'He Needs to Take It Very Gently'

After the end of Norman Kember’s four-month kidnap ordeal in Iraq, it is natural that his friends and family should want to throw him a homecoming party.

But a trauma expert warned today that the 74-year-old peace campaigner should shun large gatherings and avoid watching television reports about Iraq, at least in the short term.

Psychologist Dr Lesley Perman-Kerr said such experiences were likely to emotionally overwhelm a kidnap victim still shocked by their ordeal.

The key to Mr. Kember’s recovery, according to Dr Perman-Kerr, will be trying to ease back into normal life.

The psychologist, who has treated victims of the Iraq war, 9/11 and the July 7 London bombings, said: "The first thing a person needs is some tender loving care from their family and friends - people they can trust.

"They will need to listen calmly and quietly and try not to burden him with their own emotions.

"A lot of people will want to see him - a party has been mentioned - but that could be frightening and overwhelming for him at this stage.

"He needs to take it very gently, as kidnap victims are often extremely shocked, stunned and numbed. They don’t respond to other people or events in the same way they used to."

She said the attention span, memory and concentration of kidnap and hostage victims were affected because their minds were preoccupied with trying to process what they had gone through.

They were likely to suffer nightmares and flashbacks, but only a few would develop full-blown post-traumatic stress disorder.

Mr. Kember could watch TV reports about Iraq to try to understand his experience, but this was likely to retraumatize him. Victims of 9/11 found watching coverage of the attacks did not help them, Dr Perman-Kerr said.

However, she added that the peace worker’s faith might aid his recovery because it could give him the means to rationalize his experience. "Someone’s faith can provide a meaning to the trials and tribulations of life. But a trauma of this kind can also lead people to question their faith," she said.

The fact Mr. Kember had been held with other people could be beneficial, she added. He would be able to share his feelings about captivity with the other surviving hostages, Canadians James Loney and Harmeet Sigh.

But all three could suffer "survivor guilt" over the murder of one of their group, the American Tom Fox, whose body was discovered in Baghdad two weeks ago.

Mr. Kember would require therapy to help him come to terms with his ordeal if he was still traumatized in a month’s time, Dr Perman-Kerr said.

Treatment could involve traditional counseling, and also a therapy called eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR).

The latter treatment involves a therapist directing a patient to concentrate on a traumatic experience while moving their eyes rapidly back and forth, which has the effect of helping them mentally process the ordeal more rapidly.

Dr Perman-Kerr said recovery from a serious trauma such kidnapping usually took around two years.

"With time, the experience changes from being an active trauma to an unpleasant memory, which no longer disrupts the victim’s daily life," she said.