What is the Stockholm Syndrome Told In Clark And How Does It Work? Here Everything Explained
The life of Swedish robber Clark Olofsson is told in the Netflix series Clark. In one of his most famous strokes of him, an incredible event took place that gave its name to a well-known psychological stage, called the Stockholm Syndrome. Let’s retrace the events that led to the birth of this term together and try to understand what exactly Stockholm Syndrome is and what Clark Olofsson has to do with his discovery.
What is Stockholm Syndrome?
Stockholm Syndrome is an altered condition of the human psyche, characterized by a profound psychological dependence (often of an emotional nature) of one subject towards another who has violent, abusive, and sometimes life-threatening attitudes towards him. In simpler words, someone with Stockholm Syndrome experiences positive feelings, sometimes even affection towards a person who has negative, violent attitudes towards him and who threatens him with death.
The Stockholm Syndrome would be a sort of defense mechanism of the psyche that, in moments of imprisonment or violence, comes to become attached to, submit and completely depend on those who abuse the person (usually deprived of his freedom) to survive.
Does Stockholm Syndrome Exist?
No psychology textbook recognizes the existence of the Stockholm Syndrome and even the few studies carried out on it do not give certain results concerning its existence. The scientific opinion of the experts is that it is a very peculiar case of the whole spectrum of reactions with which the psyche is confronted with highly traumatic or violent episodes if it exists. The syndrome would be a manifestation of that range of complex and surprising reactions that arise between subjects with a strong disparity of power, in which one is submissive to another.
In the collective imagination, however, the Stockholm Syndrome enjoys enormous popularity. It has become a way of saying to indicate all those situations in which a person entangled in a strongly negative situation, inexplicably binds with the one or she who is hurting him. It is often used in journalism and literature to describe sick, violent love relationships, in which one side is mistreated by the other but remains inexplicably linked.
Why is Stockholm Syndrome so Called?
As explained in the Clark series, Stockholm Syndrome is linked to the robbery that Jan-Erik Olsson attempted on August 23, 1973, at the Sveriges Kreditbanken in Stockholm. Escaped from prison, Olsson stormed the bank and managed to take four people hostage.The three women and a man were a cashier, a stenographer, an employee, and a new employee, all very young. The story immediately received huge media coverage: Sweden and the world followed the story for a whole week, with bated breath.
When negotiations began with the police for the release of the hostages, Olsson asked that his friend Clark Olofsson, known in prison, be released. The police, worried about the safety of the four young people, also agreed to this request. Clark joined Jan-Erik at the bank and, despite the police having made a car available for their escape, the two remained locked in the building with the hostages for 130 hours, or almost 6 days of imprisonment.
After the police raid, it was discovered that during the 6 days of captivity the four hostages had fraternized with the kidnappers, to the point that they feared the actions of the police more than those of the criminals. For the first time in Swedish history, the abductees were also subjected to a psychological investigation. A degree of deep gratitude and empathy with their captors emerged. Small kind gestures by Jan-Erik and Clark led the 4 to feel protected and reassured, so much so that after their arrest, they asked about their health and went to visit them in prison. Astonished psychiatrists gave the phenomenon the name of Stockholm Syndrome.
However, this definition became enormously popular only a year later, when it was used by Patty Hearst to defend herself in a trial in which she was accused of robbing several banks. The defense claimed that, after being kidnapped by a group of members of the Symbionese Liberation Army, the woman had become a victim of Stockholm Syndrome, so her guilt was limited. The heart was still sentenced to 35 years in prison, but after only 22 months she got a sentence discount, and later she was pardoned and got a pardon.
How Does Stockholm Syndrome Work?
According to what was observed after the events at the Sveriges Kreditbanken in Stockholm, a person in a profound situation of danger and stress can “cling” to small gestures of apparent kindness from his kidnapper, kidnapper, or jailer, creating a bond of empathy.
The 4 hostages of Olsson and Olofsson reported that they felt grateful to the kidnappers for allowing them to stretch their legs, for lending a jacket to the cashier when she was cold, and for comforting a hostage after a bad dream. The abductee’s view is distorted: for example, when Olsson threatens to shoot a hostage in the leg if the police attempt to break into the bank, he felt gratitude for the choice of the leg and not horror at the thought of being wounded. The few known cases that would fit into the profile tend to develop in situations of imprisonment, kidnapping, kidnapping, and in general in a sudden and violent context of deprivation of liberty.
What is The Link between Stockholm Syndrome and Clark Olofsson?
Clark Olofsson is one of two kidnappers who held the four bank employees hostage who were the main Stockholm Syndrome case study. Olofsson in particular was the protagonist of many of those “kind gestures” that induced the 4 to empathize with the kidnappers, defending them. The story of Clark Olofsson shows how, in addition to being particularly attractive, he knew how to fascinate people.
