Bring Natascha Kampusch home to her parents

May an 18 year old girl with psychological problems get to make her own decisions?

According to the Austrian Police, she may.

Vienna, Austria – Natascha Kampusch, a girl who spent eight years in a dingy underground cell as a prisoner of 44-year-old Wolfgang Priklopil until her dramatic escape last week, wants some privacy from the world - and her parents.

The Austrian Authorities say that she does not presently wish to see her parents and therefore doesn’t have to. Unlike the Elizabeth Smart in the US, this girl wasn’t delivered home and was told she does not have to go home. The silly Austrian authorities think that after many years of feeling unloved and having no one there for her, she’ll remember that her parents love her and will ask to see them.

Quite unrealistic if you ask me.

Natascha also issued a statement Monday defending her captor as "part of my life" and insisting she didn't miss anything during her long ordeal.

The reason for this is because she has Stockholm syndrome. It is a disease where the prisoner sides with the captor, and considers his actions just and correct.

This implies that she is not capable of making her own decisions.

On the other hand, Austrian officials claim that a medical exam showed she was capable of making her own decisions.

I do not wish to disregard the medical exam and I am sure she is capable of deciding what type of coffee she wishes to drink. This is not the decision she is being asked to make here. She is being asked to acknowledge her family and realize that they love and miss her. This is a decision she is incapable of making. If she thinks her captor is right, her family will be wrong. They hate the man she has spent so many years with. In her eyes he is a good man, in theirs' he is evil. She has a problem with that. She thinks her parents are wrong because she is still sick. She has Stockholm syndrome and therefore cannot make her own decisions.

I therefore say to the Austrian government, “Bring Natascha home!”