iMinds - Stockholm Syndrome

Ideas & Concepts

Stockholm Syndrome

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At first glance two of the 1970s most notorious bank robberies would seem to have nothing in common. They occurred eight months apart, for different motives, on opposite sides of the globe. But these two incidents would prove seminal to the development and understanding of a curious and once controversial psychological condition; Stockholm Syndrome.On the 15th of April 1974, the Sunset District branch of the Hibernia Bank in San Francisco was robbed. Security footage showed a young, attractive urban guerrilla brandishing a machine gun and ordering people in the bank to lie face down on the ground. Bizarrely - the armed robber was wealthy heiress Patty Hearst, who had been kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army just two months before. The image of the then nineteen year old Patty was known across the globe as the victim of a brutal kidnapping. On the night of February 4 three members of the Symbionese Liberation Army had burst into her home and dragged her away, dressed only in her nightgown. For over fifty days Patty was kept captive in a padded closet where she was constantly verbally and sexually abused by members of the Symbionese Liberation Army. Despite police efforts to find her, the first clue to her whereabouts was the security footage of her aiding her kidnappers to rob the Hibernia bank. Living as an outlaw with her kidnappers, Patty was ultimately arrested on 18 September 1975, exactly two years to the day from her kidnapping. She was subsequently tried for her involvement in the bank robbery.

During her trial, Hearsts defence team argued that Patty had not acted criminally from her own free will, but rather that she had been suffering from a newly identified psychological condition called the Stockholm Syndrome. The intense media coverage of this sensational trial, seared Stockholm Syndrome into the public consciousness, Patty Hearst had become its most contentious and undoubtedly most famous victim.

The term Stockholm Syndrome had been coined less than a year earlier by psychiatrist Nils Bejerot after the robbery of the Norrmalmstorg Kreditbanken in Stockholm. The bungled robbery resulted in a hostage situation during which four bank employees were held captive for more than five days from August 23rd to August 28th 1973.

During the siege the four hostages were trapped with their captors in the vault housing the safety deposit boxes. This oppressive chamber measured just 47 feet long by 11 feet wide and 7.5 feet high. Over the course of the siege, the victims became emotionally attached to the hostage takers. One hostage was reported to have had sexual relations with a robber within the bank vault and astonishingly, when released, the three female hostages kissed their captors and the male hostage shook their hands. The victims reaction appeared counter intuitive; contrary to how people could be expected to react. Where hate and loathing would have been the expected result, the hostage response was closer to love and affection. The syndrome is now recognized as a relatively common psychological response to a hostage situation; though it is by no means universal. It has affected people across all ages, sexes and cultures. It appears to be a less common outcome in cases where hostages have a position within government organisations. For example military officers and embassy staff who have been held hostage show a significantly lower incidence of Stockholm Syndrome than is the case in the kidnap of random victims. Essentially, Stockholm syndrome is not simply manifested in the victims attachment to their captors, but also in the hostility they develop towards police, authorities, the government and sometimes even their own families. The hostages feelings for their captors can be romantic, fraternal or politically empathetic, but the common factor in all incidences is that this results from their perceived dependency. The perplexing aspect of this syndrome is that the captives fall in love with the very people who deprive them of their freedom, even when those people are violent or abusive. What is it that triggers this contradictory emotional response? Hostage situations are by necessity highly charged and volatile. Regardless of their position in society, hostages are reduced to powerless and submissive roles. They are isolated from the rest of the world. Decisions made by the hostages and their captors involve life or death consequences and they must often be made quickly in complex, intense and dangerous situations. Survival may depend on small kindnesses or connecting with the powerful figure which changes the hostages alliances and attitudes to their kidnapper. These choices by the hostage are though to be irrational and automatic, an unconscious response to their situation akin to a newborn child which instinctively seeks to ally itself with a parent. Four factors have been identified as conducive to a hostage developing Stockholm Syndrome: The first factor is the intensity of the experience, how extreme it is. The second factor is the duration of the experience. During the first four days, the chance of developing the syndrome increases dramatically as time passes. Once the hostage has been held for more than four days, the length of their captivity has little impact on their propensity to develop Stockholm Syndrome.The third factor is how dependent the hostage is on their captor for survival. If hostages are threatened with guns or if the captor controls survival essentials such as the distribution of food and water and access to the toilet, then the captives vulnerability is intensified. The final factor is how isolated the hostage feels from authority figures and how dissociated they feel from their life in the world outside. This is manifested in a belief that they have been rejected by those in a position to help them and therefore they are drawn into the disillusionment felt by their captors.

Once the syndrome is established, the intensity of feeling increases and continues during captivity, feelings stabilize after the hostage is freed and eventually their positive feelings diminish. After a hostage situation these captives do not report feeling rage that they were unjustly treated, threatened or put in danger, but rather are grateful that violence was not inflicted upon them.Stockholm Syndrome may be vital in ensuring hostage survival, but for police agencies and those involved in the rescue effort, it significantly complicates siege management. The syndrome has long-term implications for hostage survivors. Many feel guilt at abandoning or incriminating their captors. They find it difficult to regain their independence and may suffer anxiety conditions. The syndrome is now recognised as a psychological defence mechanism often seen in abuse victims such as battered wives, incest victims and cult members. At the conclusion of Patty Hearsts trial on March 20, 1976, a jury of seven men and five women found Hearst guilty of armed robbery and use of a firearm to commit a felony. The jurors were not persuaded by the unproven and bizarre psychological evidence offered by her legal team and found that Hearst had lied to justify her actions. Patty Hearst was sentenced to seven years in prison, though President Jimmy Carter later commuted her sentence to time served in February 1979. She had spent almost three years behind bars.

In 2001, President Bill Clinton granted Patricia Campbell Hearst a full pardon. There were few objectors. Stockholm Syndrome had become a widely recognised form of cognitive dissonance, an unusual but broadly accepted psychological condition born of extreme circumstance.