Stockholm Syndrome
Stockholm syndrome, This disorder can be expressed as the emotional attachment of a hostage person to a hostage person.
In other words, as a result of the time the hostages spend with the hostages, the Stockholm Syndrome comes to a level where they can understand the feelings of the hostages. And the fact that they try to help these people is that they want to take hostages as a result.
In other words, the conditions that force or even upset the individual:
- Adoption,
- Self defense,
- Not seeing the points that cause these conditions
- It is strange that he is on the side of the oppressor.
History
This syndrome was first described by the psychiatrist Bejerot. It got its name from an event that took place in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, in 1973.
The situation is as follows. It was revealed that a woman working in a bank, who was taken hostage for 6 days in a bank robbery, became emotionally attached to the person who did the robbery.
When he is released, he leaves his fiancee and waits for the person who took him hostage to be released from prison. And she marries that person.
Another event related to this syndrome is as follows:
Thieves trying to rob banks in Stockholm took 4 bank officials hostage for 6 days.
Go on
However, the thieves treated the bank officials well. And the relationship has progressed positively.
Realizing that the police would raid the bank, the hostages warned the thieves.
They didn’t even testify against the robbers. They collected money among themselves. And they paid the defense fee.
The incident resulted in a headline saying that the Robbers could not steal money from the bank, but they did steal some people’s hearts.
Another rich person named Patty Hearst was caught stealing with the same group, two months after he was kidnapped by a group of female terrorists.
Development Mechanism
Individuals who have been harmed as a result of long-term violence may begin to identify with the aggressor and act in order to survive. The fact that the will of the injured person depends on the individual who committed the attack is not a decision taken voluntarily, but a result of the attempt of violence.
This traumatic attachment process has been described as follows:
(Appelt,Kaselitz, Logar 2004) “The perpetrator’s first goal is to enslave the victim, and he achieves this goal by establishing despotic control over every aspect of the victim’s life.
But mere submission rarely satisfies him; he has a psychological need to justify his crimes, and for this he needs the victim’s approval.
That’s why he constantly demands that his victim show respect, gratitude, and even love. The aggressor’s ultimate goal seems to be to create a willing victim”. (Herman,1992)
Development Process
We can say that the main reason for the manifestation of this syndrome is the survival instinct of the individual.
The individual, who is completely isolated from the external environment, thinks that he is dependent on the individual who applies violence and pressure to meet his needs.
The person who carried out the attack grows meaninglessly in the eyes of the person he has taken prisoner with the small favors he has done.
Go on
In fact, after a certain period of time, the captive individual puts himself in the place of the attacker. And he begins to evaluate events, to justify his actions.
As a result of completely ignoring the violent tendency of the oppressor by the captive individual, dangerous situations that have been or will be experienced are also rejected.
The individual who is exposed to violence thinks that his only positive relationship is the experience between himself and the perpetrator. And he doesn’t want to sacrifice that relationship.
For this reason, it becomes more and more difficult to break away from the individual who committed the attack.
The situations that predispose to the Stockholm syndrome, that is, to identify with the aggressive individual, can be listed as follows:
- Existence of a life-threatening danger,
- The state of isolation from the external environment,
- Being unable to get out of the environment they are in or coming to the conclusion that they cannot escape from the environment they are in,
- The captive individual sometimes shows close and benevolent attitudes.
This is generally more common for women. In other words, the woman is very afraid of provoking and angering the aggressor at the time of violence.
She even tries to win her love and behaves as if she gives her rights.In wars, pathological attachment to the other side is seen in prisoners of war.
In some cases, in which the aggressor is identified with the hostage individual, some feelings are developed by the hostage person. So much so that even personality change is seen in the individual.
Some Groups with Stockholm Syndrome
- In cases of hostage-taking or kidnapping that creates pressure in the same way,
- Individuals at the age of children who are exposed to rape, incest or sexual harassment,
- In child abuse,
- To be in a state of war,
- Being a prisoner of war
- Having to continue his life in prison camps called concentration camps,
- In prostitutes who are sold for money,
- Being exposed to domestic violence, which is the biggest problem of our day,
- Belonging to oppressive religious sects,
- Exposure to political pressure
- Being exposed to long years of imprisonment,
- It’s like being put under house arrest.
Treatment of Stockholm Treatment
The first method is psychotherapy. That is to raise awareness. The person who exhibits bad attitudes should be made aware of the reason for their actions and what idea they serve. A safe environment should be created. Reminders should be provided. Time must be given to establish proper communication with life again.
