The three girls, Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michele Knight, who were kidnapped and trapped in a house, were maybe tied up for weeks for months, , but I would not think they were tied up for 10 long years and did not get a chance at all to escape. When the abuser left the house for work, most likely the girls were alone in the house. One of the girls even gave birth to a baby 6 years ago. She was probably not tied up during her late pregnancy. The little girl was not probably tied up for 6 years. The question is, why they did not scream for help or tried to escape when they were not chained or gagged. They could break a door or a window. Doors were maybe locked but windows were not locked.
We should not forget that Elizabeth Smart and Jaycee Dugard also did not try to escape. Elzabeth Smart was 14 when she was taken from her bed in the middle of the night by Brian David Mitchell, who claimed her as his bride and sexually abused her for nine months. Jaycee Dugard was kidnapped by Phillip Garrido on her way to school at age 11, and imprisoned for 18 years, giving birth to two children. Both Smart and Dugard had several opportunities to escape. Mitchell took Smart to parties and restaurants. Dugard spoke to Garrido’s parole officer and worked at his printing business. This kind of situation is not uncommon among those who have been held against their will for long periods of time. Just like most housewives and many working women who are forced to live with their abuser husbands against their will.
“Victimised women are separated by their captors from all of the people and experiences that they’ve had that would contribute to a) self-esteem and b) their self confidence and their identity.”
“The tactics used by abductors are designed to make their captives feel worthless, powerless and afraid.”
“Usually there is some physical restraint, but eventually that’s substituted for by the techniques similar to what cults use: mind control, threats.”
“There can be such a wide range of abuse that a victim who is no longer viciously abused may feel gratitude towards their captor”.
“On the other hand, they’re also afraid that if they try to escape and fail, all those conditions which are at the moment tolerable will become intolerable.”
“Dugard told that she didn’t try to escape because: “What I knew was safe. The unknown out there was terrifying.”
“The sexual abuse is humiliating, demeaning, makes you feel not very good about yourself. It instils a sense of hopelessness.”
“Amanda Berry’s call to 911 may have been telling. “I’m Amanda Berry,” she said. “I’ve been on the news for the last 10 years. That sense of self – and that people were looking for her – may have helped give her the confidence to leave.”
“There is a sense of abandonment if you think the search has stopped. And that fear is often played up by abductors, who tell captors their families have stopped looking. But Berry knew she hadn’t been forgotten, and that may have given her the strength to fight for freedom.”
“This will be with them for a long time, and possibly forever. They are going to have nightmares. They may feel suspicious of other people, strangers, men in particular.”
“They will have to readjust from a life in captivity to a life in the real world, complete with sounds, smells, and people crowding around them. They are basically bombarded with stimulation after a long time of having very little.”
“It took 10 years for the three women in Cleveland to find their way out of the door and into the light. And it may take them many more years to adjust to the change.”
Psychologists make sense.
