I have PTSD after being in a relationship turned into forcible confinement. Age 15-20. The abuse was intense and there was also torture and many people ended up charged. It's been nearly 13 years and I am still on a ton of medications as a result, I still have horrible flashbacks and nightmares without medications. If I talk about things I am often very disassociative, as if I am seeing it like I would a movie rather then a genuine memory. I have experienced it all, from suicide attempts, self-harm, violent outbursts (generally towards myself but verbally aggressive) and so on. When I was only a year after escaping, I was literally locked away in my house only leaving to go to therapy, I had dogs for protection and lived on 300 acres very well hidden. Some details I remembered perfectly, like colors, smells, times of year, etc, but other things like actual traumatic events are what have come back while I sleep.
IMO
I don't find the way SP seems to be hiding or anything like that in the least bit abnormal from the perspective of a victim.
I read and I think 'what on earth?' and then I realize my own story was a "what on earth?" for most people, including LE, at that time.
Her communication would be affected IMO by the shame she feels in her own skin. She may not have been sexually assaulted, but there simply isn't a part of the brain that knows the pain from rape from the pain from other torturous acts. It all registers the same.
She has been marked (defiled) in being branded. We don't know if the hose clamps left scars on her. She remembers the pain and the fear, just like any victim would. If she is like me, she likely still wakes up and can feel what I call "phantom chains". I often feel them on my wrists, ankles and even waist (despite rarely being bound around the waist).
Those things act JUST like rape (at least in my PTSD head) and are often more shameful to speak about then other things. Every time you retell your story, especially when being questioned, you feel like you are re-living it, a victim all over again as it plays in your head like a movie.
I know there are plenty of people who don't believe her and that's definitely up to you. I do believe her likely for the very reasons you don't -the story is simply insane and seems to lack sense. The world I have escaped from does give me a very logical reason for what may have caused this for her.
ALL of this is MOO based on my experience as a survivor. If the story does turn out to be a lie, then I have no clue how she is thinking, and as a survivor would be very insulted by someone making this sort of thing up, as crying wolf happens so often that it has made the justice system be rather unkind to those of us who really were hurt.
Again, JMO and I hope it helps someone understand the survivor mindset a bit!
