Stockholm Syndrome

The term "Stockholm syndrome" means a psychological anomaly, the essence of which is that a potential victim who initially feels a sense of fear and hatred towards his tormentor, after a while begins to sympathize with him. For example, people taken hostage can subsequently feel compassion for the bandits and, without coercion, try to help them, often even resisting their own liberation. Moreover, after a certain period of time, it may happen that a long and warm relationship can take place between the victim and the invader.

Causes of Stockholm Syndrome

The case described proves that the long co-existence of the offender and his victims sometimes leads to the fact that they, in the process of close communication, come together and try to understand each other, having the opportunity and time to communicate "heart to heart". The hostage "enters the situation" of the invader, learns about his problems, desires and dreams. Often a criminal complains about the injustice of life, power, tells about his bad luck and life's misfortunes. As a result, the hostage passes to the side of the terrorist and voluntarily tries to help him.

Subsequently, the victim may stop wanting his own release, because he realizes that the threat of his life can no longer be a criminal, but the police and special squads that storm the premises. For this reason, the hostage begins to feel at one with the bandit, and tries to help him as much as possible.

This behavior is typical for a situation where a terrorist initially treats a prisoner loyally. If a person lends itself to aggression, he is tortured by beatings and threats, then from all possible feelings he can feel only fear for his life and open dislike of the aggressor.

The Stockholm syndrome is a situation that is relatively rare - only in 8% of cases with capture of captives.

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Hostage Syndrome in the Stockholm Syndrome

The essence of the Stockholm syndrome lies in the fact that, with absolute dependence on the aggression of the offender, the hostage begins to interpret all his actions on the good side, justifying him. Over time, the dependent person begins to feel understanding and affection, to show sympathy and even sympathy for the terrorist - such feelings unconsciously tries to replace fear and anger, which he can not afford to throw out. Such chaos of feelings creates a sense of illusory security for the hostage.

This terminology has taken root after the sensational case of the capture of people in Stockholm.

At the end of August 1973, a dangerous criminal who escaped from places of detention was captured by the central bank of Stockholm together with four bank employees. The terrorist, in exchange for people's lives, demanded to give him a certain sum of money, weapons, a refueled car, as well as the early release of his friend in the cell.

The police went to meet the criminal, releasing and delivering to the crime scene of his liberated friend. The remaining demands remained in question for another five days, during which both the terrorists and the hostages were in a closed cell of the bank under the control of police officers. Failure to comply with all the requirements forced the criminals to take extreme measures: the time was specified for the hostages to be killed. For the veracity of his words, one of the robbers even wounded one hostage.

However, during the next two days the situation radically changed. From the side of the victims and captured people began to sound critical remarks about the fact that they do not need to be released, that they are comfortable and happy. Moreover, the hostages began to ask that all the demands of the terrorists be met.

However, on the sixth day, the police still managed to take the building by storm and release the captured people, arresting the criminals.

After the release of the allegedly injured people said that the criminals were very good people, and that they should be let go. Moreover, all four hostages even jointly hired a lawyer to protect terrorists.

Symptoms of Stockholm Syndrome

• The victims try to identify themselves with the aggressors. In principle, at first this process is a kind of immunity, a protective reaction, which is most often based on self-inspired thought that a thug can not harm a hostage if he starts supporting him and helping him. The victim purposely wants to receive the indulgence and patronage of the criminal.
• The injured person in most cases understands that the measures that are taken to save him, in the end can be dangerous for him. Attempts to free a hostage may not end up according to plan, something can go wrong and the life of a prisoner will be in danger. Therefore, often the victim chooses, in her opinion, a safer way - to stand on the side of the aggressor.
• Long stay as a prisoner can lead to the fact that the offender appears to the victim not as a person who violated the law, but as an ordinary person, with his problems, dreams and aspirations. This situation is especially clear in the political and ideological aspect, when there is injustice on the part of the authorities or surrounding people. As a result, the victim can gain confidence that the point of view of the invader is certainly correct and logical.
• The captured face mentally moves away from reality - there are thoughts that everything that happens is a dream that will soon end happily.

Household Stockholm syndrome

The psychopathological picture, often called "hostage syndrome", can often be found in everyday situations. Quite often there are cases in which women who survive violence and aggression subsequently experience attachment to their abuser.

Unfortunately, such a picture is not uncommon in family relations. If in a family union the wife experiences aggression and humiliation from her own spouse, then under the Stockholm syndrome she experiences in relation to him exactly the same anomalous feeling. A similar situation can develop between parents and children.

The Stockholm syndrome in the family primarily concerns people who originally belong to the psychological type of the "suffering victim". Such people were "unhappy" in childhood, they were jealous of the surrounding children, loved by their parents. Often they have a complex of "second-rate", unworthiness. In many cases, the motive for their behavior is the following rule: if less is mistaken for their tormentor, then his anger will be less frequent. A person suffering from bullying perceives what is happening for granted, he continues to forgive his abuser, and also protects and even justifies him before others and before himself.

One of the varieties of household "hostage syndrome" is posttraumatic Stockholm syndrome, the essence of which is the emergence of psychological dependence and attachment of the victim, to which violence in physical form was applied. A classic example is the restructuring of the psyche of a person who survived rape: in some cases, the mere fact of humiliation with the use of force is perceived as a self-evident punishment for anything. At the same time, there is a need to justify the abuser and try to understand his behavior. Sometimes there were situations when the victim was looking for a meeting with his abuser and expressed his understanding or even sympathy for him.

Social Stockholm syndrome

As a rule, a person who sacrifices himself to the aggressor cohabitant, identifies for himself certain survival strategies that help physically and morally survive, daily side by side with the torturer. Once the conscious mechanisms of salvation over time transform the human personality and become the only way of mutual coexistence. Emotional, behavioral and intellectual components are distorted, which helps to survive in the conditions of endless terror.

Specialists managed to identify the basic principles of such survival.

• A person tries to emphasize positive emotions ("if he does not shout at me, it gives me hope").
• There is a complete negation of negative emotions ("I do not think about it, I do not have time").
• Own opinion completely repeats the opinion of the aggressor, that is, completely disappears.
• A person tries to take all the blame on himself ("this I bring and provoke him, this is my fault").
• A person becomes secretive and does not discuss his life with anyone.
• The victim learns to study the mood, habits, peculiarities of the aggressor's behavior, literally "dissolves" in it.
• A person begins to deceive himself and at the same time believe in it: there is a false admiration for the aggressor, a simulation of respect and love, pleasure from sexual intercourse with him.

Gradually, the personality changes so much that it is no longer possible to live in a different way.

Stockholm Buyer's Syndrome

It turns out that the "hostage syndrome" can refer not only to the "victim-aggressor" scheme. A common representative of the syndrome can be an ordinary shopaholic - a person who unknowingly makes expensive purchases or uses expensive services, after which he tries to justify unnecessary waste. This situation is considered a particular manifestation of the distorted perception of one's own choice.

In other words, a person suffers from an acute form of the so-called "consumer appetite", but unlike many people, later does not recognize a waste of money, but tries to convince himself and others that the acquired things are extremely necessary for him, and if not now, then then for sure.

This kind of syndrome also refers to psychological cognitive distortions and represents constantly recurring mental errors and inconsistency of utterances with reality. This has been repeatedly investigated and proven in numerous experiments on psychology.

The Stockholm syndrome in this manifestation is perhaps one of the most harmless forms of psychopathology, but it can also have negative household and social consequences.

Diagnosis of Stockholm Syndrome

Modern psychological practice in the diagnosis of cognitive distortions is based on a combination of specially thought-out clinical, psychological and psychometric methods. The main clinical-psychological option is a step-by-step clinical diagnostic diagnosis of the patient and the use of a clinical diagnostic scale.

The listed methods consist of a list of questions that allow the psychologist to detect abnormalities in various aspects of the patient's mental state. These can be affective disorders, cognitive, anxious, triggered by shock or psychoactive drugs, etc. At each stage of the interview, the psychologist can, if necessary, go from one stage of the interview to another. If necessary, for the final diagnosis, relatives or close people of the patient may be involved.

Among the most common diagnostic methods in practice, doctors can identify the following:

• an evaluation scale for determining the severity of psychological trauma;
• the Mississippi scale to determine the post-traumatic response;
• Bek's interview to determine the level of depression;
• interview to determine the depth of psychopathological signs;
• PTSD scale.

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Treatment of Stockholm Syndrome

Treatment is carried out mainly with the help of psychotherapy. It goes without saying that the use of drug therapy is not always appropriate, as few patients feel that they suffer from any pathology at all. Most patients refuse to take medicines due to personal circumstances, or stop the prescribed course, since they consider it impractical.

Properly conducted psychotherapy can be a promising treatment, since the patient's correct attitude allows him to independently develop effective options for overcoming the changes in the psyche, and also learn to recognize illusory conclusions and take the necessary measures in time and possibly even prevent cognitive anomalies.

The cognitive scheme of treatment uses various cognitive and behavioral strategies. Applied techniques are directed at the detection and evaluation of misconceptions and misleading inferences and speculations. During the treatment course the patient learns to conduct the following operations:

• To follow your thoughts arising automatically;
• to trace the relationship between your thoughts and behavior, to evaluate your emotions;
• carry out an analysis of the facts confirming or refuting their own conclusions;
• conduct a real assessment of what is happening;
• to recognize functional disorders, which can lead to distortion of conclusions.

Unfortunately, emergency assistance is not possible with the Stockholm syndrome. Only an independent awareness of the victim of real damage from his position, an assessment of the illogicality of his actions and the lack of prospects for illusory hopes will allow him to abandon the role of a humiliated and devoid of his own opinion. But without consulting a specialist, achieving success in treatment will be very difficult, almost impossible. Therefore, the patient should be under the supervision of a psychologist or psychotherapist throughout the rehabilitation period.

Prevention of Stockholm Syndrome

During the negotiation process during the hostage-taking, one of the mediator's main goals is to push the aggressive and affected sides toward mutual sympathy. Indeed, the Stockholm syndrome (as practice shows) significantly increases the chances of hostages to survive.

The mediator's task is to encourage, and even provoke, the development of the syndrome.

In the future, with numerous people who were taken hostage and safely survived, repeated consultations will be held with the psychologist. The forecast of the Stockholm syndrome will depend on the qualification of the particular psychotherapist, on the desire of the most affected person to meet the specialist, and also on the depth and extent of traumatization of the human psyche.

The difficulty is that all the above-described mental abnormalities are extremely unconscious.

None of the victims is trying to understand the real causes of their behavior. He manifests his behavior unconsciously, following a subconsciously constructed algorithm of actions. The natural inner desire of the victim to feel safe and have protection pushes her to fulfill any conditions, even if invented alone.

Movies about the Stockholm syndrome

In the world cinematography there are many films that clearly illustrate the cases when the hostages met terrorists, warning them of danger and even blocking them. To learn more about this syndrome, we recommend you to watch the following films:

• "Pursuit", USA, 1994. The criminal escapes from prison, steals the car and takes hostage the customer in the store. Gradually the girl learns the kidnapper better and gets warm feelings towards him.
• "Extra baggage", USA, 1997. The car thief steals another BMW, not suspecting that along with the car, he steals another girl, who hid in the trunk ...
• "Tie Me", Spain, 1989-1990. The film about kidnapping an actress by a guy, which subsequently gave rise to mutual feelings for each other.
• "The City of Thieves", USA, 2010. A fascinating film about the relationship between the robber and his former hostage.
• "Back trail", USA, 1990. The hired killer needs to deal with the girl-artist, who became an unwitting witness of the Mafia showdown. Learning the girl closer, he falls in love with her and goes along with her on the run.
• "Executioner", USSR, 1990. The girl is going through rape and, for the sake of revenge, is forced to hire a bandit. However, a situation arises that causes the victim to forgive his abusers.
• "Stockholm syndrome", Russia, Germany, 2014. A young girl who went on a business trip to Germany, is kidnapped right in the middle of the street.

Such phenomenon as "Stockholm syndrome" is customary to refer to paradoxical, and the developing attachment of victims to criminals is unreasonable. Is it really?