Responding to the Victims of Terrorism - Psychological and Policy Implications (From Responding to the Terrorist Threat, P 93-104, 1980, Richard H Shultz, Jr and Stephen Sloan, ed. - See NCJ-86019)

• NCJ Number: 86023
• Author(s): A H Miller
• Date Published: 1980
• Length: 12 pages
• Sale Source: Pergamon Press, Inc
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Policy issues related to victims of terrorism are examined, with emphasis on the needs of victims of hostage and barricade situations.

Abstract

A victim's first problem is surviving the episode. This problem is often a short-term one. The more longlasting problem is surviving the guilt which occurs after the episode. The phenomenon of survivor's guilt is common to psychological studies of disaster, and occurs both when survivors had to use their skills to survive and when survival happened due to factors outside the individual's control. The problems of the victims of terrorism are complicated because they often become victims because of what they symbolically represent rather than what they are. In addition, victims' experiences are as diverse as the modes of terrorist operations. Furthermore, transference, which is an intimate bonding between the captive and the captor, occurs in many hostage situations. Transference results both from the symbiotic merging of needs of the captor and the captive and from the captive's dependency on the captor. The transference phenomenon sometimes persists after the hostage's release. Although society has placed much emphasis on the rights of the accused, similar concern for the rights of the victim have been slow in coming. Such concern would greatly help those who suffer the stress of being held hostage. For example, the need to testify after captivity may well be a means of coping with the effects of having survived. The knowledge of the psychological processes which occur during captivity should be used not only during and after captivity but also to prepare those who are at risk. The United States should become responsive to the psychological needs of hostages and should make the public aware of transference to reduce public hostility toward hostages for what they may say when they regain their freedom. Hostages are also likely to require professional psychological guidance in reentering society. Twenty reference notes are provided.