Psychological Impact of

Hostage Situation Among

Captives: An Overview
Drawings: A Picture is Worth a Thousand
Words

Ms. Marylendra A. Penetrante-

CYWTAC
Drawings: A Picture is Worth a Thousand
Words
Drawings: A Picture is Worth a Thousand
Words
Reality Bites!
• Although the resilience of individuals
should never be underestimated, there is
evidence that being taken hostage can
have enduring effects, particularly on
children.
• Hostages - like other victims of hijacks,
sieges and political violence – have to
cope with extreme psychological
pressures for which most people are
completely unprepared.
Reality Bites!
• Individuals vary in how they cope with such an
experience, both during and subsequent to it.
• The experience is best described as “a
psychological rollercoaster.”
• There are long periods of boredom, punctuated
by ghastly bursts of violence, fear and threat.
Persistent Effects of Hostage-
Taking Trauma in Children
 Looking within the captive’s
psyche
• Fear is the ever-present emotion
• : "Trapped body, racing mind," is Dr James Thompson of
University College London summary of the hostage's state.
• Some hostages start to feel sympathy for their captors, and
even support their cause. This is known as the Stockholm
Syndrome.
• For those who make it out alive, freedom almost always
brings elation. But the effects of being captive don't disappear
so easily. Hostages tend to review their performance and
analysis how they performed under pressure.
• Some people never get over the effects.
Current Research
(Published in Journal Watch Psychiatry February 1, 2000)

• These researchers followed 29 third- and first-

graders, who with their teacher had been held
hostage at gunpoint in their classroom for two hours
by a threatening, deranged intruder, and 22
indirectly affected third-graders in another class.
• Debriefings at 24 hours and 6 weeks as well as
psychological counseling were provided to most of
the directly affected students and their parents.
Twenty-six directly affected and twenty-one
indirectly affected children and families agreed to
participate in the 18-month study
 Significant Findings
• One month after the event, 96% of the directly
threatened children showed symptoms of acute stress
reactions, post-traumatic stress disorder, or carefully
defined subclinical PTSD.
• After four months, 42% of directly exposed and 40%
of indirectly exposed children showed symptoms; at
18 months, 28% of the directly exposed children but
only 11% of the comparison group showed symptoms.
• Children with preexisting psychological problems or
who were not debriefed were at greater risk of stress-
related symptoms.
Worthy to be Noted
• Although sample sizes were too small for
statistical validity, the finding that children
with persistent symptoms of post-traumatic
stress disorder were more likely to have
prior psychological problems is consistent
with studies of PTSD vulnerability in adults
Stages of Trauma 1. Sudden Occurrence of Traumatic
Event
2. Physical Effects
3. Shock or Disbelief
4. Destabilization
5. Psychological Effects (Traumatic
symptoms)
6. Coping / Normalizing
7. Recovery
Ms. Marylendra A. Penetrante-
CYWTAC
 Degree of Psychological Distress
• Exposure: The closer captives are to the
location of a threatening and/or frightening
event, and the longer the exposure, the greater
the likelihood of severe distress.

Relationships: Having relationships with the

victims of a disaster (those who were killed, injured, and/or
threatened) is strongly associated with psychological distress.
The stronger children’s relationships with the victims, the
greater the likelihood of severe distress.

Initial reactions: How captives

first respond to trauma will greatly influence
how effectively they deal with stress in the
aftermath
Perceived threat: The captive’s subjective
understanding of the traumatic event can be more
important than the event itself. Simply stated, severely
distressed children will report perceiving the event as
extremely threatening or frightening.
PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF

Psychosomatic
PTSD Illness

Anxiety Depression
TRAUMA
Specific Symptoms of Trauma
Physical Symptoms
• Changes in eating and sleeping behaviors
• Stomach aches, unease, feelings of stress, head
aches, and
• difficulty with body temperature control may all
accompany crisis.
 Thoughts
• Inability to stop thinking about the crisis (cyclical)
• This constant thinking usually heightens feelings
of distress and makes it more difficult for us to
find solutions to the situation.
• Feelings of hopelessness and pessimism
• Difficulty concentrating
• Social isolation – During a crisis we often tend to
feel all alone, and that no one really understand
us. This causes us to further remove ourselves
from social situations and support and can make
the situation even worse. Actually talking to
someone about the way you feel is the first step
towards getting over the crisis.

Ms. Marylendra A. Penetrante-

CYWTAC
CONSEQUENCES

1. Learning Difficulties

2. Memory Disturbances

3. Dissociation

4. Aggression against Self and Others

5. Psychosomatic Reactions

Ms. Marylendra A. Penetrante-

CYWTAC
TRAUMA PARADIGM

Ms. Marylendra A. Penetrante-

CYWTAC
What we can do to help?

• Let the victim to know that it's normal to feel upset when
something bad or scary happens

• Encourage the victim to express feelings and thoughts,

without making judgments

• Protect him/her from further exposure to traumatic

events, as much as possible

• Return to normal routines as much as possible

Ms. Marylendra A. Penetrante-

CYWTAC
• School can be a major healing environment as the child's
most important routine. Educate school personnel about the
child's needs. Reassure the child that it was not his or her
fault, that adults will try to take care of him or her, etc.

• Allow the survivor to feel sad or cry

• Give the him/her a sense of control and choice by offering

reasonable options about daily activities (choosing meals,
clothes, etc.)

• If the victim regresses (or starts to do things he or she did

when younger), people can help by being supportive,
remembering that it is a common response to trauma, and not
criticizing the behavior

Adults can be most helpful if they take care of themselves and get help for their
own distress, since children and adolescents may respond to adults'
feelings and reactions.
Ms. Marylendra A. Penetrante-
CYWTAC
 In any hostage taking
incidents..the real victims are
the captives….