Psychological Implications Of Abducting 14 Year Old Ese Oruru

Solomon Arase:Inspector General of Nigerian Police

The effects of kidnapping and hostage-taking especially on a child can have both long-term and short-term on the individuals and their families. I will be discussing these psychological impacts shortly.

The alarming abduction and rescue of 14- year old Ese Oruru, 15 year old Patience Paul and 3 other schools girls in Nigeria have been trending in the media and the kidnapping of young girls is one case too many as most victims still suffer in silence in captivity.

In fact their saddening story is a rude awakening and sickening reflection of the society we live in.

One cannot begin to fathom the psychological impact on the girls and their families. Parents and others are still brokenhearted over the 219 Chibok girls abducted by insurgents in the North East, Nigeria. The Chibok girls are yet to be found despite the internationally outrage (#BringBackOurGirls).

The most unfortunate part of the whole saga is that these girls became victims of sexual violence in our society-kidnapped by familiar faces and from the comfort of their parent’s home.

The Nigeria law condemns such illegality. Except the relevant institutions/agencies take the bull by the horns offenders will continue to be embolden to commit such condemnable & criminal acts.

Therefore, my recommendation to the Nigeria police and state governments is that they must wake up NOW and take drastic measures to strengthen their CAMPAIGN /PROSECUTION against SEXUAL AND GENDER BASED VIOLENCE; as well as to adopt and implement THE CHILD RIGHT’S PROTECTION POLICY as part of efforts to address and stump the prevalence of the menace in the country.

 Moreso, these teenage girls need to be protected from public scrutiny. Infact, their privacy as minors have been breached by the Police and some news papers/media that made videos and exposed pictures of the girls. One can imagine the possible consequences of being labeled or stigmatized despite their ordeal.

Abducted 14-yr-old Ese Oruru  is 5 Months Pregnant, Reunites with family 
Ese Rita Oruru was taken away by one Yinusa Dahiru from her home in Yenogoa, Bayelsa state (South- South) to Kano State (North West) Nigeria in August 2015 while she was still 13 years old and without her parent’s knowledge and consent. Yinusa is a 25-year Muslim, originally born in Kano and from where he came to live in Bayelsa hawking water. She was converted to Islam, her name changed to Aisha and forcefully married without the consent of her parents. Ese was reunited with her family on February 29 after public uproar by media campaign which led to her rescue and release by the Police.

However, reports from vanguard online news says Ese’s father confirmed that the now 14 year old girl is 5 months pregnant.

Yinusa Dahiru, Ese's Abductor arranged
Credit:Vanguard onlinenews  

On March 8th, Yinusa has been arranged at the Federal High Court in Yenogoa on a five-count charge of abduction, illicit sex and unlawful carnal knowledge. Solomon Arase, the inspector general of police earlier expressed the force readiness to prosecute Ese’s abductor and any officers/persons implicated if found guilty.
Abducted Lagos Schoolgirls Rescued By Police and Kidnappers Arrested The Lagos state police command has confirmed the r\escue and arrest and their abductors of three abducted school girls -Timilehin Olosa, Tofunmi Popoolaniyan and Deborah Akinayo; at the Igbokuta area of Ikorodu (Western Nigeria). They girls are unharmed and were not molested by their kidnappers.

The schoolgirls were kidnapped by 15 heavily armed men from their classroom in the Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary School in Lagos after over powering the security personnel on the premises through a hole dug on the school fence. Initial reports says, the kidnappers demanded a N100 million ransom, a sum which was later reduced to N10 million.
Psychological Effects of Being A Hostage
In general terms, the psychological impact of being taken hostage is similar to that of being exposed to other trauma, including terrorist incidents and disasters for adults1 and children.

1. Cognitive: impaired memory and concentration; confusion and disorientation; intrusive thoughts (‘flashbacks’) and memories; denial (i.e. that the event has happened); hypervigilance and hyperarousal (a state of feeling too aroused, with a profound fear of another incident);

2. Emotional: shock and numbness; fear and anxiety (but panic is not common); helplessness and hopelessness; dissociation (feeling numb and ‘switched off’ emotionally); anger (at anybody – perpetrators, themselves and the authorities); anhedonia (loss of pleasure in doing that which was previously pleasurable); depression (a reaction to loss); guilt (e.g. at having survived if others died, and for being taken hostage);
3. Social: withdrawal; irritability; avoidance (of reminders of the event).
4. Denial; (i.e. a complete or partial failure to acknowledge what has really happened) has often been maligned as a response to extreme stress, but it has survival value (at least in the short term) by allowing the individual a delayed period during which he/she has time to adjust to a painful reality.
5. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD); After 26 children and their driver were abducted and held in a vehicle underground in Chowchilla San Francisco, all the children displayed signs of PTSD,3 and some symptoms worsened over time (e.g. shame, pessimism and ‘death dreams’).
6. Personality Change; ‘Enduring personality change after a catastrophic experience’ is a possible chronic outcome after a hostage incident. This condition is characterized by:

•  A hostile or mistrustful attitude;
• Social withdrawal and estrangement;
•  Feelings of emptiness or hopelessness;
• A chronic feeling of being ‘on edge’ as if constantly threatened. For the diagnosis to be made the  symptoms must have endured for at least two years.

7. Frozen Fright And Psychological Infantilism;. The former refers to a paralysis of the normal emotional reactivity of the individual, and the latter reaction is characterized by regressed behaviour such as clinging and excessive dependence on the captors.

Children May Also Display: school refusal, loss of interest in studies, dependent and regressed behaviour, preoccupation with the event, playing at being the ‘rescuer’, stubborn and oppositional behaviour, and risk-taking. The impact can be particularly serious if the children have been detained over an extended period and if the incident entailed a breach of trust.

8. Learned Helplessness; Extended periods of captivity may also lead to ‘learned helplessness’ in which individuals come to believe that no matter what they do to improve their circumstances, nothing is effective. This is reminiscent of the automaton-like state reported by concentration camp victims (‘walking corpses’).
Developing Coping and Survival Strategies
In view of these negative impacts mentioned easier, it is important for these girls and other victims to access therapy by qualified psychologists to aid their recovery and reintegration into their normal routine as developing tailored-to-fit effective strategies for a balanced mental, socio-emotional and physical health at the long run.

References:

1. [PubMed]
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3. Drury J. No need to panic. The Psychologist. 2004;17:118–19.
4. Speckhard A. Soldiers for God: a study of the suicide terrorists in the Moscow hostage taking siege. In: McTernan O, editor. The Roots of Terrorism: Contemporary Trends and Traditional Analysis. Brussels: NATO Science Series; 2004. pp. 1–22.
5. Symonds M. Victimization and rehabilitative treatment. In: Eichelman B, Soskis W, Reid W, editors. Terrorism: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association; 1983. pp. 69–81.
6. Seligman MEP. Helplessness: On Depression, Development, and Death. San Francisco, CA: Freeman; 1975.
7. Bettelheim B. The Informed Heart: Anatomy in a Mass Age. Glencoe, IL: The Free Press; 1960.
8. World Health Organization. The ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders. Geneva: WHO; 1992.
9. Terr LC. Chowchilla revisited: the effects of psychic trauma four years after a school bus kidnapping. Am J Psychiatry. 1983;140:1543–50. [PubMed]