Stockholm syndrome isn't a diagnosis—so why do we still treat it as one?
Fifty-three years ago, convicted criminal Jan-Erik Olsson walked into a bank on Norrmalmstorg, a square in central Stockholm, pulled a submachine gun from under his jacket and fired at the ceiling. Concrete and glass rained down. "The party has just begun!" he shouted in a fake American accent before taking four bank employees hostage.
Fifty-three years ago, a criminal named Jan-Erik Olsson stormed a bank in Stockholm, taking four employees hostage. The gunman demanded money, a getaway vehicle, and the release of a fellow prisoner. Despite police meeting his demands, Olsson still refused to let the hostages go. Over time, something unusual happened: the hostages started showing positive emotions towards their captors.
Nils Bejerot, a psychiatrist, coined the term "Norrmalmstorg syndrome" to describe this odd reaction, but it never became an officially recognized psychiatric diagnosis. Despite this, the term is widely used to describe hostage situations where victims develop positive feelings towards their captors. However, labeling this behavior as a syndrome might be misleading.
These people are responding to extreme threats, and what seems irrational from the outside might actually be a survival strategy. Research suggests that captives might adopt similar strategies as police negotiators to establish a relationship with the hostage taker and ensure their safety. Some psychologists argue that calling this a syndrome can pathologize survivors and obscure the coercive circumstances that led to their behavior.
By scrapping the term, we could change how survivors are perceived by authorities, making it more about the protective function of their behavior rather than an abnormal response.
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