What is Stockholm syndrome?

Stockholm syndrome was conceptualized by Nils Bejerot to define the psychological reaction between hostages and kidnappers in the so-called Norrmalmstorg robbery, an armed robbery that occurred in 1973 on a Stockholm bank that lasted almost 4 days.

Stockholm syndrome describes the disorder psychological experienced by the victim towards his abductor, developing:

• Positive feelings (attachment, infatuation, admiration, sympathy for their cause ...).
• Negative feelings towards the police and authorities.
• Reciprocal positive feelings.

Although initially this syndrome referred exclusively to cases of kidnapping, it has expanding the concept to other situations such as sexual abuse, gender violence, sects, terrorist acts, slavery, prisoners of war, etc.

As of today is a little-studied syndrome, so there is not enough data to know how frequent it is. It is not classified within the international manuals for the classification of psychopathological disorders (DSM and ICD) due to the difficulty of studying the people who have suffered it and the lack of consensus on the fundamental criteria for its diagnosis. Some authors associate it with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or acute stress (AD).

How does it develop?

The affective bond that the victim establishes with the aggressor is considered a protection auto response and is activated by the survival instinct.

The captor creates extreme terror in the victims, which makes them feel powerless and submissive. As they need security and hope, they unconsciously ignore the captor's negative side and empathize with their position, figuring that the traumatic situation is thus will cease.

Some cognitive distortions that make it possible are:

• Denial ("this is not really happening").
• Minimization ("it's not that bad").
• Rationalization ("the kidnapper will have compelling reasons for doing this").

During captivity the victim goes through the following 4 phases:

• Reorientation.
• Adaptation.

Factors predisposing victims

There is no consensus on what the predisposing factors are. Some conclude that it depends on factors such as previous experiences of the person, characteristics of the trauma and personality. Some of the personality variables that could influence according to some studies are:

• People with poor coping strategies
• Being unclear about your own identity or life purpose
• Feeling that others control your life
• Feeling unhappy
• Need for reassurance from others

However, everything seems to indicate that nothing related to the victim's past or his way of being is really related, but is an answer that anyone can have faced with an inevitable threat, for mere survival. It has been observed in women and men, young and old, different cultures and even as we said also in non-humans.

What really predisposes to suffer from the syndrome is that the victim:

• He received threats and saw his life at risk.
• He was in a situation of isolation (apart from the captor).
• He perceived some small goodness or detail in the behavior of the captor within the situation of terror.
• Feeling that it is impossible to escape.

It can be overcome?

While there are good recovery expectations, there are some factors that can determine the speed of this process:

• The time of captivity.
• The person's ability to cope and
• The life history of the person.
• The degree of violence in captivity.

• Stockholm syndrome is considered a survival mechanism.
• The affective bond that the victim establishes with the aggressor is considered an automatic protective response and is activated by the survival instinct.
• There are good expectations of recovery, but some factors can determine the speed of this process.

Specialist in Clinical Psychology