AUSTRIA: The statement by Natascha Kampusch that she is, in her own way, mourning the death of the man who kidnapped and held her captive for eight years, is the strongest evidence to date that she is experiencing the Stockholm Syndrome. This is a state of mind in which a victim develops a sympathy for their tormentor. It can occur after only a few days captivity and it is, therefore, probable that a child such as Natascha held for such a lengthy period would develop the condition.
Some psychiatrists suggest the Stockholm Syndrome is an unconscious survival mechanism. It has been observed in hostages, cult members, battered women and victims of sexual and physical abuse. The term was coined in 1973 by the Swedish criminologist and psychiatrist, Nils Bejerot, who assisted the police during a bank robbery and hostage-taking siege in central Stockholm.
The drama unfolded when a prisoner on day release, Jan Erik Olsson, walked into a branch of Kreditbanken with a machine gun, took four employees hostage and demanded cash, a car, and that his friend, Clark Olofsson, a police killer, be allowed to join him. Olofsson was allowed into the bank and the pair and their hostages remained during phone negotiations with police. Between August 23rd and 28th, when the drama ended without loss of life or serious physical injury, it became apparent that a relationship had developed between at least one of the hostages and her abductors.
One of the captives, Kristin Ehnmark, told the police she felt confident with the robbers but feared the police might cause trouble using violence. On one occasion, Olofsson phoned Swedish prime minister Olof Palme and said he would kill the hostages. He started to strangle one of them as Palme hung up. The next day Ehnmark phoned Palme and said she was very displeased with his attitude, and asked him to let the robbers and the hostages leave. Olofsson later became friends with Ehnmark, as did their families. Ehnmark broke off her engagement to her fiance and remained in contact with Olofsson during his time in prison.
Psychiatrists, including Bejerot, who have studied the syndrome say symptoms can include: bonding with a captor or abuser; seeking favour and approval from the perpetrator; depending on the perpetrator for security and purpose of existence; befriending and caring for the captor; resenting police and authorities for their rescue attempts; losing one's own identity in order to identify with the captor or abuser; seeing things from the perspective of the perpetrator; valuing every small gesture of kindness, such as letting them live; and refusing to seek freedom even given the opportunity.
The best known case of probable Stockholm Syndrome involved Patty Hearst, the millionaire newspaper heiress, kidnapped in 1974 by the so-called Symbionese Liberation Army, a California-based terrorist group inspired by left-wing Latin American militias. After her abduction, Hearst was seen on CCTVparticipating in an SLA bank robbery.
A more recent probable example involves Daily Express journalist Yvonne Ridley, who was captured in Afghanistan in September 2001 by the Taliban and held for 11 days. During this time she promised an imam that she would study Islam if she was allowed to return to London.
After being freed, Ridley became a full convert to Islam and now espouses strong Islamist views, describing moderate Muslims as "house slaves".
She denies that her conversion resulted from the Stockholm Syndrome. "I was horrible to my captors. I spat at them and was rude and refused to eat," she has said.
"It wasn't until I was freed that I became interested in Islam."
The men whose actions in Stockholm spawned the term have experienced differing fortunes in the intervening years. In 1999, Olofsson was sentenced to 14 years in jail in Denmark for drug smuggling.
Olsson was sentenced to 10 years in prison. While inside he received many admiring letters from women. He later became engaged to one of them but after his release, he carried on with unlawful activities. But good fortune - or luck - shone on him this year. Having been on the run for 10 years for alleged financial crimes, he turned himself in - only to be told he could go as the charges were no longer being pursued.