The Stockholm Syndrome Relationship

Real life stories of Stockholm syndrome show us how some kidnap victims develop empathy with a captor or captors, particularly after a long spell in captivity. Also known as capture-bonding, the hostage begins to identify with the kidnapper to the point of showing loyalty and compassion. This phenomenon so captivated me, I decided to write a thriller about it. But firstly, I had to conduct some research into what Stockholm syndrome is about.

A Story of Traumatic Bonding

Named after the Swedish capital, Stockholm syndrome was coined by criminal psychologist, Nils Bererot after a news story of a bank robbery in August 1973, where two robbers held four bank employees within a vault at gunpoint. On their release, the captives exhibited affection for their perpetrators and viewed the police as the enemy.

Such victim-captor relationships are a repeating theme within other cases of kidnapping, such as Jaycee Lee Dugard who was snatched at aged 11 in 1991, but remained in ‘captivity’ for 18 years. During this time, she failed to make a run for it when she clearly had the chance. On her release, her relationship with her kidnapper, Phillip Garrido had become almost like a marriage – where she helped organize his business affairs for him.

Capture-Bonding Psychology

Other cases of traumatic bonding can be seen in the famous cases of Patty Hearst who in 1974 helped her captors (the Symbionese Liberation Army) rob a San Francisco bank with a carbine; and arguably Elizabeth Smart, who was snatched at the age of 14 in 2002. Speculations abound that Smart could have escaped before she was found with her captors wearing a disguise 9 months later.

Mechanics of Terror Bonding

An inverted version of Stockholm syndrome, Lima syndrome, describes the captor’s growing empathy with the hostage. According to the Farlax Medical Dictionary (2013), the circumstances that bring about such a bizarre human relationship have been found to be the following:

- The hostage is held for a sustained period – at least several days.
- The hostage has direct contact with the captor in that he or she is not simply locked in a room and the captors remain anonymous.
- The captor shows any compassion or kindness to the hostage, no matter how small. More accurately, this might be a lack of cruelty.
- Some Stockholm syndrome sufferers have claimed that their captor has saved their life, where in fact, the kidnapper may not have carried out a killing as initially promised.

Bond between Kidnapper and Hostage

Symptoms of Stockholm syndrome are similar to post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The sufferer may experience flashbacks, nightmares and feelings of futility. An occurrence not confined to the present-day, we can read about the captive falling in love with the captor in Beauty and the Beast (pictured left). I decided to make my own version of the captor-captive relationship in The Shuttered Room.

Story about Hostage and Captor

Young mother, Jessica is taken hostage and held in an upstairs room by three thugs demanding a huge ransom from her rich father. In a failed escape attempt, she manages to cut a hole in the bedroom floor from where she spies upon her captors. Unsurprisingly, she views their private worlds with contempt. Jess senses the negative forces that drive her kidnappers to lead criminal lives. She mocks them and toys with their inner demons in a perilous mind game.

Story of Being Locked in a Room

But Jess is unable to psychologically reach Jake, the ‘leader’ of the trio. After a spat with another captor, Jess requests that Jake becomes her ‘carer.’ Jake accepts, bringing her food and taking care of her basic needs. But Jess starts to identify too closely with Jake. Within these roiling emotions, she also fears him. As the story unfolds, she sees something in Jake that reflects an uncomfortable truth within herself. She desires, but also feels revulsion towards him. He ties her up, he grooms her, and after being locked up in a room for weeks on end, her imagination starts to run riot.

Kidnapping Thriller

In the following excerpt, we glimpse Jess's inappropriate thoughts as Jake cuts her hair in the bathroom.

Through the mirror, Jess watched Jake take the comb and loosen the towel on her shoulders to reveal more neck. He leaned forwards with the scissors and repeated the procedure, but this time, refining and perfecting the cut. He made whispering snips at her neck, and then he lowered his head and blew the flecks away. Snip. Snip. She watched him lower his head again. Blow. Another. This time, she imagined his head descending by a further inch and his lips brushing against her neck. Again, she couldn’t help looking, imagining – her stupid, stupid imagination. Another, and then she would watch his head reflected through the mirror descend to bring his lips firmly to her shoulder.

Jess's disturbing empathy for Jake are at odds with what she should be feeling. Through her turmoil I was able to explore the disturbing relationship between the captive and the captor.

Excerpt from The Shuttered Room by Charles J Harwood

Other themes relating to this novel:

What if human behavior had a voice?

The inner gremlins of kidnappers

Thrillers on abduction theme

Clinical narcissists in fiction

Passionless marriage in fiction