Kidnap Victim Dugard Located After 18 Years: Update 3

Jaycee Lee Dugard may have succumbed to “Stockholm Syndrome” as a way of surviving her ordeal, which could explain why she failed to break free for nearly two decades. The condition develops after the initial feelings of terror and confusion wear off and involves the victim building a “positive bond” with their kidnapper as a way to cope with the trauma of being held captive. Instead of hating the person who has abducted them, they come to empathise with them and view the outside world as the enemy. Comments from Miss Dugard’s stepfather yesterday, suggesting she felt “guilt” about forming a bond with Garrido, appeared to back this up.

Experts said kidnap victims may even develop “misplaced love” that could be reciprocated by the abductor. Extended periods of captivity might also lead to “learned helplessness” in which individuals come to believe that no matter what they do to improve their circumstances, nothing is effective. Both these conditions are particularly true where the captive – like Miss Dugard – has no one else to turn to and has to rely on their captor for all their basic needs and companionship.

“Initially kidnap victims are stunned, numbed and fearful,” said Prof David Alexander, from the Aberdeen Centre for Trauma Research at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen. “You take a while to come to terms with the initial abduction but then survival mechanisms kick in. Your first thought is how to stay alive, not necessarily how to hit back or escape. When you are isolated and only have one person to rely on, you begin to identify with them. You start to do what you are told.

For kidnap victims like Jaycee Lee Dugard, recovery is rare. A full portion of her life -- her entire teens and 20s -- was poisoned by her abduction at age 11 and the 18 years of brutal captivity and deprivation that followed. So uncommon are situations like hers that mental health experts have few examples to guide them. Even psychologists and psychiatrists skilled at confronting the worst of human nature find it hard to fathom how Dugard can put the pieces back together and live some semblance of a normal existence.

Things could well be worse for Dugard's two daughters, who were born into captivity in a ramshackle Antioch compound and have known only lives of deprivation. They have never attended school or visited a doctor, and their father, Phillip Garrido, is now in El Dorado County Jail facing charges of rape, kidnapping and other criminal offenses.

Phillip Garrido, the man accused of kidnapping Jaycee Dugard and holding her prisoner for 18 years, walked into the FBI field office in San Francisco two days before his arrest and handed over a letter describing how he'd cured his disturbing sexual behaviors and how the information could be used to assist in curing sexual predators.

The FBI spokesman in San Francisco told ABC News the rambling letter is very similar to the postings on Garrido's website. The document that talks about cures for sexual predators and ways of "controlling human impulses that drive humans to commit dysfunctional acts."

• "Stockholm Syndrome", Time, 8/31/09.
  
• "Crime Info 101: Jaycee Dugard and Stockholm syndrome, what is it? Part 2", Examiner.com,8/31/09.
• "Crime Info 101: Jaycee Dugard and Stockholm syndrome, what is it? Part 1", Examiner.com,8/31/09.
• "Love and Stockholm Syndrome: The Mystery of Loving an Abuser", Mental Health Matters, 2/3/09.
• "Definition of Stockholm Syndrome", Medicine.Net, 8/20/03.