Stockholm Syndrome: Post Traumatic True Son

Stockholm syndrome “It just doesn’t make sense to so many people. How could Shawn Hornbeck ride his bike, surf the Internet, make phone calls, even go to a school dance, and not escape from Michael J. Devlin, the man accused of kidnapping him and holding him hostage for more than four years? He could have told someone. He could have alerted his parents. Ten months after he disappeared, he talked to police officer about his stolen bike. He could have asked for help then. Why didn’t he just bolt when he was away from Devlin?”-Tina Hesman Saey Jan.21, 2007 The answer to this is that Shawn Hornbeck had Stockholm syndrome. Stockholm syndrome is also known as Survival Identification syndrome. Stockholm syndrome usually comes with Post Traumatic

True Son was kidnapped when he was 4 years old. Whenever the victim is a child, the Stockholm syndrome is usually more severe because they rely on their captors for survival. True Son was showed kindness and spent several days with Cuyloga when he had his blood changed from white blood to Indian blood. True Son had many chances to run, leave, or kill them but he did not. True Son did not do any of this because he had Stockholm syndrome.

Del Hardy was also kidnapped as a child by the Native American people. Del later in his life became a translator for the white people to talk to the Native Americans. Two reasons Del might have not got Stockholm syndrome is he might have been abused in some type of way by his captors or he had a strong hatred toward Native American people. This is actually really realistic because Stockholm syndrome is very rare when the captor does not show kindness or abuses the victim either physically, emotionally/mentally, or

They create this bond with their captive. True Son created a bond with the Lenni Lenape tribe because he was afraid of them and relied on them for resources that he could not gain on his own. True Son overcame the fear that he had. The biggest step of courage True Son had was when Thitpan and men of the Lenni Lenape tribe wanted to get revenge for Little Cranes death. They used True Son as a trap to bribe white people to come help him. He yells “Brothers. Help! Brothers. I am English. I have white skin like you!”- Page 108. A boat full of white people all of a sudden is going toward True Son to help him. True Son knows his captors are going to kill everyone on the boat. Then he sees a little boy that reminds him of his biological Brother and so he changes his mind and quickly yells “Take him back! It’s an ambush!” – Page 109 The Light in the Forest. This is where True Son shattered the bond inside of him that held him to his captive. True Son finally defeated his worst enemy, himself.

There is no cure for Stockholm syndrome but treatment is available. Treatment of Stockholm is a combination of medications. The amount of time a person stays in treatment for Stockholm syndrome depends on how severe the case is. There have been cases to where the victims do not want to participate in treatment. It is not unusual for the victim to be insubordinate and defend the captor.

“Shawn was reunited with his family on Jan.12 after being