Is Stockholm Syndrome the same as Trauma Bonding?

Video Description

This video answers the question: What is the Stockholm Syndrome? I've also had some other questions that are related to this asking about whether “trauma bonding” is really the same thing. The term Stockholm Syndrome is theorized as related to other in some way like “identification with the aggressor,” “trauma bonding,” “battered women's syndrome” and “learned helplessness.” This gets into a controversial area because Stockholm Syndrome has been expanded into a lot of these other areas, so we see a parallel between hostage taking and intimate partner violence and other situations similar to that. Where did we get the term “Stockholm Syndrome?” In 1973, there was a bank robbery in Stockholm, Sweden where the bank employees who were held hostage during the robbery bonded with and eventually defended their captors. There have been many other examples of this phenomenon. In the United States in 1974, we see a famous case with an heiress named Patty Hearst. She was kidnapped by a violent left-wing group and eventually she joined them and committed crimes along with them. More recently, we see the case Elizabeth Smart, who was kidnapped and had opportunities to escape but didn't take them. De Fabrique, N., Romano, S. J., Vecchi, G. M., & Van Hasselt, V. B. (2007). Understanding Stockholm Syndrome. FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, 76(7), 10 Mehlman-Orozco, K. (2018). Projected heroes and self-perceived manipulators: understanding the duplicitous identities of human traffickers. Conference Papers -- American Society of Criminology, 1–20. Jameson, C. (2010). The “Short Step” from Love to Hypnosis: A Reconsideration of the Stockholm Syndrome. Journal for Cultural Research, 14(4), 337–355. Obeid, S., & Hallit, S. (2018). Correlation of the Stockholm syndrome and early maladaptive schemas among Lebanese women victims of beating into domestic/marital violence. Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice, 7(3–4), 171–182.