Stockholm Syndrome

Stockholm Syndrome can be referred to as a joke in the popular culture, and many people do not take it seriously as much as other common psychiatric problems such as PTSD, a psychological illness usually caused by a traumatic event like physical aggression. It cannot be treated seriously because there is no medical standard to properly diagnose a person with “Stockholm Syndrome.” However, this supposed illness is a real problem that affects the minority of people who are abducted usually by criminals who have no interest in the hostage’s safety. The criminologist and the psychiatrist who were investigating the robbery coined the term for their conditions “Stockholm Syndrome.” There are no obvious symptoms except that the hostage feels deep empathy for the captor no matter what he or she does to the hostage. In extreme cases, the hostage may even want to host a funeral for the captor, or even support the captor’s activities no matter the risk the hostage may be aware of. Many psychological illnesses are related to neurology and can be treated with medications such as antidepressants for depression or antipsychotics for schizophrenia. Even though these “patients” look like they have a typical psychological disorder, they are probably neither neurologically affected nor mentally ill, making medications ineffective. Instead, they are most likely sociologically influenced to feel this way. There is a scientific experiment that can explain Stockholm Syndrome. This experiment is “the Stanford Prison Experiment.” A group of college students were with consent “arrested” and put in a fake prison to be humiliated like actual prisoners. The results were surprising. The “hostages” who were the test subjects followed the prison guard’s rules without hesitation after a long period of time. In fact, the prisoners were so obedient that it was as though they were born in the prison cells, uninformed about the freedom these students would typically enjoy. These results prove one thing. People almost always obey the orders from the authority without hesitation. In order for there to be conformity, there has to be an exchange of empathy for further cooperation. The basic human need is to give love and be loved. We all need the feeling that we belong to somebody, that there is someone whom we can always count on. Although every person has a unique plan on to how to implement their own life story, we feel safer if we can look to someone who has the same life expectations as we do – a peer, a partner, or a leader – to give us direction and help us feel more secure in the everyday decisions we make. People are also social beings. That’s why we join different communities which have the same interests we do. This is what attracted people to join Peoples Temple, and this is what led them to want to go to Jonestown. In that community were people who had fragile social backgrounds and who needed someone to help them define and draw them clear boundaries in their lives. But as we know, there is a thin line between keeping your own identity and to devoting your life completely to someone else. A charismatic leader can convince the fragile and desperate among us that the ideas about life are what they are missing and – more importantly – what he can provide. In my view, the members of Peoples Temple had aspirations and goals that may have been too ambitious for the world to offer them. Jim Jones shared their goals, but he saw only one plan – his plan – to perfect the world. As the pressures and the isolation and the paranoia mounted in Jonestown, it wasn’t only the people held hostage, it was their hopes and dreams and shared aspirations. People who seem to be more susceptible to develop the Stockholm Syndrome often feel helpless in their life situations or are willing to do anything in order to survive. In addition, three factors are necessary for the syndrome to develop: The crisis situation lasts for several days or longer, the hostage takers remain in contact with the hostages, and the hostage takers show some kindness toward the hostage. All three of these factors – and the people considered most likely to be susceptible – were present in Jonestown. The syndrome itself is characterized by three behaviours, and again, all three were mirrored in Jonestown: the hostages have negative feeling about police or other authorities (in the case of Jonestown, residents had negative feelings about the outside world, and saw every outsider as a potential threat); the hostages have positive feelings toward their captors (members of Peoples Temple loved Jim Jones and saw him as a God); and captors develop positive feelings toward their hostages (in the case of Peoples Temple, Jim Jones always had certain positive feelings toward the members, even as he led them to their deaths). Stockholm Syndrome can be treated with a combination of medications for short-time effects, such as sleep disturbances, and psychotherapy for a longer-term symptoms. The prognosis for recovery in relatively good, but the length of treatment needed depends on several variables (length of time the crisis lasted, individual capability to cope with the situation and previous experience of trauma). Some People are held hostage by religion, and culture, and the cult.