Self-hypnosis training and captivity survival

In February and March, 1973, 566 U.S. military prisoners (POWs) were released from North Vietnam. These men had been POWs for a period of time between 2 months and 9 years, with a mean incarceration of 4.44 years. They had faced physical and psychological stress similar to that experienced by POWs from previous wars: starvation, disease, inadequate shelter, lack of medical care, interrogations and torture (Deaton, Burge, Richlin & Latrownik, 1977; Mitchell, 1991). By definition, such prison conditions constituted a traumatic experience (Deaton et al., 1977). However, a unique stress for our POWs in North Vietnam was the additional trauma of solitary confinement. This paper reviews the coping and "time killing" activities of U.S. Navy Vietnam POWs who experienced solitary confinement and tortuous interrogation. This paper also reports the physical and psychological adjustment of our POWs following their release from captivity. Suggestions are made regarding the revision of the curriculum for captivity survival training programs such as Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) school.