Will you get Stockholm Syndrome if you go to Stockholm?

When I initially heard about Stockholm syndrome, the first thing I thought was, why does the city of Stockholm have a syndrome named after it? Does everyone in Stockholm have this syndrome and will I get it if I go to Stockholm?  

What is Stockholm syndrome? 

Stockholm syndrome is a mental condition in which people held hostage by someone start developing a friendly bond with them. This can happen in different types of situations; for example, someone who gets kidnapped could start to form a friendly bond with their kidnapper. This can also be found in abusive relationships, when one person in the relationship starts to have control over the other person and not letting them, for example, leave the house. Instead of the victim leaving the relationship, they stay because they think they are being treated kindly and that this person is just looking out for them. 

This might be strange to a lot of people because having someone holding you hostage is supposed to make you hate that person, right? Because who wants to be trapped inside and have your rights taken away from you. However, in some cases some people will start to like this person.  

But why is it called Stockholm syndrome?  

Stockholm syndrome got its name from the 1973 bank robbery in Stockholm. Around lunch time on the 23^rd of August 1973 a man under the name Jan-Erik Olsson walked into Sweden’s biggest bank in Stockholm, Kreditbanken. At first, he looked like an ordinary guy who was looking for a loan, but little did anyone know that he had a gun under his jacket and a bag full of explosives. When he came up to the reception desk you could see that he was wearing toy store glasses, shoe cream on his cheeks and on his head, a crazy wig. The receptionist started laughing but then Olsson took out his sub machine gun from his bag and shot up at the ceiling. All the workers froze. He demanded that everyone get on the floor and not make a sound, or he would shoot them all. Olsson ordered a security guard to sit in a chair and sing a song. Police were called to the scene and outside there was a ring of police cars watching Olsson`s every move.  

Shortly after he shoved four of the workers into one of the vaults and locked himself in with them. He called the police outside and demanded that they give him 3 million kroners, two guns, bulletproof vests, helmets and a Ford Mustang or he would kill all the hostages. He also demanded that his friend and former prison cell mate Clark Olofsson get released and brought to the bank. Olofsson is considered the first Swedish criminal celebrity. He has spent more than half his life behind bars and is committed for crimes such as assault, attempted murder and burglary. Olsson asked for him because he knew Olofsson had a lot of knowledge on bank robberies and opening vaults.  

His requests were granted and Olofsson arrived, but Olsson refused to let go of the hostages. The police got to talk to the hostages but strangely they did not want to be freed.  

The incident was being covered on live TV and there were thousands of reporters outside the building. Everyone was waiting to sese what would happen. Many people sent the police their suggestions on how to end the stand-off, including playing Christian music or by filling the vault with angry bees, forcing them all out.  

After two days the hostages started having a friendly relationship with Olsson and Olofsson. They also started to call them Jan and Clark. According to the hostages the abductors started making kind gestures to them. For example, when one of the hostages was cold. Olsson gave her his jacket and when someone was sad, because she was not able to talk to her husband, he told her not to give up. Olsson also let one of the hostages, who was claustrophobic, leave the vault to walk around but she had to be tied to a 10-meter-long rope around her neck. None of the hostages felt threatened, they liked staying in the vault.  

To end the stand-off, the police filled the vault with tear gas, forcing them all to get out and the two abductors were arrested. Olsson and Olofsson hugged, shook hands with the hostages and they all planned a time to hang out again.  

The after math  

Olsson was sentenced to 10 years behind bars and the hostages often visited him in prison. He also received tons of cards from women all around Sweden who thought he was cute and wanted to marry him. The hostages also refused to testify against him during the trial. Olsson is now out and married and has lived a crime-free life ever since. In 2022, he was seen on a Swedish program called “Where are they now” and he tells the program that he is now a car dealer and is very regretful of his past actions.  

Also, after the incident the mental and emotional response disorder Stockholm Syndrome was identified, and doctors defined it is “a disorder caused by situations where captives become emotionally indebted to their captors for being spared death”. The opposite syndrome is Lima Syndrome, which is when the abductor starts to have empathy for the victims. The syndrome is named after an abduction at the Japanese embassy in Lima, Peru in 1996.  Today this disorder is barley seen but can be found in about 8% of kidnap incidents in victims.  

Patty Hearst – can you get away with a 35-year prison sentence by blaming it on Stockholm syndrome? 

There was also a big incident related to Stockholm syndrome in 1973 when billionaire William Randolph Hearst’s granddaughter Patty Hearst was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army from her apartment in California. She reportedly was brainwashed to join the group and started to participate in the group’s criminal activity and when asked if she wanted to leave, she said she wanted to stay. This was a sign of Stockholm syndrome. She was later sentenced to 35 years in prison, but she only completed seven because of her reported diagnosis of Stockholm syndrome. She was later pardoned by Bill Clinton and now is known as the girl everyone thinks of when they think of Stockholm syndrome.  

So, to answer the original question, no, you will not get Stockholm syndrome if you go to Stockholm. However, you may get it if you get kidnapped and fall in love with your kidnapper during a bank robbery.  

Zoe ROSMARUS / S5 ENB / EBB1 Uccle