Dr. S. Megan Berthold. Photo courtesy of the University of Connecticut.

The recovery of the three women who were kidnapped and held on a house in Cleveland for years will depend on how they deal with their raw emotions, National Association of Social Workers member S. Megan Berthold told the Christian Science Monitor in this article.

Berthold, PhD, LCSW, CTS, is a professor at the University of Connecticut School of Social Work. She has also provided services to refugee survivors of torture from around the world, work that earned her recognition as the 2009 Social Worker of the Year.

“Being held and traumatized for a long time, you often develop questions like, ‘Why me?’ or ‘Will this ever end?’ and will try to determine the meaning of the trauma,” Berthold said. “Often you don’t know if you will survive, so being able to make some sense out of it, and developing strategies to cope, to be resilient in the process, can make a huge difference on whether one survives the ordeal, and in shaping their response afterward.”

At least one of the victims may have had a child with one of the captors. Berthold said this child may remind its mother of the traumatic experience or given the mother a sense of purpose and reason to stay alive.

Social workers help people from all walks of life overcome life’s challenges and thrive. To learn more visit the National Association of Social Workers’ “Help Starts Here” website.