Stockholm syndrome was defined by Swedish psychiatrist Nils Bejeroth as: a mental condition in which hostages form close relationships with their captors, identifying with them and even protecting them from the police or the legal system. This diagnosis came to him after a bank robbery in the Swedish capital in 1973. It seemed to him that Christine Enmark, a bank teller who became a hostage, had fallen in love with her captor. The truth would be much more complex than the first impression.
Since then, Stockholm syndrome used to describe developing an emotional bond with someone who treats you poorly. For example, when it turns out that a man regularly beats his wife and treats her horribly the rest of the time, and the victim of violence comes out to defend him in front of neighbors or the police, he is said to suffer from the famous syndrome.
Very often, a scientific discovery is interpreted incorrectly. becomes a rhetorical tool to give an argument a scientific appearance.. What is the current situation with the myth that the brain stops developing at age 25? Therefore, anyone who has not yet reached this age should be considered a child. In the case of Stockholm syndrome, this is not even a scientific discovery. Because the origin of the concept is based on a troubling misunderstanding.
The bank robbery that started it all
Jan-Erik Olson walked into a bank in the Swedish capital with a machine gun on August 23, 1973. He would take four hostages (three women and a man) and demand the classics: a lot of money, two guns, body armor and means of escape.. At the end he added the most important thing: he demanded that the criminal Clark Olofsson (known for his repeated prison escapes) be taken out of prison and taken to the bank. The police made their first serious mistake in believing they were dealing with a fugitive bandit known for killing hostages. That’s why they did what he asked (except, obviously, for the means to escape), and from that point on, Olofsson, more experienced and charismatic, became the star of the show.
Police psychiatrist Nils Begeroth came up with the idea of involving the brother of a criminal who they believed had robbed a bank. A 17-year-old teenager came to the scene accompanied by a psychiatrist, but was met with a queue. At that moment, the police realized that they were dealing with another person.. Jan-Erik Olson was a petty thief who did not deserve such a scandal. But it was too late, his wish was fulfilled, and now an experienced bandit was on his side.
The confrontation between the police and the kidnappers will last six days. During this, the police will try to enter the bank. The kidnappers moved the hostages into the vault, so the police decided to lock the door. Locked in without food or water, Christine Enmark, one of the hostages, began to believe that the police posed a greater threat to her life than her captors.. Meanwhile, Clark Olofsson tried to gain her trust, promising to protect her and demanding food from the authorities, as well as a telephone so that the hostages could talk to their families.
On this call, Kristin will be selected to speak with the Swedish Prime Minister. The scandal reached such a level that two thirds of the population were glued to the television and watched the report live. The woman demanded that the country’s leader give the bandits what they asked for, to which he replied that this was impossible. By this time, Christine was much more upset with the police and other authorities than with her kidnappers. Because from the very beginning, he saw only incompetence and hostility, whereas he had already spent several days getting to know his captors in detail.. Police eventually drilled a hole in the roof of the vault through which they fired tear gas. They were forced to come out of hiding, the bandits were captured, and no one was hurt.
The whole truth about Stockholm syndrome
The behavior of the hostages after the incident prompted police psychiatrist Nils Begerot to coin the term. Because he couldn’t explain why Christine and the others were so hostile, criticizing him personally, the police and even the Prime Minister, while only offering nice words and praise for treating the kidnappers well. The only explanation is that the women developed a new pathology, which caused them to fall madly in love with bandits. But the reality is that Bejerot never bothered to talk to any of the hostages; he made the diagnosis remotely.. It does not seem a coincidence that the diagnosis arose after one of the hostages sharply doubted the psychiatrist’s judgment.
It is completely absurd to call Christine Enmark’s behavior during and after the bank robbery the term “syndrome.” Because since then, many psychologists have come to the conclusion that establishing a connection with the kidnapper is a simple defense mechanism. That is, This is rational behavior when you are faced with a situation in which this person can cause your death at any moment.. All along, the term “Stockholm Syndrome” has been a misnomer for a simple survival instinct.
The word “syndrome” suggests mental illness, the mindless behavior of a person out of his mind.. In fact, Stockholm syndrome is not recognized as a mental illness. If not a term used primarily by the media. Few mental health professionals take this seriously. As we have seen, this also depends on the actions of the police, since hostages may feel that if the authorities are not doing their job well, they are more dangerous to their survival than their captors.
There have been other similar cases that are often used as examples of the existence of Stockholm syndrome. The most famous of them is Patty Hearst. An heiress to a multimillion-dollar fortune who was kidnapped by a terrorist group in 1974, and a few months later refused to be rescued, becoming a member of the organization. After robbing banks and being arrested, she apologized in court, saying she suffered from Stockholm syndrome.. Her acquittal was ignored and she was sentenced to seven years in prison.
Fearing for my life, Patty Hearst was forced into criminal activity after many indoctrination sessions.. This is a completely different scenario than developing an unconscious emotional connection with your captor.
In conclusion, Stockholm syndrome. is a pseudoscientific term for a very specific behavior that occurs in life or death situations.. When a person performs actions that he would not normally do in order to survive. This cannot be a syndrome, since it is not accepted as such, does not have a number of characteristic symptoms, and is practically unstudied.
Source: Hiper Textual
