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Stockholm Syndrome? Father of Elizabeth Smart Disagreed
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by Scott Wu | August 28, 2009 at 10:24 am
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Stockholm syndrome is a psychological response of hostage showing signs of loyalty to the hostage-taker, sometimes seen in kidnapping cases. Jaycee Lee Dugard, who had been abducted for 18 years, likely suffered from Stockholm syndrome. Few years ago, Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped from her home in Utah, and was found 9 months 18 miles away her home. Her father, Ed Smart talked about the case in an interview with CBS. He disagreed that a children kept in captivity would have developed emotional bonding with the kidnapper.
Asked if he was surprised that Dugard, who had access to phones and contact to the outside world, remained captive for 18 years, Smart said, "No, not at all. I don't agree with your fellow there on Stockholm Syndrome because I think that in many cases, these children do try to escape, and after numerous attempts they feel it's hopeless, and so they try to survive. And that's not necessarily bonding with these monsters."
Stockholm syndrome is named after a bank robbery incident in Stockholm in 1972. The bank robbers held bank employees hostage for 6 days. The victims became emotionally attached to the abductors and defended them after been released.
According to Wikipedia:
The Stockholm Syndrome is a psychological shift that occurs in captives when they are threatened gravely but shown acts of kindness by their captors. Captives who exhibit the syndrome tend to sympathize with and think highly of their captors, at times believing that the captors are showing them favor stemming from inherent kindness. Such captives fail to recognize that their captors' choices are essentially self-serving. When subjected to prolonged captivity, these captives can develop a strong bond with their captors, in some cases including a sexual interest.
Dugard was kept in captivity for 18 years. Police say the kidnapper Phillip Garrido repeatedly raped her, and she gave birth to 2 children, ages 11 and 15. Dugard admitted to her mother that she felt guilty for bonding with the kidnapper, which could be an indication of Stockholm syndrome.
Stockholm syndrome occurs when a person is held by powerful captors, Ablow said. They ally themselves with their captors because they fear death, and one defense mechanism is for the person held hostage to imagine that their captor is on their side.
The term "emotional bonding", however, could be misleading. Stockholm syndrome is a psychological response for victims to cope with their situations, and as means to protect themselves physically and emotionally. Victims who are later freed are at risk of post-traumatic symptoms, like depression. People might mistake Stockholm syndrome as victims willingly stay with kidnappers or even give consent to abuses. In a few dramatic situations, like Patty Hearst, victims can appear to side with the captors. A group of scholars studied 12 cases which were publicized as examples of Stockholm syndrome found that the term was used ambiguously.
Results: We identified 12 papers that met inclusion criteria. The existing literature consists mostly of case reports; furthermore there is ambiguity in the use of the term. No validated diagnostic criteria have been described. Four common features were found between the five cases studied.
Conclusion: There is little published academic research on 'Stockholm syndrome' although study of media reports reveals similarities between well publicized cases. This may be due to reporting and publication bias.
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