Getting Over the Shock of Captivity
MALVEAUX: It's the moment that many people had been waiting for and the moment two women will never forget. If you missed it or simply were heartened by it, we want to show you again the reunion among Euna Lee, Laura Ling and their families after being freed from North Korea's grip.</s>LAURA LING: To our loved ones, friends, colleagues, and to the complete strangers with the kindness of hearts who showed us so much love and sent us so many positive thoughts and energy, we thank you. We could feel your love all the way in North Korea. It is what kept us going in the darkest of hours. It is what sustained our faith that we would come home.</s>AL GORE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: To the thousands upon thousands of people who have held Laura and Euna in their prayers, who have written letters and called and sent e- mails, we're very, very grateful.</s>LAURA LING: The past 140 days have been the most difficult, heart- wrenching time of our lives. We are very grateful that we were granted amnesty by the government of North Korea, and we are so happy to be home. Thirty hours ago, Euna Lee and I were prisoners in North Korea. We feared that at any moment we could be sent to a hard labor camp. And then suddenly we were told that we were going to a meeting. We were taken to a location and when we walked through the doors, we saw standing before us President Bill Clinton.</s>GORE: ... really put their hearts into this. It speaks well of our country that when two American citizens are in harm's way, that so many people would just put things aside and just go to work to make sure that this has had a happy ending, and we are so grateful to all of them.</s>LAURA LING: But we knew instantly in our hearts that the nightmare of our lives was finally coming to an end. And now we stand here home and free.</s>MALVEAUX: Well, amid the tears and joy, getting over the shock of captivity will not be easy for the freed journalists. THE SITUATION ROOM is taking you in-depth on this story. Our Brian Todd is joining me now -- Brian.</s>BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Suzanne, those scenes we just showed were clearly unforgettable. But experts say it's a very uneven emotional ride after the crowds dissipate and the excitement dies down.</s>TODD:  (voice-over): This part is pretty basic -- an emotional embrace between Euna Lee and her 4-year-old daughter and a comment from Lee's colleague about what they want to do next.</s>LAURA LING: We are just so anxious right now to be able to spend some quiet, private time getting reacquainted with our families. Thank you so much.</s>TODD: And that, experts say, is when the difficult work begins. Lisa Van Susteren is a psychiatrist who has dealt with sensitive family reunions. (on camera): Is there a point when it's most difficult, when all the attention ebbs, in the days or maybe a week after the reunion, when all the cameras are gone and all the people are gone, when you turn to your spouse or your child or both and there's kind of just what now?</s>LISA VAN SUSTEREN, PSYCHIATRIST: Well, yes because the -- all of the attention when you come back is a big distraction. So once that is pulled out of the picture, you really are faced again -- you and the person you were married to or you have been with all these years and had children with. And now you've got to kind of face the reality of what -- what have we got going forward? Who am I? What is my career? Am I going back to my old job or am I now a person on a mission? Have I been transformed by this experience and my spouse hasn't been transformed?</s>TODD:  (voice-over): Divorce, Van Susteren says, is common among couples in these situations. Mark Gonsalvez, Tom Howes and Keith Stansell were held captive for five-and-a-half years by rebels in the Columbian jungle. In the year since their release, Gonsalvez and Howes have gone through divorces. Gonsalvez says he also suffered an initial physical reaction. After his first family encounter -- a meeting with his father -- he had a migraine.</s>MARC GONSALVEZ, FORMER HOSTAGE IN COLUMBIA: It was just the emotion, the joy that I felt and the -- the rush that I felt to cover so much lost time in such a short amount of time now. It was -- it was something that was difficult to deal with.</s>TODD: There seems to be no set formula for readjustment. After being in prison for eight months in Iran, scholar Haleh Esfandiari arrived home on a Thursday, returned to work the following Monday.</s>HALEH ESFANDIARI, AUTHOR, "MY PRISON, MY HOME": I had to prove to myself that my jailers did not break my spirit nor my will. I had to prove to myself that it was the old me.</s>TODD: Lisa Van Susteren says the families of those who are returning have to be flexible. Families who do well in this period, she says, are those who take their cues from that returning person and go at their pace -- Suzanne.</s>MALVEAUX: What about military families, Brian? Is their situation a little bit different?</s>TODD: Yes. Van Susteren says that some of the readjustments for them are very obvious, like if the returning soldier has an injury to deal with or some PTSD, that there's also a more subtle emotional adjustment for those people. They're no longer that crucial member of a team dealing with life or death situations. Many of them struggle with that when they return, and their families do, too.</s>MALVEAUX: OK. Excellent work. Excellent reporting. Brian, thank you.</s>TODD: Thank you.</s>MALVEAUX: The health care reform battle moves from Congress to communities across the United States. And town hall meetings on the issue are growing angrier. But is the outrage real or manufactured? Plus, former President Bill Clinton is back in the spotlight. Is his successful mission to North Korea the start of a higher profile in the Obama administration?