Psychological Effects of Unusual Social Isolation

[firebird766]

Comments

[clover_elf_kin]

This may be exactly what you've already found and aren't looking for, but have you heard of The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog? It's a terrific book, written by Dr. Bruce Perry, a child psychologist who was apparently the first professional in his field to go "Uh, kids aren't so much resilient as malleable, and that's a very bad thing in traumatic environments."

The book isn't all about the child mentioned in the title, but the psychology of traumatized kids sounds like it should give you a good start, at least, for what to expect of your character.

Good luck!

[firebird766]

I'll have to look for that book; it sounds interesting. Thanks for the info!

[elaiel]

You could try looking for stuff on child neglect, emotional abuse and attachment disorder.

[silentg_canada]

If you're going to try to be authentic in the clinical realities of the protagonist, then you have to know that children's brains are hardwired to recognise and acquire language (ALL language, not just that of their parents), so in 5 years she would have learnt to understand her captors even if she couldn't speak to them.

Which would be a very good plot device to help her prove her sentience to them.

[siofra_22]

While you are correct, I think the "all" part might be tempered by the differences between human and alien biology. If the aliens speak with 'flute-like' noises as OP stated, these might be beyond what the human ear is capable of detecting or differentiating. The sounds could be too high to hear, like a dog whistle, or two sounds that sound different for alien ears could be too subtle for a human ear to tell the difference, since ears are nowhere near as powerful or adaptable as brains.

This is, of course, conjecture, since we don't have a examples of human interpretation of extra-terrestrial speech. And, of course, how different the aliens are from humans is up to the OP, so this is me just arguing for the sake of argument.

[liliaeth]

True, she might not be able to catch all the variations, since her hears can't pick up all of it. But... like a dog can come to understand certain words based on the way they're spoken, she might be able to learn to understand certain words, though not all. (not that that'll necessarily prove she's sentient, but still...)

[silentg_canada]

I agree. But since the OP described the protagonist as trying to imitate her captors' language, I assume she can hear them.

[mayhoy]

Depending on the age of the early adolescent, her psychological development would be hastened or slowed. So, in your case the age of the child really does have an effect on the post trauma. If the child is advanced, then maybe her development might not even be changed (besides her speech, because she would not be able to practice her native language). Being the only isolated human in their surroundings, their innate psychological behavior would adapt and switch her brain into survival mode. In my opinion this scenario would be completely different from "normal isolation" because the person has the ability to interact with live species i.e. aliens and the aquatic species you mentioned with whom the human has discovered a way to communicate with. Which would not slow the development of the brain, just alter it's neurological synapses. Now I ask you, would this new form of communication inhibit the growth pattern of the neurological synapses? Over a period of time depending on the amount of abuse, isolation (meaning full exclusion from

[lanculus]

The above comments seem to have covered things quite well, but I'd also recommend familiarizing yourself with the theories of socialization and from there you may just be able to pick whichever suits your plotline. Pay particular attention to the section on re-socialization (under the "Types" heading), as I feel that will be very relevant to the situation in which your character finds herself.

Best of luck!