Stockholm syndrome when the victim empathizes with her abuser

Content

• Stockholm syndrome history
• When Stockholm Syndrome occurs
• Main symptoms of Stockholm Syndrome
• Why is Stockholm Syndrome?

Stockholm syndrome history

On August 23, 1973, a thief armed with a machine gun entered the Stockholm Credit Bank, in Sweden. His name was Jan-Erik Olsson and he was a presidency who was permission, and told the terrified bank employees: "The party has just begun!". Among his demands was to bring him three million Swedish crowns, a vehicle, two weapons and Clark Olofsson, a criminal who at that time served a sentence. The authorities gave up and Olofsson joined Olsson, who had taken four hostages, three women and a man.  The hostages were held for 131 hours. They were tied and kept them in the bank until, finally, they were rescued on August 28.

During their captivity, the hostages felt more fear of the police than would rescue them than from the kidnappers. After his release a hostage declared: "I fully trust them, I would travel around the world with them". In his interviews with later media, it was clear that the kidnapped supported their captors and against all prognosis they feared the forces of the order that went to their rescue. The hostages had begun to feel in some way that the captors actually protected them from the police. This Empathy with the captors He reached such an extreme that the hostages refused to declare against him at the trial, even one of them created a legal defense fund to help defray the fees in case of criminal defense. Clearly, The hostages had "united" emotionally with their captors.

The psychiatrist NILS BEJEROT, Swedish police advisor during the assault, coined the term "Stockholm Syndrome" to refer to the reaction of the hostages to their captivity.

But this case of the Stockholm Bank is not the only one that exists. In February 1974 Patricia Hearst, granddaughter of the communication tycoon, William Randolph Hearst, was kidnapped By the Symbionés de Liberation Army (SLA). The family paid $ 6 million to the terrorist organization to release it, but the young woman did not return with her family. Two months later he was photographed by wielding an assault rifle during a SLA robbery to a bank. Apparently he had joined the organization and changed his name for that of Tania.

When Stockholm Syndrome occurs

This was how this psychological condition became known as "Stockholm Syndrome". But many years before this syndrome was already known, because it was common to see it in people who had been victims of some kind of abuse such as:

• Prisoners of war
• Abused women
• Children who have suffered abuse
• Victims of incest or violations
• Prisoners in concentration camps
• Relations with controlling or intimidating people
• Sect members

Stockholm syndrome can also be found in the family, the couple and other interpersonal relationships. The abuser can be a husband or wife, boyfriend or girlfriend, father or mother, or have any other function in which the abuser is in a control or authority position.

Stockholm syndrome actually occurs with all kinds abusive and controlling relationships. But to understand why victims support, defend and even love their abusers, we must know how the human mind works.

Main symptoms of Stockholm Syndrome

Each syndrome has its own symptoms and behaviors, and Stockholm syndrome is no exception. Although a definitive list has not yet been established, there are apparently certain characteristics that are present:

• Positive feelings by the victim towards the abuser / controller
• Negative feelings from the victim towards the family, friends or authorities that try to rescue them / support them
• They support and defend the reasons and behaviors of the abuser
• Positive feelings by the aggressor towards the victim
• Support and aid behaviors from the victim
• Inability to carry out behaviors that can help in their release or detachment

Stockholm syndrome does not occur in all cases with hostages or abuse situations.

Apparently there are four situations or conditions that serve as the basis for the development of Stockholm Syndrome. These four situations can be found both in kidnapping situations, and in abuse relations and are:

• The presence or perception of a physical or psychological threat that the abuser could carry out.
• The presence of a small kindness by the aggressor perceived by the victim.
• The situation must last for at least a few days.
• The isolation of perspectives other than those of the abuser.
• The apparent inability to escape the situation.

Why is Stockholm Syndrome?

A way in which these feelings and thoughts develop is what is known as "cognitive dissonance". This phenomenon explains how and why people change their ideas and opinions to support situations that do not seem healthy, positive or normal.

In theory, an individual regularly seeks to eliminate information or opinions that make him feel bad or uncomfortable. When we have two sets of knowledge (opinions, feelings, comments of others, etc.) that contradict each other, the situation becomes emotionally uncomfortable for us. Although we could find ourselves to a situation in which we should change our interpretation of the facts, few manage to do this. Instead, We try to reduce the dissonance that produces a contradiction of opinions or feelings with "logical" arguments to return to coherence and therefore to security.

This enters into a vision where the situation leads to the victim to generate a "dissociative state" where it denies the violent and negative behavior of the kidnapper developing an emotional bond towards him.

On the other hand, studies indicate that We are more loyal and committed to something that is difficult, uncomfortable and even humiliating, such as initiation rituals in university fraternities or in the military training field, for example. All these evidence, however contradictory it may seem, create a union experience. In the films, many couples fall in love after great dangers and disasters, such as after going through a terrible accident, being harassed by a murderer or abandoned on an island, or being involved in a terrorist attack. Apparently, the fact of going through moments of anguish and Calvary are ingredients for a strong union, even if this union is unhealthy.

Another theory is that of the Emotional investment. In abusive relationships there are a lot of unhealthy experiences by both parties. In many cases, The victim tends to stay and support the abuse relationship due to the time and emotions he has invested in the relationship.

But they are not simply our feelings for an individual that makes us maintain a unhealthy relationship. Human relationships are complex and often we only see the tip of the iceberg. For this reason, many victims who defend their aggressor or maintain a healthy relationship, if they are asked why, they do not know what to answer.

Unfortunately, the reasons why a Stockholm Syndrome is generated, to date, everything is hypothesis about its origin and nature of the process is still truly known.