In 1973, Jan-Eric Olsson robbed Kreditbanken, one of the largest banks in Stockholm, took 4 bank employees hostage, demanded a $700,000 ransom from the police and a car and released his friend from prison to help him.

Olson and his friend were held hostage for 6 days in one of the fortified rooms of the bank, and the strange thing is that the hostages, after the police freed them from the hands of the kidnappers, refused to testify against them in court, and the strangest thing was that they began to raise funds to defend them.

One of the hostages, in a phone call with then-Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, stated that she had complete confidence in the kidnappers, but feared that she would die if the police stormed the building.

Stockholm police have turned to criminologist Nils Begerut to analyze the hostages' bewildered reaction to their captors.

Bigerot coined the term "Stockholm Syndrome" to explain the idea of ​​the mind-manipulation of hostages or victims, or rather their "brainwashing".

Some abusive women may cling to and defend their abusive and abusive partner (Shutterstock)

But the term did not gain wide popularity until after the kidnapping of Patricia Hearst, granddaughter of businessman and publisher William Randolph Hearst, by an armed revolutionary group calling itself the Symbionese Liberation Army in 1974.

After the group held Patricia and demanded a ransom of millions of dollars to donate food to the poor, Patricia joined the ranks of the kidnappers, and within days, she was seen carrying a gun during a bank robbery, giving orders to bank goers and protecting the group's members.

Several similar cases later emerged, during which torture victims and hostages expressed sympathy with the perpetrators, the most prominent of which was the case of Elizabeth Smart.

In 2002, Elizabeth Smart, 14, was kidnapped from her home in Utah, and police released her after 9 months of abuse and rape.

But Smart's reluctance to run away during the nine months or seek help from others raised many questions.

She was roaming the streets and attending parties, and on one occasion refused to reveal her true identity to the police, and strangely enough, she expressed concern about the fate of her kidnappers, and when she learned that they might face imprisonment, she cried.

After Patricia Hearst is kidnapped by an armed revolutionary group, she joins the group's ranks (Getty Images)

What is the definition of Stockholm syndrome in psychology?

Stockholm Syndrome is defined as a group of symptoms that begin when a hostage sympathizes with or becomes emotionally attached to the kidnapper.

The victim lives in a state of compulsive dependence on the offender, and interprets his rare positive behaviors in the midst of the painful circumstances she is exposed to as good treatment.

A study published in the National Institute of Health notes that Stockholm Syndrome is an unconscious emotional response to a traumatic event caused by abuse or kidnapping.

Stockholm Syndrome helps unite the hostage and kidnapper against the outside world.

The researchers defined this positive emotional relationship between the victim and the perpetrator as a defensive mechanism that the self resorts to when exposed to psychological stress, especially when survival is the priority for all parties.

In the Federal Bureau of Investigation bulletin of 2007, experts involved in a study on Stockholm Syndrome stated that in cases in which symptoms of the syndrome were observed, the hijacker stripped the hostages of all forms of independence, becoming the sole commander and controller of their needs. essential for survival.

Then the hostage becomes like a helpless child, and the offender is like the mother who protects her child from dangers in the outside world, such as the deadly weapons of the police, in this case the hostage's desire to survive outweighs her feelings of hatred for the cause of this crisis.

Then the victim or the hostage seeks to satisfy the offender in various ways, and this prompts her to perform behaviors that beg for his sympathy, such as complete dependence on him and showing helplessness and inability to think or make decisions.

The brain may resort to psychological tricks to help survive, such as denying the perpetrator’s responsibility for the crisis, denying that he is torturing or mistreating them, paying attention to the offender’s desires, being attached to him and fearing him, and adopting his vision of the world and sometimes imitating him.

The victim may feel very grateful to the offender for giving her life, focusing on his good behavior, even if it is rare, and ignoring his aggressive behavior, even if it is numerous.

Researchers combined the symptoms of Stockholm syndrome with some conditions that create the conditions for its appearance (Shutterstock)

What conditions for the emergence of symptoms of Stockholm syndrome?

Researchers have combined the symptoms of Stockholm syndrome with some conditions that create the conditions for its appearance, such as the victim's dependence on the perpetrator for survival;

The offender controls the life of the victim and her basic needs, and threatens his victims with death and demonstrates his ability to do so. In this case, the victim believes that it is safer to identify with the offender and obey his orders.

Finally, the offender is kind to the victim or shows some kindness to her, and this condition is indispensable for the emergence of Stockholm Syndrome, because the victim will feel that the offender is doing her a favor by not harming or killing her, and interpreting this as moral generosity.

The researchers explain this by saying that if the offender is always aggressive and does not show mercy to the victim, the victim will hate him and turn him into hostility, but some kindness and friendliness may extinguish the anger that the victim feels towards the offender, prompting her to focus on the positive side of his personality.

In the hijacking of a Trans World Airliners in 1985, shortly after take-off from Greece, terrorists held hostages for 10 days, put their guns to their heads and beat a hostage to death.

After the hostages were rescued, one of them said, "They weren't evil, they let me eat and sleep and gave me life."

The movie "Stockholm" dealt with the story of the "Credit Banken" robbery (communication sites)

What is the relationship of Stockholm syndrome to love?

Stockholm Syndrome also describes the reactions of victims of domestic violence, physical and sexual abuse, religious and political persecution, and financial oppression, such as sympathy, attachment and advocacy for perpetrators and oppressors.

This is because this syndrome is psychological tricks that the victim resorts to in order to cope with psychological pressures and risks.

In The Illusion of Love, David Celani writes that battered women may be drawn to their torturing husbands.

Citing evidence from his experience in treating abused women for many years, Silani explained that many of them are subconsciously attracted to their abusive partners, due to personality disorders that may be due to the physical or psychological abuse they were exposed to in their childhood years or exposure to neglect.

Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, Dr. Joseph Carver, wrote in an analysis entitled “Love and Stockholm Syndrome” that law enforcement officials have long observed this syndrome in abused women who refuse to formally accuse their husbands or life partners before the authorities, or pay them A financial guarantee to get them out of prison, or they may beat up the police officers who try to save them from the violence they are subjected to.

Carver defined the symptoms of Stockholm syndrome as: the victim showing positive feelings towards the abuser, negative feelings against family, authorities, or friends who are trying to support or rescue her, the victim’s support for the abuser’s motives and behaviors, the abuser showing positive feelings towards the victim, and the victim showing behaviors supportive of the abuser in some Sometimes, she is convinced of his values ​​and opinions, and the victim's inability to participate in attempts to release her or free her from the abuser's influence.

And Carver justifies the emotional attachment of the abused to the abuser, by saying that they are looking for a glimmer of hope that the situation will improve.

They may interpret the greeting card or gift that the abuser gives them after physically or verbally harming them as evidence that he is not absolutely evil, as he may sometimes come back to his senses and correct his position.

The abuser may elicit the victim's sympathy by recounting information that he has been abused or ignored in the past, at which point the victim feels that the abuser may also be a "victim" of circumstances beyond his control.

The novel "Dead Signature" deals with the story of a chemistry professor who invented viruses, the most important of which is the Stockholm Syndrome virus (Al Jazeera)

Film and literary works

The phenomenon of Stockholm Syndrome has puzzled not only psychologists, but also the imagination of filmmakers and television drama makers.

Therefore, many cinematic works presented stories of the emergence of emotional relationships between the executioner and the victim in what is known as Stockholm Syndrome in a romantic form, such as the movie “Stockholm” in 2018, which deals with the story of the bank robbery of Credit Bankin in 1973.

The events of the Spanish series "La Casa de Papel" or "House of Cards" revolve around a robbery of the Bank of Spain, which was narrated by one of its participants to view it from the perspective of the perpetrator, not the victim.

The series embodied Stockholm Syndrome in the story of a girl from the hostages falling in love with one of the perpetrators, and her preference to remain imprisoned in the bank with her lover over the freedom outside it, and they called her "Stockholm".

Among the most famous romantic stories that dealt with Stockholm Syndrome, is the story "Beauty and the Beast", where the beauty sympathized with the beast that imprisoned her and preferred to remain trapped in the palace to escape from it.

The novel "Dead Signature" by its author, "Mohamed Rajab" revolves around the story of a doctor specialized in biochemistry and drugs, whose students discovered that he had invented the "Stockholm Syndrome" virus while he was in Russia, and sold it to a Chinese company for $12 million.

The series "La Casa de Babel" revolves around a robbery of the Bank of Spain (French).

Stockholm syndrome treatment

Stockholm Syndrome is an extremely rare phenomenon. According to a 2007 FBI bulletin, 73 hostages in 4,700 holding incidents did not display symptoms of Stockholm Syndrome, so there is no official treatment for it.

But psychotherapy, counseling sessions and drugs may help relieve symptoms associated with trauma, such as depression and anxiety.

Psychiatrists may help teach victims coping mechanisms to help them understand the crisis they have experienced, why they have experienced it, and how to go about their lives in a normal way.