Stockholm Syndrome

waltky · Aug 23, 2013

Stockholm Syndrome explained...

What is Stockholm syndrome?
21 August 2013 > Forty years ago, the term Stockholm Syndrome was coined at the end of a six-day bank siege. What is it and why is it cited time and again in hostage situations?

Most people know the phrase Stockholm Syndrome from the numerous high-profile kidnapping and hostage cases - usually involving women - in which it has been cited. The term is most associated with Patty Hearst, the Californian newspaper heiress who was kidnapped by revolutionary militants in 1974. She appeared to develop sympathy with her captors and joined them in a robbery. She was eventually caught and received a prison sentence. But Hearst's defence lawyer Bailey claimed that the 19-year-old had been brainwashed and was suffering from "Stockholm Syndrome" - a term that had been recently coined to explain the apparently irrational feelings of some captives for their captors.

Police snipers opposite Kreditbanken where Jan-Erik Olsson held workers hostage for six days

More recently the term was applied in media reports about the Natascha Kampusch case. Kampusch - kidnapped as a 10-year-old by Wolfgang Priklopil and held in a basement for eight years - was reported to have cried when she heard her captor had died and subsequently lit a candle for him as he lay in the mortuary. While the term is widely known, the incident that led to its coinage remains relatively obscure. Outside Sweden few know the names of bank workers Birgitta Lundblad, Elisabeth Oldgren, Kristin Ehnmark and Sven Safstrom. It was 23 August 1973 when the four were taken hostage in the Kreditbanken by 32-year-old career-criminal Jan-Erik Olsson - who was later joined at the bank by a former prison mate. Six days later when the stand-off ended, it became evident that the victims had formed some kind of positive relationship with their captors.

Natascha Kampusch was kidnapped as a 10-year-old by Wolfgang Priklopil

Stockholm Syndrome was born by way of explanation. The phrase was reported to have been coined by criminologist and psychiatrist Nils Bejerot. Psychiatrist Dr Frank Ochberg was intrigued by the phenomenon and went on to define the syndrome for the FBI and Scotland Yard in the 1970s. At the time, he was helping the US National Task Force on Terrorism and Disorder devise strategies for hostage situations. His criteria included the following: "First people would experience something terrifying that just comes at them out of the blue. They are certain they are going to die. "Then they experience a type of infantilisation - where, like a child, they are unable to eat, speak or go to the toilet without permission."

19-year-old American newspaper heiress Patty Hearst was kidnapped and held hostage by little-known group the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) in 1974

Small acts of kindness - such as being given food - prompts a "primitive gratitude for the gift of life," he explains. "The hostages experience a powerful, primitive positive feeling towards their captor. They are in denial that this is the person who put them in that situation. In their mind, they think this is the person who is going to let them live." But he says that cases of Stockholm Syndrome are rare. So, what went on in the bank on Stockholm's Norrmalmstorg square that enabled the captives to experience positive feelings towards their captors, despite fearing for their lives? In a 2009 interview with Radio Sweden, Kristin Ehnmark explained: "It's some kind of a context you get into when all your values, the morals you have change in some way." It was Ehnmark that, according to reports, built up the strongest relationship with Olsson. There were even erroneous reports afterwards that the pair had become engaged.

More BBC News - What is Stockholm syndrome?
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Stockholm Syndrome

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