Psychological Measures to Keep You Safe as a Captive

If you ever find yourself in a captive situation, the most important goal you should have is getting out of there alive. There are some very simple precautions that you can take in order to make it out of this situation alive and well.

hidingFirst, if they don’t find you, you don’t have to worry about being in danger. You should immediately try to find a place to hide. If you’re hiding correctly, you will be protected from bullets and in a place where the hostage taker won’t find you.

If you can’t hide, you shouldn’t try to fight the person if they have the upper hand with a weapon. They likely want money, and want to negotiate a deal for hostages. Fighting them when you’re not prepared will most likely lead to you dying.

Don’t attempt to be the hero. You’ll almost certainly fail. Instead, you should appear as if you’re treating your captor with the utmost respect. You shouldn’t speak unless spoken to.

You should also try to not make it too obvious, because they’ll assume you’re being phony and are going to backstab them once you get on their good side. You should make sure you keep your cool.

If everything goes well, you should be fine. As long as you don’t pose a threat to anyone, the captor probably won’t try to attack you, nor will the rescue teams that will be on the way.

If rescue teams can tell that you’re not a threat, they will probably escort you out and question you about the attacker. Remember, when they first get on the scene, they don’t know who’s a threat and who’s not.

Another thing to note about the rescue team is that when they enter, you should immediately hit the deck. They will be shooting at the captor, and you don’t want to get caught in the crossfire.

You should make sure you remain extremely vigilant during the altercation. Take note of everything you can about the captors. What kind of weapons do they have? How tall are they and how much do they weigh?

Observe their conversations, note any names or nicknames they might call one another, because this could all be helpful information to the police if these people get away. The most important thing to remember is definitely to be cooperative and reasonable with your captor.

If they tell you to get up, you get up. If they tell you to go stand somewhere, you do it. Refusal to comply will most likely get you shot. If you can be kind and respectful with your captor, they’ll be less inclined to kill you.

You want to try to develop mutual respect with your captor. The worst thing you could do is become hysterical because then you get the hostage taker all riled up and on the defensive, too.

Be aware that in some situations, the hostage taker does intend to kill you – maybe after they get your money or torture or rape you – so in those instances, if you feel the end result will be death, you can try to make a connection emotionally with your attacker, and if that fails, fight back.