An interesting fact about Stockholm syndrome

Stockholm syndrome is a psychological phenomenon, which is expressed in the fact that the victim first feels fear and antipathy towards the aggressor, and later develops sympathy for him. For example, hostages eventually begin to sympathize with their abusers and voluntarily seek to help them, even hindering the operation for their release. Also, long friendships can be maintained between former hostages and attackers.

The term owes its name to a well-known case of hostage-taking in Stockholm. (Sweden)

On August 23, 1973, armed criminal Jan Eric Ulson broke into a bank in the center of the capital and kidnapped four bank employees — three women and a man. The robber made demands: money, guns, a car and freedom for his cellmate, Clark Olafson. Otherwise, he threatened to kill the hostages.

One of the robber’s demands was immediately fulfilled – Clark Olafson was brought from prison to the bank. And unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) the company of hostages had to spend more than 5 days together with the terrorists in a small room and puzzle psychologists with their behavior.

Since all of Ulson’s demands were not fulfilled (there was no money, no weapons and no car), he began to threaten the hostages and promised to hang them all in the event of an assault. He also eloquently demonstrated the seriousness of his intentions by wounding one of the two policemen who broke into the building, and disarmed the other and forced him to sing a song at gunpoint. The situation was tense. However, after two days, the relationship between the robbers and the hostages changed somewhat, or rather, improved.

The captured captives suddenly began to criticize the police and demanded that they stop trying to free them. One of the hostages, Christine Enmark, after Ulson’s tense negotiations with the government, called the Prime Minister of Sweden herself and said that she was not at all afraid of Ulson and Olafson, on the contrary, she sympathized with them and demanded that they immediately fulfill their demands and release everyone.

In the end, on August 28, on the sixth day of the drama, the police successfully stormed the premises with the help of a gas attack. Ulson and Olafson surrendered, and the hostages were released.

The freed hostages said that they were not afraid of the criminals, who had done nothing wrong to them, but were afraid of the police assault. Subsequently, warm relations were maintained between the former hostages and their attackers. According to some sources, the four even paid for lawyers for Olson and Olafson.

The authorship of the term “Stockholm syndrome” is attributed to the criminologist Nils Beirut. The mechanism of the syndrome consists in the fact that the victim spending time with the criminal for a long time leads to the fact that they become closer during casual “heart-to-heart” communication, establish a warm contact, get to know each other better and may develop sympathy and friendly feelings.

The hostage learns the point of view of the attacker, his problems, hopes and aspirations, and possibly “fair” complaints against the authorities. The victim begins to understand the actions of the criminal and may think that his position is the only correct one. As a result, the victim finds justification for the criminal’s behavior and can even forgive him for putting her life in danger. Most often, prisoners begin to voluntarily help the invaders.

Also, the victim may resist attempts to free him, because he understands that in doing so, the probability of earning a bullet, if not from the criminal, then from the liberators, increases. Therefore, the victim, feeling himself in the same team with the criminal, begins to act together with him.

These behavioral signs are manifested in the case of hostage-taking by terrorists, provided that the criminals only blackmail the authorities after the capture, and treat the captives well. If the prisoners are terrorized – beaten and tortured, nothing but fear and hatred of the torturers arises in them. And since terrorists treat hostages with courtesy is a rare phenomenon, Stockholm syndrome does not occur often: in about 8% of cases of hostage taking with barricades.

However, manifestations of the syndrome can often be observed in ordinary life, and not only in episodes of criminal violence. The interaction between the weak and the strong, on whom the weak depend (leaders, teachers, heads of families, etc.), is often governed by the Stockholm syndrome scenario. The mechanism of psychological protection of the weak is based on the hope that the strong will show leniency under the condition of submission. Therefore, the weak try to show obedience in order to win the approval and patronage of the strong.