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Stockholm syndrome |
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Stockholm syndrome is a natural defensive response of a victim. In this case,the victim becomes emotionally atached to the aggressor. This name was given because it first apared in a hostage taking situation in Stockholm. |
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| Author: Dragan Valeriu |
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The Stockholm syndrome is a natural response to trauma. It is an emotionally attachment of a victim to it-s aggressor.
It has been suggested by many authors that obedience is the result of force (in this case display and/or use of power) directed against the victim by the aggressor(s).
The name "Stockholm syndrome" has it-s roots in an armed robbery at the Sveriges Kreditbank of Stockholm . The robbery occurred at At 10:15 A.M. on Thursday, August 23rd, 1973. The "brain" of the operation was Jan-Erik Olsson a 32 year old prison escapee.
He took four hostages and held them inside a voult until 131 hours later in the evening of august 28th
When eventually freed, the hostages refused to testify against Olsson and even raised funds for his defense.
The mechanism of this seemingly odd reaction can be explained by defense involuntary reactions present in all vertebrates. It is the bases of animal training and of human brainwashing. There are many types of reactions to fear and this is one of them. In this case, the victim seeks to please the aggressor and win his trust (hoping that because of that he will not be hurt). This quickly evolves towards identifying with the aggressor and the victim starts to believe that the aggressor is actually on his side (and even a potential savior). The victims often become as passive as they can get to themselves and try to please the attacker (so he will not be given any reason to act violent again). This leads to attentiveness and eventually (if this tactic is somewhat successful) the victim begins to care for the aggressor.
However, the Stockholm syndrome does not manifest itself on every hostage taking situation.This is because the more numerous and heterogeneous he hostage group is, the less its individuals will try to escape in their imaginary universe (because the hostages have each other). The right conditions for the Stockholm syndrome to occur are these:
1 Small groups (less then ten)
2 Overwhelming power display and aggressive behavior
3 Random and isolated acts of mercy towards the victim
Because these conditions often occur in domestic violence this is why so many abused wives refuse to complain about their husbands). This pattern is observed and even practiced by some military leaders in order to gain loyalty and trust amongst the troopers in life or death situations.
About Author
aerospace engineering student Universitatea Politehnica Bucuresti
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