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Why People Fall In Love with Their Kidnappers?
Abuse, abuse, abuse and Love
Remember how in a famous Netflix series Money Heist, a bank employee falls in love with one of the kidnappers Denver? We all saw how romantic it was. But why love your kidnapper, when there is a world full of people? As taboo as it sounds, this happens to almost 8% of the people. Well, this weird phenomena is called the Stockholm Syndrome. Trust me it’s weirder than it seems.
First, it was discovered in 1973 in a city called Stockholm in Sweden when a similar money heist situation occurred in a bank in Stockholm. 4 bank employees were held hostage by robbers in a bank’s vault and the negotiations on the ransom started. The robbers demanded 3 million Swedish Krona, a car full tank, and a hostage to flee securely. This whole crime was being aired on television across the world. All their demands were fulfilled except the demand of taking a hostage with them although one of the hostages agreed to go with the robbers.
Finally, after 130 hours — 5 days, when police got a hold of the situation, they were surprised to see the hostages hugging, kissing, and weeping with the kidnappers on their arrest. This was the first time when such an incident caught the world’s attention. However, many similar incidents were noted where both male and female hostages actually started sympathizing with the kidnappers.
In 1933, Mary McElroy when she was 25, was abducted by four men and kept in a farmhouse for ransom. When she was released from the kidnapper’s hold, she started defending them saying they were but businessmen. Later, she kept visiting the kidnappers in the prison and finally committed suicide leaving a note. In the note, she said that only those four men didn’t consider her to be an utter fool. ‘You have your death penalty now — so, please, give them a chance.’
Why does this happen?
Stockholm syndrome is not limited to kidnapper-hostage relationships, most common scenes of Stockholm syndrome can be witnessed in households with domestic violence. Also in the abusive relationships where the battered women and men defend their spouses despite the torcher, they inflict upon them. But why does this happen, why do victims start empathizing with the abusers?
