ot
'Render unto Ceaser that which is Ceasers'
I.e. I will leave the charts to you and I will be the resident literature/trvia geek. All Hail Caeser. Your answer below G. ;-)
Stockholm Syndrome
Hostages have been known to sympathize with their captors and become emotionally attached - in one case even get married. The name of the syndrome derives from a hostage situation in Stockholm, Sweden. In 1973, four Swedes held in a bank vault for six days during a robbery became emotionally attached to their captors. As far as we know, the abused bond to their abusers as a means to endure the life-threatening stress they are under. The most notorious instance came when US heiress Patty Hearst was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army, and after some months, re-christened herself "Tanya" and joined their ranks. The Stockholm Syndrome is an emotional attachment, between captive and captor that develops 'when someone threatens your life, deliberates, and doesn't kill you' (Symonds, 1980). The relief resulting from the removal of the threat of death generates intense feelings of gratitude and fear that combine to make the captive reluctant to display negative feelings toward the captor or terrorist. In fact, former hostages have visited their captors in jail, recommended defence counsel and even started a defence fund. "The victims' need to survive is stronger than his/her impulse to hate the person who has created the dilemma." (Strentz, 1980) The victim comes to see the captor as a 'good guy', even a saviour. This condition occurs in response to four specific conditions:
A person threatens to kill another and is perceived as having the capability to do so.
The other cannot escape, so her or his life depends on the threatening person.
The threatened person is isolated from outsiders so that the only other perspective available to her or him is that of the threatening person.
The threatening person is perceived as showing some degree of kindness to the one being threatened.
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