"Stockholm syndrome": empathize with the kidnapper

Today we talk about him Stockholm syndrome. As we commented in the article "The ten worst mental disorders"Stockholm Syndrome is a disorder It affects some people who have been kidnapped and may develop some kind of positive feeling towards their captors.

What is Stockholm Syndrome?

The term refers to a bank robbery that occurred in Stockholm, Sweden, in August 1973. The thief kidnapped 4 people (three women and one man) for 131 hours. When the hostages were released, they had established emotional tieswith the kidnapper. Since they sympathized with him, they explained to reporters that they saw the police as the enemy and felt positive feelings towards the criminal.

The syndrome was first mentioned by Nils bejerot, a professor of medicine who specialized in addiction research and worked as a psychiatrist for the Swedish police in the bank robbery case.

The experts do not coincide

Stockholm Syndrome is considered a defense mechanism, a reaction that our body manifests in a traumatic situation that It happened, 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, that it would be unethical to test theories about this syndrome through experimentation. The data that have been obtained so far from the victims differ considerably.

The second cause refers to what relationship this syndrome has with other types of abusive relationships. Many researchers think that Stockholm Syndrome helps to explain some of the behavior of the survivors of the concentration camps of the World War II, the reactions of the members of the sects, the permissiveness of battered women and the psychological or emotional abuse of children.

Javier Urra, PhD 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 give him freedom. Possibly it happens because his captor has been very close and has not killed him, although he could have done it, he has fed him and made him a brain Wash. 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 between experts, most agree on three characteristics of Stockholm Syndrome:

• The abductees have negative feelings towards the police and authorities
• The abductees have positive feelings towards the captor
• The captor develops positive feelings towards the abductees

Who develops Stockholm Syndrome?

Stockholm Syndrome does not affect all hostages or kidnapped. In fact, an FBI study of 4,700 kidnapping victims found that 27% of those abducted developed this disorder. Later, the FBI conducted interviews with flight employees of various airlines who had been taken hostage in different hijackings. The data revealed that there are three factors necessary to develop this syndrome:

• The kidnapping lasts for several days or longer periods (weeks, months)
• The kidnappers remain in contact with the abductees, that is, they do not isolate them in a separate room
• Captors are nice to hostages or kidnapped and do not harm them