Abduction is the act of taking someone forcefully against their will and holding them captive. Sometimes referred to as kidnapping, abduction is a global issue today which threatens the freedom of people in various regions. According to a report tabled by the NCIC’s Missing Persons File, a staggering 65,000 people were abducted in 2010. What is even more shocking is that 45% of all abductions that take place in the United States are carried out by family members or relatives of the victim (NCIC, 2010). While most victims of abduction are children and teenagers under the age of 18 in the United States, adults too also fall victim to this brutal act. Globally, in countries such as Mexico and Nigeria, abduction is rampant. In those countries, abduction is done to obtain ransom or as a result of political, religious and social conflicts. The United States Department of State reports that in 2012, there were 105,682 abductions in Mexico (USDS, 2012). Although governments and humanitarian organizations are formulating laws and educating the masses with the aim of putting an end to abduction, the deed is ever-growing, and the numbers are continuously adding up. The bottom line is, more needs to be done. Victims of abduction not only suffer mentally but also many of them report to have been assaulted physically or sexually. Sometimes, in extreme cases, these victims do not survive to tell the tale as their assailants mercilessly murder them. This research paper will discuss the adverse effects of abduction to the victims while also highlighting the various ways of addressing the issue.
Examination, evaluation, and analysis
According to the analysis of existing literature, abduction has both short- and long-term effects on victims and their friends and families. David A Alexander and Susan Klein (2009) performed a study on abduction victims in Sardinia and found that approximately 50% of abductees had PTSD while about 30% of those victims experienced chronic depression (Alexander & Klein, 2009, p. 18). They also performed another study of children abductee to see how they cope after the ordeal. The researchers chose the Chowchilla ordeal which occurred in San Francisco where 26 children and their bus driver were abducted. The study revealed that all the children involved in the ordeal exhibited signs of PTSD which in some cases, worsened over time. The researchers claim that children who had been abducted may display trust issues, regressed behavior, lack of interest, or they may refuse to go back to school. Another research was done by de C Williams, A. C., and van der Merwe, J. (2013) suggests that abductee victims who have experienced torture often display some form of PTSD at some point in their life. The researchers performed a study on refugees who had been abducted. They found that most of the victims of abduction had heightened levels of stress and anxiety while some of them suffered from chronic depression (De C Williams & Van der Merwe, 2013, p. 101). The researchers claim that these reactions are as a result of events that had occurred during the traumatizing ordeal.
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Discussion
The effects of abduction on victims can either be psychological, physiological or both. The main psychological effects suffered by victims of abduction are cognitive, emotional, and social (Alexander & Klein, 2009, p. 20). Cognitive effects such as impaired memory and concentration are common on victims of abduction. Frequent flashbacks and kidnapping denial are also common effects of abduction. Victims experience regular involuntary flashbacks or memories of the traumatic event. An object or someone may stimulate flashbacks or they may occur during dreams. As a result, victims panic and become unsettled because they feel powerless due to the lack of control. Consequently, victims exercise denial as a coping mechanism of the ordeal. Victims refuse to acknowledge that they had been abducted as a way of dealing with stress and anxiety. These cognitive effects are caused by chronic stress, anxiety or even depression suffered by abductees. Additionally, victims become hyper-vigilant of their surroundings which heightens their anxiety levels thus causing dire exhaustion. Furthermore, become disoriented which makes them lack a sense of direction (Alexander & Klein, 2009, p. 18). Disorientation causes mental confusion on victims. Ultimately, in extreme cases, victims may become mentally ill as a result of the abduction.
Victims of abduction possess emotional reactions such as anger and mild irritation. Abductees exhibit high levels of irritation and anger towards themselves and other people. For example, victims may be angry at themselves for being the target of abduction as a result of a sense of responsibility that victims manifest. Victims feel that they are responsible for the traumatic event which may not always be the case. Abductees may also be angry or irritated at other people other than their assailants (De C Williams & Van der Merwe, 2013, p. 106). It is because victims feel that other people should have been at their aid during the ordeal. Abductees experience chronic depression. Victims become sad, helpless, hopeless, and lose interest in almost everything. Depression arises from overthinking about the abduction ordeal that the victim experienced. It may also cause a mood disorder which is characterized by a persistent low mood (Legg, Ph.D., 2017). In severe cases, abductees who suffer from depression may commit suicide. Other emotional reactions displayed by victims of abduction are occasional shock and numbness which is attributed to frequent flashbacks and memories of abduction. Victims become emotionally numb, that is, they do not feel any emotions whatsoever. Also referred to as frozen fright, emotional numbness affects victims of all ages. Fear and anxiety are also a typical emotional reaction exhibited by victims of abduction.
Social psychological effects experienced by victims of abductions revolve around how they interact with their surroundings after the traumatic event. In most cases, victims of abduction often withdraw and avoid their family, friends or work. They display loneliness which stems from the traumatic event and as a result, they avoid their surroundings (Ziello, Angioli, Fasanaro, & Amenta, 2014, p. 30). For example, victims might avoid other people because of the fear of being abducted. As a result of being hypervigilant, victims assume that everybody, including their friends and family, is a threat to their safety (De C Williams & Van der Merwe, 2013, p. 109). Other victims avoid people due to the stimulation of memories and flashbacks. Similar faces and places may stimulate flashbacks, anxiety, and unwanted memories on victims of abduction. To avoid it, abductees withdraw and avoid people and specific locations. Victims often have trust issues with other people due to the fear of being abducted. It has let to deteriorating inter-personal relationships between abductees and other people in society. In peculiar instances, victims of abduction, especially children, suffer socially from being bullied by other children who might not understand the severity of kidnapping. According to research done by the International Classification of Mental and Behavioral Disorders (ICMBD), 50% of victims of abductions have at some point experienced post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (Maercker et al., 2013, p. 1684). Abductee children who exhibit signs of PTSD suffer the most because the condition can sometimes gradually worsen over time. Although not all of them display the signs of PTSD, adults too are susceptible. The ICMBD also report that close to 30% of victims of abduction experience chronic depression.
Physiological or physical effects of abduction are the effects that victims encounter on their bodies. In extreme abduction cases, victims are tortured by their assailants. Torture, which causes bodily harm, may lead to severe injuries which may cause the death of the victim. Torture, during an abduction, is done as either a way of demanding ransom or as a way of inflicting pain on victims. Torture victims can either be children or adults. Tortured abductees who have been freed or were able to escape from their assailant’s exhibit both psychological and physical effects with PTSD being the common one. Victims frequently experience flashbacks of the torture experience. It, in turn, leads to avoidance and withdrawal from people. Flashbacks may be triggered by physical scars that they may have on their bodies (De C Williams & Van der Merwe, 2013, p. 111). Other effects of torture on victims of abduction may be chronic stress, anxiety, and depression. However, in most cases where torture is involved, the assailants do not demand ransom. In such instances, the primary motive of the assailant is to torture the victim. Unfortunately, many tortured abductees do not survive the ordeal.
Victims of abduction also suffer from sexual harassment and sexual abuse from their assailants. According to Amnesty International, more than 70% of girls who have been abducted by Boko Haram, an outlaw terrorist organization which operates in Nigeria, have experienced some form of sexual harassment or sexual assault (OS, 2017, p. 26). Victims of abduction who have been raped often suffer from both physiological and psychological disorders. Some victims, as a result of shame and guilt of being raped, do not report that they have been raped. Although it is understandable, it is a dangerous thing to do. It is because victims of rape may have been infected with sexually transmitted infections from their attackers. In cases where assailants who had an STI raped a victim of abduction if the victim chooses not to reveal any information about the rape, their health will slowly deteriorate, and ultimately it will lead to death. However, in some cases, abductee victims may be infected with an STI which is incurable like HIV/AIDS which guarantees that the victim will be infected for the rest of her life. While most abductee victims who suffer from sexual harassment and sexual assault are adult women, children and men too also fall victim to the same. Victims who have suffered from sexual assault and sexual harassment exhibit heightened levels of PTSD (Tull, Ph.D., 2009). In extreme cases due to denial, guilt, shame, and lack of self-value, victims of abduction who have been raped commit suicide.
Leadership
The effects of abduction on victims may be life threatening, but however, some of them can be managed. PTSD treatment, for instance, may include various types of psychotherapy and medical prescriptions to control it (Mayo Clinic, 2018). People living with PTSD are encouraged to join a therapeutic course where they engage with a trained professional. In such instances, victims acquire a sense of closure during and after therapy sessions. In extreme cases when therapy doesn’t seem to give out the desired results, prescribed medication is given to PTSD patients. Although it is not recommendable due to the risk of addiction and dependency, medicines which ease or lower down symptoms of depression such as anxiety, stress, and depression are used. In other instances, victims are encouraged to join support groups which have the same abductee victims, spend more time with friends and family, and engage in sport and exercise activities which help in reducing stress. In situations where abductees may have been sexually harassed or assaulted, they are encouraged to report the matter to both the police and doctor to receive medical treatment immediately. Victims who have been sexually assaulted are at risk of contracting STIs which may be life threatening if they are not diagnosed and treated immediately (Alexander & Klein, 2009, p. 20). Lastly, tortured victims are encouraged to go to the nearest hospital to receive treatment. Some torture methods may induce internal hemorrhage, which if not reported or noticed by the victim, may lead to death. Additionally, special policies and laws should be formulated to ensure that the government should settle all the medical expenses that victims of abduction accrue. It is because treating physiological and psychological effects of abduction is expensive and as a result, many victims who cannot afford the expenses, choose not to seek medical and professional help.
Conclusion
In conclusion, almost all victims of abduction suffer from either a physiological or a psychological disorder. Although not all victims survive the ordeal, the ones that do are never the same after the traumatic event. Victims may display signs of stress, anxiety, and depression which may vary at different levels. In extreme cases, some victims commit suicide. While most victims report about their encounter, those that don’t are encouraged to report because it may be lifesaving. Finally, while victims of abduction may never be the same again, psychotherapy and medical prescriptions may be used during adverse situations on the victims of abduction.
References
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Maercker, A., Brewin, C. R., Bryant, R. A., Cloitre, M., Reed, G. M., Van Ommeren, M., … Saxena, S. (2013). Proposals for mental disorders specifically associated with stress in the International Classification of Diseases-11. The Lancet , 381 (9878), 1683-1685. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(12)62191-6
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Tull, PhD, M. (2009, December 15). PTSD: Coping, Support, and Living Well. Retrieved from https://www.verywellmind.com/coping-with-ptsd-2797536
USDS. (2012). U.S. Department of State | Home Page. Retrieved from https://www.state.gov/
Ziello, A. R., Angioli, R. D., Fasanaro, A. M., & Amenta, F. (2014). Psychological distress in families of victims of maritime piracy — the Italian experience. International Maritime Health , 65 (1), 28-32. doi:10.5603/mh.2014.0007
