Difference between revisions of "Stockholm Syndrome"
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Revision as of 17:33, September 17, 2008
Stockholm Syndrome is a psychological phenomenon in which victims of kidnapping end up identifying with and possibly even defending their kidnappers. The term comes from a 1973 bank robbery in Stockholm, Sweden, in which four people were held hostage for six days, and ended up attempting to ward off the police's rescue efforts.
Three things are key for Stockholm Syndrome to exist: A very uneven power relationship, the threat of death or severe injury, and a self-preservation instinct.
Well reported kidnappings that have been suggested as examples of Stockholm Syndrome include the kidnapping of Patty Hearst in the 1970s, and more recently, the kidnapping of Utah teenager Elizabeth Smart.