Scars of Captivity Mark Freed Colombian Hostages Their nationally televised releases were ecstatic celebrations, cathartic moments for a conflict-weary Colombia. Their rebel captors had held them in the jungle, often in chains, for as many as 14 years. Yet soon the initial joy faded, replaced by psychological trauma. Colombia's freed hostages suffer from insomnia, depression, financial trouble, memory loss. Divorce is common. One even gets nostalgic for the simplicity of life as a jungle prisoner. "At first everything is euphoria, eagerness to know everything that you missed out on while you were kidnapped, hugs, kisses, congratulations and warm welcomes," said Luis Eladio Perez, a former senator freed in 2008 after six years of captivity. "But the days pass and one is left with an immense loneliness, loneliness that is aggravated by depression," Perez said. Many former hostages say they have found it impossible to successfully resume the lives they lived before captivity, and doctors and psychologists interviewed by The Associated Press said the emotional wounds of some may never heal. All were held by the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which took up arms nearly a half century ago and has in recent years been weakened by Colombia's U.S.-backed military. Early this month the FARC released 10 soldiers and police that it said were its last political prisoners. Luis Eladio Perez, a former Colombian senator who was freed in 2008 after being held hostage for six years by guerrillas, listens to a question during an interview in Bogota, Colombia, Tuesday, April 24, 2012. Since 2008, the rebels have freed about 30 captives and another 20 have been rescued in military operations. At least 16 died in captivity, some during failed rescue attempts, others killed by guerrillas who believed soldiers were closing in on them. Their ordeals have been chronicled in books, including one by the most famous ex-hostage, former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, and three U.S. military contractors also held more than six years. Many endured months if not years of being regularly chained by the neck to one another other and to trees. They suffered numbing ennui, jungle diseases, and long forced marches to avoid the military. To help them cope, some adopted jungle animals as pets. Birds and monkeys were common, and perhaps the oddest was the peccary adopted by Sgt. Jose Libardo Forero, who said after his April 2 release that he managed to train it to stop biting. Such distractions helped lighten the grimness of captivity. Perez, 58, described going five months without toilet paper, and having his boots taken away for a year after a failed 2005 escape attempt with Betancourt, forcing him to walk barefoot in the snake-invested jungle. A year and a half after his release, Perez divorced his wife and discovered, among other problems, that he had defaulted on bank debts. "At times, one thinks it would have been better to have stayed in the jungle than to leave it and encounter the series of very difficult problems one faces," he said, his voice shaking. Most former captives suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, with symptoms including insomnia, anxiety, depression, irritability and hypersensitivity, said Dr. Ismael Roldan, former director of psychiatry at Bogota's National University. "The human being is a social being by nature and these people have been there, tied to trees, in situations where social contact has been too impoverished," said Roldan, who has interviewed some of the freed FARC captives.