Stockholm Syndrome is a pretty weird syndrome; its symptoms include getting deeply attached to your captors during a kidnapping when there haven’t been any previous relationships between you and them. It was discovered in 1973 in Stockholm, Sweden (hence, the name). In August 1973, four employees of Sveriges Kreditbank (a local bank) were held hostage in the bank’s vault for six days. During the standoff, a seemingly weird bond developed between captives and captors, where the former fell in love with the latter. This was further proved because when the captors were caught and sent to jail, the employees visited them weekly during official visiting times, often bringing flowers with them.
Another case was of Mary McElroy, who was the daughter of a judge and got kidnapped in 1933 when she was 25. The kidnappers invaded her home when her father was not around and caught her while she was taking a shower, told her to dress up and took her to a basement and locked her up, only to release her when they were paid 30,000 USD. When they were caught, she begged the judge to let them go and sided with them, and when the leader got sentenced to hanging, she burst out crying and pleaded with the judge to give him a life sentence instead- which he later did. After they were locked up, she would go visit them and talk to them regularly.
Now you might be wondering why 8% of people fall in love with their captors… Here is the reason: it’s a survival tactic- a coping mechanism. When a person is held captive, the captor decides if they get to live or not, and so the captive begins behaving nicely towards their captors (to gain their favour). After some time, the captive finds it normal to be nice to their capturers and no longer have to force themselves or pretend to harbour these positive emotions. Once that happens, any acts of kindness from the captors start to seem like amazing, merciful gestures- that they are behaving out of their own innate compassion and goodness, and so, the kidnapped begin to fall for their captors.
