Stockholm syndrome

In psychology, Stockholm syndrome is a term
used to describe a paradoxical psychological
phenomenon wherein hostages express adulation
and have positive feelings towards their captors
that appear irrational in light of the danger or risk
endured by the victims.[1][2] The FBI’s Hostage
Barricade Database System shows that roughly
27% of victims show evidence of Stockholm
syndrome.[3] The syndrome is named after the
Norrmalmstorg robbery of Kreditbanken at
Norrmalmstorg in Stockholm, in which the bank
robbers held bank employees hostage from
August 23 to August 28, 1973. In this case, the
victims became emotionally attached to their
captors, and even defended them after they were
freed from their six-day ordeal. The term
"Stockholm Syndrome" was coined by the
criminologist and psychiatrist Nils Bejerot, who
assisted the police during the robbery, and
referred to the syndrome in a news broadcast.[4]
It was originally defined by psychiatrist Frank
Ochberg to aid the management of hostage
situations.[5]
Development
While there is still disagreement as to what
factors characterize incidents that contribute to
the development of Stockholm syndrome,
research has suggested that hostages may exhibit
the condition in situations that feature captors
who do not abuse the victim, a long duration
before resolution, continued contact between the
perpetrator and hostage, and a high level of
emotion. In fact, experts have concluded that the
intensity, not the length of the incident, combined
with a lot of physical abuse more likely will create
favorable conditions for the development of
Stockholm syndrome.[1]
The following are viewed as the conditions
necessary for Stockholm syndrome to occur.
Hostages who develop Stockholm syndrome
often view the perpetrator as giving life by
simply not taking it. In this sense, the captor
becomes the person in control of the captive ’s
basic needs for survival and the victim’s life
itself.[1]
The hostage endures isolation from other
people and has only the captor ’s perspective
available. Perpetrators routinely keep
information about the outside world ’s
response to their actions from captives to keep
them totally dependent.[1]
The hostage taker threatens to kill the victim
and gives the perception of having the
capability to do so. The captive judges it safer
to align with the perpetrator, endure the
hardship of captivity, and comply with the
captor than to resist and face murder.[1]
The captive sees the perpetrator as showing
some degree of kindness. Kindness serves as
the cornerstone of Stockholm syndrome; the
condition will not develop unless the captor
exhibits it in some form toward the hostage.
However, captives often misinterpret a lack of
abuse as kindness and may develop feelings of
appreciation for this perceived benevolence. If
the captor is purely evil and abusive, the
hostage will respond with hatred. But, if
perpetrators show some kindness, victims will
submerge the anger they feel in response to
the terror and concentrate on the captors’
“good side” to protect themselves.[1]
In cases where Stockholm syndrome has
occurred, the captive is in a situation where the
captor has stripped nearly all forms of
independence and gained control of the victim ’s
life, as well as basic needs for survival. Some
experts say that the hostage regresses to,
perhaps, a state of infancy; the captive must cry
for food, remain silent, and exist in an extreme
state of dependence. In contrast, the perpetrator
serves as a 'mother' figure protecting the 'child'
from a threatening outside world, including law
enforcement ’s deadly weapons. The victim then
begins a struggle for survival, both relying on
and identifying with the captor. Possibly,
hostages ’ motivation to live outweighs their
impulse to hate the person who created their
dilemma.[1][6]
In many cases, capture may also involve the
killing (or threat of killing) of the captive's relatives,
thereby isolating the captive. The captive is
subjected to isolation and so sees even a small
act, such as providing amenities, as a great
favour. Such captives may side with their captors
while believing their captors have conferred on
them great importance and love. Furthermore,
captives who perceive themselves as the only
members of their group not to have been killed
may believe that they have been shown a special
interest.[citation needed]
Psychoanalytic explanations
Stockholm syndrome is a psychological shift that
occurs in captives when they are threatened
gravely but are shown acts of kindness by their
captors. Captives who exhibit the syndrome tend
to sympathize with and think highly of their
captors. When subjected to prolonged captivity,
these captives can develop a strong bond with
their captors, in some cases including a sexual
interest.
Psychiatrist Frank Ochberg, widely credited with
Stockholm Syndrome's psychiatric definition,
describes it as "a primitive gratitude for the gift of
life," not unlike that felt by an infant.[7]
According to the psychoanalytic view of the
syndrome, this tendency might be the result of
employing the strategy evolved by newborn
babies to form an emotional attachment to the
nearest powerful adult in order to maximize the
probability that this adult will enable —at the very
least—the survival of the child, if not also prove to
be a good parental figure. This syndrome is
considered a prime example for the defense
mechanism of identification.[8]
Notable examples
Mary McElroy was kidnapped and held for
ransom in 1934 and released by her captors
unharmed. She described the incident as a
positive one and, when her captors were
apprehended and given harsh sentences
(including one death sentence), McElroy
defended them. According to reports, she
suffered from feelings of guilt concerning the
case which compromised her mental and
physical health. She took her own life in 1940.
Patty Hearst was kidnapped by the
Symbionese Liberation Army in 1974. After
two months in captivity, she actively took part
in a robbery they were orchestrating. Her
unsuccessful legal defense claimed that she
suffered from Stockholm syndrome and was
coerced into aiding the SLA. She was convicted
and imprisoned for her actions in the robbery,
though her sentence was commuted in
February 1979 by President Jimmy Carter, and
she received a Presidential pardon from
President Bill Clinton on January 20, 2001
(among his last official acts before leaving
office).
Jaycee Lee Dugard was abducted at age 11 by
Phillip & Nancy Garrido at a school bus stop in
1991 and was imprisoned at their residence for
18 years. In August 2009, Phillip brought
Nancy & Jaycee (who was living under the alias
"Alyssa") along with two girls that Garrido
fathered with Jaycee during her captivity, to be
questioned by Garrido's parole officer after he
noticed some suspicious behavior. She did not
reveal her identity when she was questioned
alone. Instead, she told investigators she was a
battered wife from Minnesota who was hiding
from her abusive husband, and described
Garrido as a "great person" who was "good
with her kids". Dugard has since admitted to
forming an emotional bond with Garrido with
great guilt and regret.[9]
Lima syndrome
An inverse of Stockholm syndrome called "Lima
syndrome" has been proposed, in which
abductors develop sympathy for their hostages.
It was named after an abduction at the Japanese
Embassy in Lima, Peru in 1996, when members
of a militant movement took hostage hundreds of
people attending a party in the official residence of
Japan's ambassador. Within a few hours, the
abductors had set free most of the hostages,
including the most valuable ones, due to
sympathy.[10][11]
In popular culture
In the "Bond movie" The World Is Not Enough,
James Bond deduces that Elektra King, the
female antagonist in the movie is affected by
Stockholm Syndrome.
The term Helsinki syndrome has been used
erroneously to describe Stockholm syndrome,
popularized by the movie Die Hard.[12]
There is a band and several albums and songs
called "Stockholm Syndrome".
The story tag of the 2010 Bollywood and
Kollywood movie, Raavan or Raavanan is
based on Stockholm Syndrome.
In the Simpsons episode "Blame it on Lisa"
Homer is kidnapped and his captors say that
he has developed Stockholm Syndrome.
In the British television series Spooks, an agent
Lucas North suffers from severe Stockholm
Syndrome; even after being repeatedly
tortured then confined alone for eight years.
In the Denzel Washington movie, John Q, his
character John Quincy Archibald takes a
hospital emergency room hostage, by the end
of the movie several hostages are rooting for
him to get a much needed heart transplant for
his son (showing signs of Stockholm
syndrome calling him "a very good man")