CA- How will Jaycee Dugard and her daughters adjust to life post captivity?

9-8-2009 California:

How will Jaycee Dugard, held captive and sexually abused for 18 years, adjust to life now that she and her two young daughters have been reunited with their real family? Angel , age 11, and Starlit, age 15, were both fathered by Jaycee’s alleged abductor and abuser, Phillip Garrido. They have been virtually raised in captivity, living in a maze of tents and windowless sheds covered by tarps and other make-shift materials in the backyard of the house Garrido shared with his wife and co-conspirator, Nancy, in Antioch, CA.

Before the age of 11, when Jaycee’s ordeal began, she lived what most would consider a normal life with her mother and stepfather in South Lake Tahoe. Though she has spent nearly two thirds of her life as a prisoner and sex slave in horrifyingly squalid conditions, her positive early childhood experiences will be a major factor in her ability to recover. Her daughters, however, have an even greater task ahead of them. They did not benefit from a “normal” childhood and have now been removed from the only home they’ve ever known. The person they thought was their sister has now been revealed to be their mother, and the man they knew as their father has now been revealed to be a kidnapping sex offender.

Most would agree that Jaycee and her girls will require years of therapy in order to achieve any sense of normalcy. But what kind of therapy could possibly help restore these girls to health? See below for some of the empirically tested theraputic techniques used by experts in the field of trauma treatment:

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy:

Pioneered by Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck, among others, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy involves actively investigating one’s thoughts about self, others, and the world. Trauma victims who have endured terrifying events often experience misplaced shame and guilt, resulting from self-blaming thoughts. Likewise, generalized fear linked to thoughts that the world is unsafe can lead to avoidance and isolating behaviors that damage relationships with friends and family or prevent victims from participating in other activities. When victims learn to change their thinking, the corresponding emotional distress gets relieved. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helps victims modify distressing or distorted thought processes related to their trauma.

Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR):

Developed by Francine Shapiro, EMDR, works to relieve emotional distress, intrusive memories, flashbacks, and nightmares related to the traumatic experience. During a trauma the nervous system can become so overwhelmed that the areas of the brain that process and store information cease to function properly. The persistent recollections and re-experiencing of the trauma so often reported by victims may be the result of this failure of the brain to file away the event as it normally would. EMDR uses bilateral visual, auditory, or tactile stimulation of the right and left hemispheres of the brain to properly process and ultimately achieve resolution of the traumatic event.

Prolonged Exposure:

Prolonged Exposure is a desensitization technique that, like EMDR, works to alleviate distress resulting from traumatic memories, flashbacks, and nightmares. It was developed by Edna Foa during her work with rape survivors. With Prolonged Exposure, sessions are recorded while the victim tells the story of what happened to them. As the victim speaks, the therapist monitors the emotional and physiological distress level of the victim. If distress levels become too intense, the victims are directed to stop until they feel comfortable, relaxed, and safe enough to continue. Victims take the recordings home and listen to them while practicing calming/relaxation techniques to manage their distress. Over time, talking about the trauma becomes less upsetting and the frequency of flashbacks and nightmares decreases. ..source.. by Kate Latimer