Today we talk about Stockholm syndrome. As we discussed in the article “The ten worst mental disorders”, Stockholm Syndrome is a disorder that affects some people who have been victims of a kidnapping and can develop some type of positive feeling towards their captors.
The term refers to the bank robbery that occurred in Stockholm, Sweden, in August 1973. The thief kidnapped 4 people (three women and a man) for 131 hours. When the hostages were released, They had established emotional tieswith the kidnapper. As they sympathized with him, they explained to reporters that they saw the police as the enemy and felt positive feelings toward the criminal.
The syndrome was first mentioned by Nils Bejerota professor of medicine who specialized in addiction research and worked as a psychiatrist for the Swedish police in the bank robbery case.
Experts disagree
Stockholm Syndrome is considered a defense mechanism, a reaction that our body manifests in the face of a traumatic situation that has occurred, and experts do not completely agree on the factors that make a person more vulnerable to suffering from this syndrome. . There are two causes of this disagreement. First, it would be unethical to test theories about this syndrome through experimentation. The data that has been obtained so far from the victims differs considerably.
The second cause refers to what relationship this syndrome has with other types of abusive relationships. Many researchers think that Stockholm Syndrome helps explain some of the behaviors of survivors of the concentration camps. World War IIthe reactions of cult members, the permissiveness of abused women and the psychological or emotional abuse of children.
Javier Urradoctor in Psychology and Nursing, explains in the newspaper ABC: “What is surprising is that the kidnapped person seems to side with the kidnapper and not with the rescuers, who will set him free. Possibly it happens because his captor has been very close and has not killed him, although he could have done so, she has fed him and made him a brainwashing. The hostage reaches a certain non-aggression pact, but deep down, without knowing it, what he seeks is to save his life.”
Despite the discrepancies that exist among experts, most agree on three characteristics of Stockholm Syndrome:
Who develops Stockholm Syndrome?
Stockholm Syndrome does not affect all hostages or kidnapped people. In fact, an FBI study of 4,700 kidnapping victims concluded that 27% of those kidnapped developed this disorder. The FBI then conducted interviews with flight attendants from several airlines who had been taken hostage in different kidnappings. The data revealed that there are three factors necessary to develop this syndrome:
