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Why do kidnap victims sometimes fail to escape, even when they have the chance to run?
With the news from Missouri about the rescue of kidnap victim Shawn Hornbeck, the Steven Staynor, Patty Hearst, and Elizabeth Smart cases immediately come to mind. Why didn’t they run or cry out for help? It seems beyond reason. They all had ample opportunity.
A former FBI profiler appearing on the Today show said that Hornbeck was probably threatened and that he was afraid for both himself and his family. Could it possibly be that simple?
In 1973, a Swedish gunman held four bank employees hostage for almost six days. When released, the hostages expressed sympathy for their captor and defended his actions. It was certainly not the first time that this strange phenomenon was observed, but it did give rise to the term “Stockholm Syndrome,” an adaptive response that has been described in FBI bulletins and in the psychological literature. The victims bonded with their captor, identifying with him and attaching themselves emotionally.
The process involves a psychological defense mechanism that was first identified by Anna Freud, Sigmund’s daughter and a scholar in her own right. In a 1936 publication, Freud coined the term “identification with the aggressor.” Ordinarily, it is a normal and healthy process for people to identify with others, such as parents, and to establish loyalty and to take on their traits and their values. But at times, it becomes a perverted form of learning that is necessary for self protection. The need to defend oneself can involve a response to both psychic and physical threats.
This psychological response has been described in various ways, but it is perhaps easiest to understand in terms of our need for cognitive consistency and our drive to avoid anxiety and distress. A kidnap victim will obviously be terrified. But their life depends on the good will of their captor and their ability meet that person’s demands. A conflict will exist between the need to please and the loathing that is experienced. Psychologically, it is enormously difficult to entertain both thoughts or both motivations.
In the same way that a river will naturally change course when there is a break in a levee, the mind will resolve the conflict in the only way possible: changing one’s feelings about the aggressor. Adopting a positive attitude towards the one on whom your life now depends will serve to relieve the fear and distress, as well as insuring survival. The perpetrator becomes an ally, rather than an enemy. The relief from fear serves as a powerful reinforcement for the change in attitude, making that cognitive adjustment a real personal transformation, rather than just a contrived presentation.
This basic mechanism serves partly as an explanation for the fact that abused children often identify with their tormentors and grow up to be violent spouses and parents. It is also a component in the tendency of battered spouses to remain in abusive relationships, sometimes even defending the “partner” who tortures them.
After Patty Hearst was rescued, some commentators dismissed the possibility that she had been “brainwashed,” arguing that the clumsy band of criminals who seized her could not have possessed any of the sophistication necessary to accomplish such a feat. Correctly understood, the process requires no talent, training or intellect at all. All that is really required is a twisted mind, violent behavior and a threatening disposition, and the ability to isolate the victim from reality.
In these cases, the destruction of the victim’s will is facilitated by the nature of the threats. In addition to being told that they or their families will be killed, what they hear is that the authorities seeking their release are a threat because a rescue will involve violence. They also hear that they have been abandoned by those they love. Both threats become plausible to the victim. The victim will notice that in fact they have not been rescued by their loved ones, and they know that if the police come, they will come with guns drawn.
Over time, when the initial fears have subsided, the surreal essence of their captivity will come to seem normal. The cage will become familiar. It will feel safe and even ordinary, a space that needs to be protected. The point is that over time, one cannot survive emotionally without adjusting and adapting to the reality of captivity, or without accepting the reality imposed by the psychopath in control.
Is this a conscious process of accommodation? Quite certainly not. Could you or any other ordinary person fall victim in the same way? That is hard to know. It would depend on the circumstances, but the answer is most probably yes. What is certain is that it is hard to for us to comprehend how this can happen, because we all believe it could not happen to us, that we would not react in a similar manner.
The latter issue - our difficulty in understanding or accepting how this might happen - is a topic that is itself of psychological interest. It is related to the frequent observation that in the face of tragedy or disaster, observers often tend to “blame the victim” or to focus on how the victim might have contributed to their own suffering. Again, the motivation involves the drive for cognitive consistency. Albert Camus made this point in his novel The Plague. What his characters reveal is that people have a hard time accepting the fact that bad things can happen to good people, and therefore, people will often alter their perceptions of a victim, assuming that they must somehow be at fault. This cognitive distortion provides a sense of relief or relief from fear: “I’m a good person, so it couldn’t happen to me ... I am safe from such harm because I would never have put myself in that position ... if faced with similar circumstances, I would have acted differently.”
In fact, we don’t really know if we might have behaved differently, but we find relief in the belief. That is what makes it so difficult to understand why Patty Hearst, Steven Staynor, Elizabeth Smart and now Shawn Hornbeck didn’t run. It is similarly difficult to understand why some people remain in abusive relationships. From a psychological perspective, it is actually quite easy to understand how they were controlled, even when they were not under direct control. They were each in a cage with bars that were stronger than steel.
Copyright, Paul G. Mattiuzzi,Ph.D.
19 comments:
Great article thanks.
Now we can add Jaycee Dugard. This article helps to understand.
I came across and read this because of the Jaycee Lee Dugard case - it is a very interesting article, which helps clarify things.
Your article explains really well. I read this because of Jaycee Lee Dugard.
I hope and pray that Jaycee and her daughters can be successfully resocialized. It will take a miracle it seems.
I also read because of Jaycee. Thanks.
I am a survivor of long term domestic violence...in the form of years and years (15+) of physical, emotional, and extreme sexual abuse. I can attest to this phenomena happening, along with the reality of post traumatic stress symptoms, such as flashbacks, and extreme memory lapses, "forgetting" the abuse...in order to cope and live. Blaming a victim is society's way of saying ,"this could never happen to me." It is a societal form of coping with the unthinkable...of coping with man's inhumanity to man/woman. Do not ever ask why the victim did not leave...ask why the perpetrators aren't in jail. There is nothing "domestic" about domestic violence..it is criminal...it is violence. It is one of America's dark secrets.
I also read because I was concerned and curious of what might happen to Jaycee Dugard in her new life after her kidnapping... thanks for the article.
I have often wondered about this topic. This is the best explaination I've ever read. Thank you.
I just finished reading Slave Dancer by Paula Fox, in which a 13 year old boy is kidnapped by slavers and forced to endure a slave ship journey to Africa. During that time, he managed to stay resolutely against slavery, though the rest of the crew were pro-slavery, with the silent exception of one "Christian" mate, Ned Grimes, the ship carpenter. Is it realistic to think that a 13 year old boy could stand psychologically against an entire crew?
I've been working at understanding more of perhaps what Jaycee experienced. I experienced a lot of damage being raised in many different foster care homes from a young age. Even in the worst of homes I was always told by everyone on the 'outside' how 'lucky' I was to have a home. If we complained about any of the abuse our lives were made even more of a living hell. I am to this day a very quiet person because I learned to keep my mouth shut and ears and eyes open. I find it very hard to trust anyone but found and married my very best of friends. Adjusting will be hard for Jaycee and everyone that loves her but she is a survivor!!! She will make a good life for herself. Everyone needs to be super gentle and supportive of her. She does not need anyone's judgement only our love.
I am also a survivor and experienced 18 years of battering in the home as a child growing up. The power was in the hands of my father and I had come to identify with him and look to him in admiration since he had the respect and the power. I placed blame on my mother since she sat by all those years and did nothing--did not come to my rescue. She was also a victim. Sad.
Thank you for making sense of something that has troubled me for over 30 years.
The explaination of how we have a hard time accepting the fact that bad things can happen to good people still has me thinking. I also cannot get out of my mind how many years sooner Jaycee could have escaped her hell if a couple of parole officers & local officials had done their job.
Excellent article. I have never understood this phenom better than I do now. I also understand now why I "looked up" to my abusive mother and always covered her tracks. Thank you for clarification and an explanation that helps us all understand the many facets of human survival.
I am a state official in New York and although I have had the prior knowledge/experience necessary to fully understand stockholm syndrome, I to this day still find myself at times thinking this victim had put themselves in this position. Cognitive therapy is one of the only ways known to unlock some of the 90 some odd % of the human brains power and capacity that we havn't ourselves yet to learn how and what we can do to adapt/survive any earthly manifestations. I have seen many cases such as the above mentioned, each with slight variations and it has brought me to wonder - Do we sometimes accept pyschological torture as a means to expand our own pyschological endurance? Perhaps victims that have exercised behavior such as stolkholm syndrome do not realize they are subconciously "testing themselves" to become more powerful and to potentially explore other powers of the human brain for self-expansion? Perhaps it is a test of endurance. The article is very well-written and helps bring a more clear understanding to the layperson of what triggers these behaviors. "This wouldn't happen to me because I am now aware of this mechanism called stockholm syndrome...not true. Can you imagine peacefully enduring a 20 year sentence in an enclosed prison cell? Perhaps not, however there have been countless cases of individuals who want to return to prison because they are overwhelmed by the pressure of the "outside world". This is because after such a period of time, that cell is what they've come to know and love as home. Pre-modern civilization humans perhaps couldn't ever imagine being content living inside a home, sleeping on a mattress, or laboring 8 hour days for a piece of paper that establishes value and freedom...This is where I can see religion and science come together. God's design is more powerful than any of us may ever know. Perhaps the perputrator has fallen victim to his own plan and the victim has developed a more powerful adaptive system that will help them handle something seemingly more out of their control in the future or perhaps coach others on a path to freedom.
why do domestic violence sufferers go back?
Everyone should be required to read about Stockholm Syndrome in school. Then maybe there would be a lot more sympathy & empathy for kidnap victims& abused women. Way too many people in this world succumb to the "blame-the-victim" mentality. It's way past time people started blaming the criminals/abusers.
a very insightful article... and no, I don't think it could be taught in schools. It is also another thing to understand child development in this matter. How children learn things, understand their situation ..etc... it may be difficult for children to plan ahead like adults what they should do to avoid this and that..etc... if as a child, they have not learned to grow and understand themselves, it might be difficult for them to understand what is happening to them as well when they are adults....
my 2 cents...
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