Stockholm syndrome - what is it in psychology?

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

Stockholm syndrome is one of the anomalous phenomena in psychology, the essence of which is as follows: the victim of an abduction begins to inexplicably sympathize with his tormentor. The simplest manifestation is the help to the bandits, which the hostages they have taken voluntarily begin to provide. Often such a unique phenomenon leads to the fact that the abductees themselves prevent their own release. Let's look at what causes and what are the manifestations of Stockholm syndrome, and give some examples from real life.

Reasons

The main reason that causes an illogical desire to help your own kidnapper is simple. Being held hostage, the victim is forced to communicate closely with his captor for a long time, which is why he begins to understand him. Gradually, their conversations become more personal, people begin to go beyond the tight framework of the “kidnapper-victim” relationship, perceive each other precisely as individuals who can like each other.

The simplestanalogy - the invader and the hostage see soul mates in each other. The victim gradually begins to understand the motives of the perpetrator, to sympathize with him, perhaps to agree with his beliefs and ideas, political position.

Another possible reason is that the victim is trying to help the perpetrator out of fear for his own life, since the actions of the police and assault teams are just as dangerous for the hostages as for the captors.

Essence

Let's consider what Stockholm Syndrome is in simple terms. This psychological phenomenon requires several conditions:

• Presence of kidnapper and victim.
• The benevolent attitude of the captor towards his prisoner.
• The appearance of a hostage's special attitude towards his aggressor - understanding his actions, justifying them. The victim's fear is gradually replaced by sympathy and empathy.
• These feelings are even more intensified in an atmosphere of risk, when both the perpetrator and his victim cannot feel safe. The joint experience of danger in their own way makes them related.

Such a psychological phenomenon is very rare.

History of the term

We got acquainted with the essence of the concept of "Stockholm syndrome". What is it in psychology, we also learned. Now consider how exactly the term itself appeared. Its history dates back to 1973, when hostages were taken in a large bank in the Swedish city of Stockholm. The essence of the situation, on the one hand, is standard:

• Recidivist criminal took hostagefour bank employees, threatening to kill them if the authorities refuse to comply with his demands.
• The captor's wishes included the release of his friend from his cell, a large sum of money, and a guarantee of safety and freedom.

It is interesting that among the captured employees there were people of both sexes - a man and three women. The policemen, who had to negotiate with a recidivist, found themselves in a difficult situation - there had never been a case of capturing and holding people in the city before, which is probably why one of the requirements was met - a very dangerous criminal was released from prison.

The criminals kept people for 5 days, during which they turned from ordinary victims into non-standard ones: they began to show sympathy for the invaders, and when they were released, they even hired lawyers for their recent tormentors. This was the first case to receive the official name "Stockholm Syndrome". The creator of the term is the criminologist Nils Beyert, who was directly involved in rescuing the hostages.

Household variation

Of course, this psychological phenomenon is one of the rare ones, since the very phenomenon of taking and holding hostages by terrorists is not an everyday occurrence. However, the so-called everyday Stockholm syndrome is also distinguished, the essence of which is as follows:

• A woman has a feeling of sincere affection for her tyrant husband and forgives him for all manifestations of domestic violence and humiliation.
• Often a similar pictureobserved with pathological attachment to despot parents - the child deifies his mother or father, who deliberately deprive him of his will, do not allow normal full development.

Another name for deviation, which can be found in the specialized literature, is the hostage syndrome. Victims take their suffering for granted and are willing to endure violence because they believe they deserve nothing better.

Special case

Let's consider a classic example of everyday Stockholm syndrome. This is the behavior of some rape victims who begin to sincerely justify their tormentor, blaming themselves for what happened. This is how the trauma manifests itself.

Real life stories

Here are examples of Stockholm Syndrome, many of these stories made a lot of noise in their time:

• Millionaire's granddaughter Patricia (Patty Hearst) was kidnapped by a group of terrorists for ransom. It cannot be said that the girl was treated well: she spent almost 2 months in a small closet, was subject to emotional and sexual abuse. However, after her release, the girl did not return home, but joined the ranks of the very organization that mocked her, and even committed several armed robberies as part of it.
• A case at the Japanese embassy in 1998. During a reception attended by more than 500 guests from the upper classes, there was a terrorist attack, all thesepeople, including the ambassador, were held hostage. The demand of the invaders was absurd and impracticable - the release of all their supporters from prisons. After 14 days, some of the hostages were released, while the surviving people spoke with great warmth about their tormentors. They were afraid of the authorities, who could decide to storm.
• Natasha Kampush. The story of this girl shocked the entire world community - a charming schoolgirl was kidnapped, all attempts to find her were unsuccessful. After 8 years, the girl managed to escape, she said that the kidnapper kept her in a room underground, starved her and severely beat her. Despite this, Natasha was upset by his suicide. The girl herself denied that she had anything to do with the Stockholm syndrome, and in an interview she directly spoke of her tormentor as a criminal.

These are just a few examples of the strange relationship between kidnapper and victim.

Interesting facts

Let's get acquainted with a selection of interesting facts about the Stockholm syndrome and its victims:

• Patricia Hurst, mentioned earlier, after her arrest, tried to convince the court that violent acts had been committed against her, that criminal behavior was nothing more than a response to the horror that she had to endure. The forensic examination proved that Patty was mentally disturbed. However, the girl was still sentenced to 7 years, but due to the campaigning activities of the committee for her release, the sentence was soon canceled.
• Most often this syndromeoccurs in those captives who have been in contact with the captors for at least 72 hours, when the victim has time to get to know the identity of the perpetrator.
• It is quite difficult to get rid of the syndrome, its manifestations will be observed in the former hostage for a long time.
• Knowledge of this syndrome is used when negotiating with terrorists: it is believed that if the hostages feel sympathy for the captors, they will begin to treat their victims better.

According to the position of psychologists, Stockholm syndrome is not a personality disorder, but rather a person's reaction to non-standard life circumstances, as a result of which the psyche is traumatized. Some even consider it a self-defense mechanism.