Exploring The Tea Bag Factor

By Anastasia Toufexis

When American hostage Edward Tracy emerged from nearly five years of captivity in Lebanon last week, every minute of his confinement seemed to be graven in his body and spirit. Though he declared himself "in perfect health" and "ready to do the 100-yard dash," he appeared weary, bewildered and at times incoherent. He reportedly denied that Edward Tracy was his real name, claimed he was 63 though his birth certificate makes him 60, and hoped his "wives would rise from the dead" even though he has married but once and his ex-wife is still living. At the U.S. Air Force hospital in Wiesbaden, Germany, where he was first taken, and in Boston where he checked into a VA hospital at midweek, Tracy remained secluded.

In dramatic contrast, John McCarthy, who was also held for five years, bounced back into freedom looking as if he had just been away for the weekend. Trim and fit, the 34-year-old Briton fielded questions with grace and humor and seemed more than ready to resume his private life and even his public duties as a television reporter. Back in Britain at the Royal Air Force base in Lyneham, McCarthy took time out from being examined to deliver a letter from his captors to the U.N. Secretary-General, tootle around the base in a borrowed car and take a spin in a flight simulator. Everywhere he went he waved cheerily.

What accounts for the apparent difference in the two men's physical and mental condition? How well hostages cope with captivity depends partly on how long and how roughly they are held. The more brutal the conditions, the more brutalized the body and mind. Tracy and McCarthy suffered much the same deprivations, and were also both beaten and threatened with death. For some of their imprisonment they were chained and blindfolded, and each spent time in harrowing solitary confinement.

But survival also depends on the physical and psychological resources hostages bring to the ordeal. Youth is an advantage in weathering physical hardships. More crucial, however, are a person's emotional and intellectual traits. "It really depends on what you came in with, what your life experience has been," stresses Bruce Laingen, who a decade ago was held hostage in Iran for 444 days. "Human beings are like tea bags. You don't know your own strength until you get into hot water."

More resilient hostages have a firm sense of identity, self-confidence and optimism. They tend to hold strong beliefs, political or religious. And they have stable ties to family and friends, which give them a reason to live and comfort that they have not been forgotten. In captivity they are able to forge new bonds with other hostages and often make sacrifices for the others' benefit. Says psychologist Julius Segal, a former director of the National Institute of Mental Health: "Prisoners have told me that the best thing you can do in captivity is share that last morsel of food. It brings you outside of yourself."

Hardy hostages have a vivid imagination, which helps them withstand the tedium of confinement and restores some sense of control over their lives. Such prisoners invent new games or languages, retrace a journey, or set aside a specific time of the day for positive fantasizing. Psychiatrist Frank Ochberg, a clinical professor at Michigan State University, recalls two men who were kidnapped by terrorists for nearly 19 weeks: "The one who came out in excellent condition had designed buildings in his head and planned exotic menus at various restaurants. His cellmate, who lacked that ability, was in much worse shape."

These same factors affect how quickly a hostage will readjust to freedom. , Reentering the world can be as rude a shock as leaving it. In a flash, hostages go from solitude to spotlight, from having no choices to having too many, from being deprived of all stimulation to being bombarded. Said Tracy on once again seeing a tree and hearing a plane: "I am amazed and baffled by it." Prisoners often need time alone after their release, because they are not used to being the center of attention and they want to sort out their feelings. Sometimes they have to deal with devastating news. McCarthy's mother died two years ago.

By most measures, McCarthy seems to have strengths to draw on. Family and colleagues describe him as a fun-loving young man who was close to his parents and elder brother. "He's a born optimist, a fighter, with a huge zest for life," says his father Patrick. That description is echoed by former cellmate Brian Keenan, an Irishman who was released last year. Says Keenan: "He is the daftest, craziest man I ever met." And a marvelous mimic too: "I never knew if I was playing dominoes against Sigmund Freud or Peter Sellers. Without him I don't think I would have made it."

Tracy on the other hand has led a chaotic existence, wandering through 10 countries before settling in Lebanon in 1976 and doing everything from writing poetry to selling books. Tracy has not been to Vermont to see his mother Doris, now 83, in 26 years.

Tracy's mental condition before his kidnapping is unclear. His ex-wife has reported receiving some odd letters from him, including one in which he said he was "the father of 5,000 motorcycles." His doctors have revealed that Tracy was treated in the past for psychological difficulties, but they say he is in better shape than expected and retains a robust sense of humor.

Among hostages so far, McCarthy seems especially fortunate, but no one should suppose that he has escaped unscathed. "His family and friends think they have him back, but that is an illusion," says psychologist James Thompson of the University College of London. "They have a close relative of his back."

With reporting by William Mader/London and Linda Williams/New York