Stockholm syndrome

When it comes to Stockholm syndrome, do you know what kind of phenomenon it is? I believe that not many people understand what kind of symptom it is, nor do they know whether it is a disease. Stockholm syndrome is also called hostage syndrome, which means that when you are in danger, you not only have no sense of crisis, but will help the criminals and even help them to harm others.

I believe that most people don’t know what Stockholm syndrome is, and have never heard of it. In fact, Stockholm syndrome is a kind of pathological psychology and a mental illness. The word originated from the capital of Sweden, Stockholm. Later, this pathological psychology was called Stockholm syndrome.

Stockholm Syndrome - Introduction

"Stockholm syndrome" is a psychological disorder that occurs when the patient lives with his kidnappers and develops a certain degree of identification with them. It can also be called "hostage complex."

The FBI's hostage database shows that approximately 27% of hostages exhibit symptoms of Stockholm syndrome. According to psychologists, people who are emotionally dependent on others and easily moved are very likely to develop Stockholm syndrome if they encounter similar situations.

According to psychoanalysis, the syndrome may develop from the fact that a newborn baby forms an emotional attachment to the closest powerful adult in order to maximize the chances that the adult will at least allow the baby to survive (or become an ideal parent). Stockholm syndrome is an important example of a role identification defense mechanism.

Stockholm Syndrome - Origins

The term "Stockholm Syndrome" originated from a bank robbery in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, in 1973.

In August 1973, two heavily armed robbers suddenly broke into a bank in Stockholm, Sweden. The robbers took four bank employees hostage and confronted the police for six days. Six days later, the police managed to drill through the vault and drove out the hostages and robbers with tear gas. At the same time, snipers were ready to kill the robbers in case of emergency. However, after leaving the vault, the three hostages surrounded the hostage-taker and protected him from the police. After being rescued by the police, the hostages not only did not accuse the kidnappers, but instead defended the robbers and took a resolute uncooperative attitude towards the police's investigation and evidence collection, making the investigation and evidence collection work very difficult. One of the female hostages even fell in love with one of the robbers and became engaged to him. One hostage even went so far as to raise funds for the kidnappers around the world and set up a foundation to defend them. This outrageous incident caused an uproar across Sweden.

Afterwards, in order to answer people’s doubts, the Swedish Parliament allocated a huge amount of money and set up a special agency to study the incident. The conclusion came out ten years later: the hostages behaved so bizarrely because they were suffering from a mental illness. From then on, people named this mental illness "Stockholm syndrome".

Now everyone should have an understanding of Stockholm syndrome, and also know that this is a common phenomenon of mental illness. When one is harmed, one will turn around and help the criminal and develop a liking for the criminal. Such mental illness must be treated in a timely manner. Timely treatment can avoid some serious consequences.