Thaindian News

In the television show “Dr. Phil”, where Dr. Phil McGraw psychoanalyzes different cases, the shocking case of Jaycee Lee Dugard was taken up in its most recent episode.

Dr. Phil says, “It’s just so hard to wrap your mind around something like that,” He then goes on to say, “Look, when you are 11 years old and you are abducted by a power figure, and you’re isolated, the number one tool of an abuser is isolation. …And it seems that this girl was isolated forever before she ever got any ability to move around. And when you’re 11 years old, you are so vulnerable.”

Jaycee has two daughters from Philip, her abductor. Both the girls, Starlet (15) and Angel (11), have never been in the real world unlike their mother who had at least spent a few normal years with her parents.

Dr. Phil predicts that the girls will find it very difficult to adapt to the normal world being isolated from it since birth, while their mother, Jaycee, will require a long period of recovery to live like a normal human being. Dr. Phil says, “It will be difficult for them to find their way back. But it can happen.”

Jaycee had been kidnapped in 1991 from South Lake Tahoe school bus stop and had been kept in solitary confinement for 18 years by her abductors and was abused regularly. Even though she is released today she feels guilty of bonding with her abductor Philip. This is very common among kidnapped victims and is called “Stockholm Syndrome”.

Dr. Phil voices his concern explaining, “There will be a mix of emotions where they’re actually grieving the loss of this person and missing him being, but then learning what has happened.” He also adds, “it’s going to be such conflict that they can really fall through cracks if great care is not taken.”