After being frightened for many hours, her mother finally saved her.
I think the meaning of the Japanese sentence is more like:
After letting her be scared (letting her think scary thoughts) for many hours"…
Also, are both 彼女 in the sentence needed? I think having both feels like a direct English translation.
@mike-lima
怖い思いをさせられた means “forced to have the feeling of fear” (Note: robotic word-for-word translation).
させる is called 使役動詞 (しえきどうし or causative verb). させられた (passive form) in this sentence suggests that she was not willing to feel fear, but she had no choice. She was victimized.
怖い思いをする is equal to 怖い経験をする (to experience the fear) or 怖い気持ちになる (to have/get the feeling of fear). 思う as a verb is “to think” (i.e. idea/opinion are still in one’s head but not realized). However, 思い as a noun has different meanings. It’s not an imagination but an actual incident.
The same pattern is applied to:
Repeating 彼女 twice in the same clause is wordy. お母さんがやっと彼女を助けてくれました is enough.
I would translate it as:
彼女は何時間も怖い思いをしたが、ようやく母親に救出された。(かのじょはなんじかんもこわいおもいをしたが、ようやくははおやにきゅうしゅつされた。)
怖い思い isn’t necessarily in a passive form.
I believe the English sentence is grammatically incorrect. The subject is “her mother”. Mother rescued her daughter. But Mother didn’t feel fear. So, I swap the subject and object: 彼女は母親に救出された.
救出する means “to rescue” while 助ける is “to help” or “to save”. 救出する is exclusively used in an accident or crime scene. So, both 救出する and 助ける work in this sentence. It’s up to you.