The hallmark of Post Traumatic Stress is that victims of severe trauma complain of unwanted intrusive trauma recollections, avoidance of trauma triggers, and a heightened state of fear arousal.
However, in her monumental work on the effects of chronic interpersonal emotional abuse, Judith Herman presented a unique set of symptoms found in hostages and prisoners of war exposed to prolonged interpersonal abuse. (Trauma and Recovery, Basic Books, 1992)
I will select some of the symptoms that are clearly evident in the edited video of Gilad Shalit recorded around September 14, 2009 by the terrorist organization "Hammas".
Judith Herman describes these findings in the following eloquent way "The constraints upon the traumatized person's inner life and outer activity present as ‘negative' symptoms; their significance lies in what is missing".
1. He shows signs of disorientation; for instance he needs to focus on the written date on the newspaper in an attempt to show that he is orientated to calendar time.
2. His "affect" (or emotional tone) is flat, and he speaks in a monotone.
3. He is unable to make eye-contact with the intended audience.
4. Even when he addresses his father about intimate recollections, his mood is sad and his eyes downcast.
5. When his eyes smirk, the concealed smile has no congruence to what he is reading.
6. He stands up robotically; suggesting that his motoric function is also mechanical, and trance-like. This symptom is described by R.J. Lifton in his Essays on the Nazi Holocaust as a "paralysis of the mind". (The Concept of Survivor, 1980, ed. J.E. Dimsdale).
7. He also appears to misread one of his interrogator's cues: When motioned by his interrogators to stop reading his scripted remarks, he stands up and returns it to the interrogator. At this point, his motions appear only semi-purposeful, and not under his autonomous volition.
Physical and emotional trauma and abuse assert their damage not only on psychological structures but also on systems of attachment.
Inter-personal abuse shatters the construction of the self that allows one to form and sustain relations with others. The violation of human connection is worst among victims of atrocities. Severe and sustained abuse shatters the sense of connection between the victim and the world around him.
These findings confirm, that despite the terrorists` attempt to conceal this fact, there can be no doubt that he has been tortured and kept in a state of almost-total sensory deprivation.
This is confirmed by the fact that no international agency such as the Red Cross or any other representative has been allowed access to the kidnapped soldier.
When a person is completely powerless, (explains Herman), since they cannot escape their situation, their state of consciousness becomes altered.
These alterations of consciousness are at the heart of what we observe as emotional constriction and numbing. In addition, as the victim relinquishes all initiative to resist or struggle, he becomes, (by a merciful dint of nature), detached and robotic, similar to being in a hypnotic trance; a term formulated by Pierre Janet, the renowned French philosopher and psychiatrist. (The Haunted Self, Van der Hart, W.W. Norton and Co., 2006).
To trauma experts, the video merely shows how the perpetrators have succeeded in imposing on their hostage a sense of total submission. As in most victims, he communicates non-verbally that any gesture of insubordination will be met with dire consequences.
Hammas terrorists believe that they are releasing video-proof to the world-audience that their hostage is safe and well.
Perhaps the terrorists are trying to package their victim as a wholesome source of blackmail toward Israel for the release of hundreds of convicted killers.
In return, their hostage will be released on the premise of returning to a normal life, but in fact will remain psychologically bound in a timeless prison.
Shalit appears to me, based on this video, as belonging to the most severe category described by William Niederland in studies of the Nazi Holocaust by one survivor as "I am not a person". (Clinical Observations on the `Survivors Syndrome`, 1968, International Journal of Psychoanalysis ).
