Stockholm Syndrome explains why so many of us come out of a program sounding robotic and blindly allied with program rhetoric, as loyal as we were irrational, despite being mistreated. This is where the controversy comes into play; why some claim certain abusive facilities saved their lives, while others denounce the very same program. Many of us served blind allegance to 'our program' until years later we recognized, not only had it done nothing for us, but the we had been considerably traumatized by the experience.
Four Situation Factors that are Precursor to Stockholm Syndrome:
- Perceived threat to one's physical or psychological survival and the belief that the captor would carry out the threat.
- Perceived small kindness from the captor to the captive.
(Note: letting the captive live is enough.) - Isolation from perspectives other than those of the captor.
- Perceived inability to escape.
Psychodynamics' Underlying Stockholm Syndrome
An abuser traumatizes a victim (who does not believe they can escape, or truly can not) with a threat to the victim's survival. The traumatized victim, who perceives isolation from outsiders; who could provide nurturance and protection, must look to the abuser to meet those needs...
If the abuser shows the victim some small kindness, the victim then must bond to the perceived positive side of the abuser, denying (or dissociating) the side of the abuser that produced the terror. The victim begins to work to see the world from the abuser's perspective so that they may know what keeps the abuser happy, thus helping to insure the victim's survival. As a result the victim becomes hypervigilant to the abuser's needs and unaware of their own. The victim comes to see the world from the perspective of the abuser, losing touch with their own perspective, which is unimportant or even counter-productive to their survival. With the denial of the violent side of the abuser, comes denial of the danger. It becomes progressively harder to separate from the abuser due to the fear of losing the only positive relationship identity that remains -- her/ himself as seen through the abuser's eyes (which in the case of the adult victim has replaced any previous sense of self, for a child this may be, and often is, the only sense of self known).
Bonding with an abuser maybe the universal survival strategy for victims of interpersonal abuse. Studies of other hostage-like groups seem to bare this out. -- These groups are:
- hostages
- concentration camp prisoners
- cult members
- prisoners of war
- civilians in Chinese Communist prisons
- procured prostitutes
- incest victims
- physically and/or emotionally abused children
- battered women
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