Stockholm syndrome

English

WOTD – 28 February 2011

Etymology

From the (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Swedish Norrmalmstorgssyndromet. Named after the robbery of Kreditbanken at the Norrmalmstorg square in Stockholm, Sweden in which the bank robbers held bank employees hostage from August 23 to August 28, 1973. Originally, this term was directly translated from Swedish Norrmalmstorgssyndromet as the Norrmalmstorg syndrome, but later Norrmalmstorg was replaced with Stockholm, a word far more commonly known outside Sweden.

Pronunciation

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Noun

Stockholm syndrome (uncountable)

1. A psychological condition in which a hostage emotionally bonds to his or her captor.
   • The Stockholm syndrome is a psychological response sometimes seen in a hostage, in which the hostage exhibits loyalty to the hostage-taker, in spite of the danger (or at least risk) in which the hostage has been placed.... In the most famous case of the Stockholm Syndrome, Patty Hearst, the granddaughter of publishing baron William Randolph Hearst, was kidnapped by the leftist Symbionese Liberation Army in 1974 and robbed a San Francisco bank together with her captors, [1]
   • While the psychological condition in hostage situations became known as “Stockholm Syndrome” due to the publicity – the emotional “bonding” with captors was a familiar story in psychology. It had been recognized many years before and was found in studies of other hostage, prisoner, or abusive situations such as: Abused Children; Battered/Abused Women; Prisoners of War; Cult Members; Incest Victims; Criminal Hostage Situations; Concentration Camp Prisoners; Cont /Intimidating Relationships [2]
   • 2001, Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl, page 259:

     You're suffering from what humans call Stockholm Syndrome: you have bonded with your captors.

   • 2006, Cape Times, 28 May

     Natascha Kampusch, the 18 year old Austrian woman who escaped from her kidnapper last week after eight years in captivity, […] is thought to be suffering from an extreme version of Stockholm syndrome, in which victims begin to associate and sympathise with their attackers.

Synonyms

• capture-bonding

Descendants

• Catalan: síndrome d'Estocolm
• Italian: sindrome di Stoccolma
• Portuguese: síndrome de Estocolmo
• Spanish: síndrome de Estocolmo
• Swedish: Stockholmssyndrom

Translations

psychological condition

• Bulgarian: стокхо́лмски синдро́м m (stokhólmski sindróm)
• Catalan: síndrome d'Estocolm f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 斯德哥爾摩綜合症／斯德哥尔摩综合症 (sīdégē'ěrmó zōnghézhèng), 斯德哥尔摩综合症 (Sīdégē'ěrmó zònghézhèng)

• Danish: Stokholmsyndrom n, Stokholm-syndrom n
• Dutch: Stockholmsyndroom
• Esperanto: stokholm-sindromo
• Estonian: Stockholmi sündroom (et)
• Finnish: Tukholma-syndrooma
• French: syndrome de Stockholm (fr) m
• Georgian: სტოკჰოლმის სინდრომი (sṭoḳholmis sindromi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: Stockholm-Syndrom (de) n
• Italian: sindrome di Stoccolma (it) f
• Japanese: ストックホルム症候群 (Sutokkuhorumu shōkōgun)
• Korean: 스톡홀름 증후군 (seutokholleum jeunghugun)
• Polish: syndrom sztokholmski (pl) m
• Portuguese: síndrome de Estocolmo f
• Romanian: sindromul Stockholm n
• Russian: стокго́льмский синдро́м m (stokgólʹmskij sindróm)
• Spanish: síndrome de Estocolmo m
• Swedish: Stockholmssyndrom (sv) n, Norrmalmstorgssyndrom n
• Thai: สต็อกโฮล์มซินโดรม (sà-dtók-hoom-sin-droom)
• Turkish: Stokholm sendromu, Stockholm sendromu