends and family

are definitely beneficial.

In Conclusion

As numbers of those being kidnapped, taken hostage by foreign militaries, and those entering in abusive relationships continue to be on a constant rise, Stockholm Syndrome and similar mental states will continue to be a problem. The amount of previous studies done on Stockholm is miniscule, at that. A much stronger stance must be taken on not only the prevention of abduction but also on helping those that have experienced a change in their psychological state due to abuse from these events. Future psychological research will be the only key to unlocking the secrets of the brains of kidnap victims.

Pippin 6 Works Cited

Dugard, Jaycee Lee. A Stolen Life: A Memoir. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011. Print. Falcon, Gabe. "Raw Data: Kidnapping Statistics." CNN. Cable News Network, 15 Jan. 2007. Web. 02 Apr. 2015. Hanbury, Raymond, and David Romano. "Adjusting to Life after Being Held Hostage or

Kidnapped." Apa.org. American Psychological Association, July 2013. Web. 10

Mar. 2015.

Kluger, Jeffrey. "The Mind of the Kidnap Victim: How They Endure and Recover

TIME.com. TIME Inc., 8 May 2013. Web 10 Mar. 2015

Namnyak, M Sampson, E Szekely, M Toal, S Tufton, R and Worboys "Stockholm

Syndrome: Psychiatric Diagnosis or Urban Myth?" Acta Psychiatrica

Scandinavica. 117.1 (2008): 4-11. Web. 9 Mar. 2015.