Stockholm Syndrome

Stockholm syndrome describes a group of mental symptoms that happen in some individuals in a hostage or captive situation. It has actually received significant media publicity over the last few years because it has actually been utilized to describe the behavior of such popular kidnapping victims as Patty Hearst (1974) and Elizabeth Smart (2002 ). The term takes its name from a bank burglary in Stockholm, Sweden, in August 1973. The burglar took four staff members of the bank (3 women and one guy) into the vault with him and kept them hostage for 131 hours.

After the employees were lastly released, they appeared to have formed a paradoxical emotional bond with their captor; they told reporters that they saw the police as their opponent rather than the bank robber, which they had positive feelings towards the criminal. The syndrome was first called by Nils Bejerot (1921– 1988), a medical teacher who specialized in dependency research study and worked as a psychiatric consultant to the Swedish police during the standoff at the bank.

Another source of disagreement concerns the extent to which the syndrome can be used to explain other historical phenomena or more commonplace types of abusive relationships. Many researchers believe that Stockholm syndrome helps to explain certain behaviors of survivors of World War II concentration camps; members of religious cults; battered wives; incest survivors; and physically or emotionally abused children as well as persons taken hostage by criminals or terrorists. Most experts, however, agree that Stockholm syndrome has three central characteristics:

The hostages have negative feelings about the police or other authorities. The hostages have positive feelings toward their captor(s). •The captors develop positive feelings toward the hostages. Causes & symptoms Stockholm syndrome does not affect all hostages (or persons in comparable situations); in fact, a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) study of over 1200 hostage-taking incidents found that 92% of the hostages did not develop Stockholm syndrome. FBI researchers then interviewed flight attendants who had been taken hostage during airplane hijackings, and concluded that three factors are necessary for the syndrome to develop: The crisis situation lasts for several days or longer. The hostage takers remain in contact with the hostages; that is, the hostages are not placed in a separate room. The hostage takers show some kindness toward the hostages or at least refrain from harming them. Hostages abused by captors typically feel anger toward them and do not usually develop the syndrome. In addition, people who often feel helpless in other stressful life situations or are willing to do anything in order to survive seem to be more susceptible to developing Stockholm syndrome if they are taken hostage.

People with Stockholm syndrome report the same symptoms as those diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD): insomnia, nightmares, general irritability, difficulty concentrating, being easily startled, feelings of unreality or confusion, inability to enjoy previously pleasurable experiences, increased distrust of others, and flashbacks. Diagnosis Stockholm syndrome is a descriptive term for a pattern of coping with a traumatic situation rather than a diagnostic category. Most psychiatrists would use the diagnostic criteria for acute stress disorder or posttraumatic stress disorder when evaluating a person with Stockholm syndrome.

Treatment Treatment of Stockholm syndrome is the same as for PTSD, most commonly a combination of medications for short-term sleep disturbances and psychotherapy for the longer-term symptoms. Key terms Coping — In psychology, a term that refers to a person’s patterns of response to stress. Some patterns of coping may lower a person’s risk of developing Stockholm syndrome in a hostage situation. Flashback — The re-emergence of a traumatic memory as a vivid recollection of sounds, images, and sensations associated with the trauma.

The person having the flashback typically feels as if they are reliving the event. Flashbacks were first described by doctors treating combat veterans of World War I (1914–1918). Identification with an aggressor — In psychology, an unconscious process in which a person adopts the perspective or behavior patterns of a captor or abuser. Some researchers consider it a partial explanation of Stockholm syndrome. Regression — In psychology, a return to earlier, usually childish or infantile, patterns of thought or behavior. Syndrome — A set of symptoms that occur together.

Prognosis The prognosis for recovery from Stockholm syndrome is generally good, but the length of treatment needed depends on several variables. These include the nature of the hostage situation; the length of time the crisis lasted, and the individual patient’s general coping style and previous experience(s) of trauma. Prevention Prevention of Stockholm syndrome at the level of the larger society includes further development of crisis intervention skills on the part of law enforcement as well as strategies to prevent kidnapping or hostage-taking incidents in the first place.

Prevention at the individual level is difficult as of the early 2000s because researchers have not been able to identify all the factors that may place some persons at greater risk than others; in addition, they disagree on the specific psychological mechanisms involved in Stockholm syndrome. Some regard the syndrome as a form of regression (return to childish patterns of thought or action) while others explain it in terms of emotional paralysis (“frozen fright”) or identification with the aggressor.