Stockholm Syndrome: The Disorder That Doesn't Exist
Stockholm syndrome is one of the most famous concepts in psychology, but there's a problem: it isn't an established psychiatric disorder, and the science behind it is surprisingly weak. In this episode, we trace the bizarre origins of Stockholm syndrome to a 1973 Swedish bank robbery, explore how Patty Hearst brought the idea into the American spotlight, and examine why victims of abuse, coercion, and captivity sometimes appear to bond with the people harming them. Is this really a psychological syndrome, or have we spent fifty years putting a questionable label on human survival?
The skinny
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