Stockholm Syndrome: When the Victim Falls in Love with the Perpetrator

In Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, specifically in 1973, Jan-Erik Olsson carried out a bank robbery at "Kreditbanken" in the city. He held four bank employees hostage, and later, one of his accomplices joined them. After six days of captivity, the hostages appeared to have developed a positive relationship with their captors and showed great sympathy towards them, despite the confinement and violence they experienced. Upon their release, some bank employees refused to testify against the bank robbers in court and even collected money to support their defence.

During a phone call with the Swedish Prime Minister, Olof Palme, one of the hostages mentioned that she fully trusted her captors but feared getting killed in a police raid on the building. This gave rise to the concept of Stockholm Syndrome. The term was coined by the psychiatrist and crime researcher Nils Bejerot to describe this phenomenon, and psychiatrist Frank Ochberg showed interest in the syndrome in the 1970s, defining and explaining it to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the British police force, Scotland Yard.

So, what is Stockholm Syndrome?

Stockholm Syndrome is a psychological response by a victim to violence or captivity. It is a phenomenon that affects individuals when they begin to empathize and cooperate with their enemy or those who have harmed them in one way or another. Over time, the individual develops positive feelings towards the perpetrators or attackers and starts exhibiting behaviours and attitudes of empathy, cooperation, clinging to them, and defending them, while rejecting attempts to break free from their control. Stockholm Syndrome includes other types of trauma where there is a connection between the aggressor and the person being harmed.

Many doctors believe that the positive feelings the victim develops towards the perpetrator are a psychological mechanism of adaptation used to survive days, weeks, or even years of shock or mistreatment.

Symptoms of Stockholm Syndrome

Victims of violence, assault, or kidnapping typically feel threatened by their attackers. However, if the aggressor or kidnapper shows them a little kindness, it can stimulate feelings of empathy towards their captors, creating positive emotions and negative feelings towards anyone who intervenes to rescue them from their situation or crisis.

Symptoms of Stockholm Syndrome include:

1. Believing in the humanity of the aggressor, sharing their goals and adopting their perspectives, and supporting and endorsing their behaviour and ideas.

2. Feeling pity for the abuser, kidnapper, or aggressor and constantly seeking justifications for their actions. For example, hearing someone say, "I know they hurt me, but I still love them and feel sorry for them" or "I know they tortured me, but they suffer from psychological problems due to a troubled or deprived childhood."

3. Unwillingness to leave the abuser, aggressor, or kidnapper even when allowed to escape or flee. In other words, the victim lacks the ability or desire to engage in any behaviour that helps liberate themselves or break free from the abuser or aggressor.

4. Negative feelings towards family, friends, or anyone trying to rescue or support them.

5. Supportive behaviours towards the aggressor by the victim, sometimes even assisting the aggressor in achieving their goals at the expense of the victim. They may feel embarrassed about their feelings towards the aggressor, constantly feeling guilty towards them.

Difficulty trusting others, social withdrawal, feelings of emptiness, chronic tension, frequent nightmares, insomnia, denial, feelings of despair, depression, anxiety, loss of interest in activities, and difficulties in returning to daily life and adjusting after the traumatic experience. It may also be extremely difficult for victims to talk about their experiences as it could lead to retraumatization.

By: Manar Abboud

Full Article: https://mobaderoon.org/abused-women-do-not-want-to-survive-stockholm-syndrome-when-the-victim-loves-her-torturer/

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