Stockholm Syndrome Is a Condition

¶ … Stockholm Syndrome is a condition that develops between a hostage and a captor, and it can relate to terrorism or other captive situations. While this may seem difficult to comprehend, the Stockholm Syndrome bond is quite simple to explain. When a captive fears for their life, they must bond with those who hold the power of life or death. They often become sympathetic to their captor's cause partly as a result of brainwashing, and partly just to stay alive at any cost.

The Stockholm Syndrome was named for a hostage situation in Stockholm, Sweden in 1973, when four bank employees were held hostage in a bank vault for 131 hours. After their release, they talked about their affection for the robbers and their fear police would try to storm the vault, creating a deadly atmosphere. The Syndrome has been seen repeatedly, probably most recently in the prolonged capture of Jill Carroll, the Christian Science Monitor reporter. At one point, Carroll was forced to make videos supporting her captors and their cause. She did it in fear of her life.

In the Patty Hearst hostage situation, her captors (members of a group called the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), held her for many months, and eventually she aided them in robbing a bank, then went on the run with them for a year and a half, then served time in prison for her aid in the robbery. Two terrorism experts note, "For their part, hostages are forced into a submissive, powerless role and cut off from outside institutional and social support. It is not surprising that the experience, with all of its intensity and complexity, can effect changes in attitude and alliances with both immediate and long-term implications" (Campbell, and Pederson 12). Thus, Hearst participated in the robbery of her own free will, and even wielded a gun during the robbery, instead of attempting to escape from her captors. However, in very big way, Hearst (and Carroll) were forced to do what they did. Heart's captors used a sophisticated form of psychology to bend and then break Hearst. They isolated her, blindfolded her for two months, sexually abused her, threatened her with death, and forced her to make tapes talking against her own family. Ultimately, most people recognized Hearst underwent intense brainwashing, and her prison sentence was eventually reduced. In fact, "she later had her sentence commuted by President Carter, after psychiatrists determined that she had developed a pseudo-identity as a survival strategy" (Card 214). Thus, the Stockholm Syndrome played a huge part in her support of her SLA captors and her eventual pardon.