How Does a Hostage's Mental Health Hold Up?

For six years, Ingrid Betancourt was held hostage in the Colombian jungle. Chained and humiliated, with her health failing and despair growing, she admitted yesterday that she was often haunted by thoughts of suicide. It was a bolt from the blue when the French-Colombian politician and her 14 fellow hostages realized the helicopter flight they believed to be merely transferring them was, in fact, taking them back home.

What are the effects on a person's mental health of being held for so long and rescued so suddenly? The key, according to consultant forensic clinical psychologist Ged Bailes, is accepting that life will never be the same again.

'Just as hostages have to adjust to captivity, so former hostages have to adjust to the new person they have become,' said Bailes, author of The Psychologist's Role in Hostage Situations

During the early stage of captivity, Bailes said, hostages go through a range of emotions including fear, chaos, confusion and deep depression. Once those feelings have ebbed, however, those in traumatic situations often surprise themselves by their resiliance.

'Former hostages describe trying to create their own world in the midst of the awful reality,' he said. 'They reclaim a degree of power and control by creating routines or engaging in acts of slight defiance.'

If the hostage and their captors are living in close contact and are able to converse, added Bailes, there is a strong likelihood of developing Stockholm syndrome, an intense bonding with one's captors. 'This can be a lifesaver for two reasons,' he said. 'It gives hostages back a sense of self and, by personalizing them in their captors' eyes, making it less likely they will be killed.'

Betancourt, who suffered health complications while in the jungle, yesterday checked herself into a hospital in Paris for medical tests. But Bailes emphasized the importance of accepting that her psychological state will not be so easily treated.

'It is vital that Betancourt is given the opportunity to talk as much as possible about her experience,' he said. 'But the only way to come to terms with having been held hostage is to accept that it has changed you for ever, and that you will never be the person you once were.'