The Primary Cause Of Stockholm Syndrome By Patty Hearst

Stockholm Syndrome has become a known topic because of Patty Hearst. She was kidnapped at the age of 19 years old, and it has affected her life ever since. She developed emotions towards her captors that she still cannot explain. Stockholm Syndrome can be best described as feelings of trust and affection felt in certain cases of kidnapping by a victim toward a captor. The abuser’s treatment of the victim is the primary cause of Stockholm Syndrome. Psychological abuse is a common strategy used by abusers to control their victim. The victim feels vulnerable because the abuser has authority over their actions. They also dictate what they eat or where they stay. The victims have a lack of control in their lives, and this can create powerlessness.

If the victim does not comply, more sexual abuse and harm is the result if they refuse. The prey will experience a lost ability to think because they do not make their own decisions. In the article by William, he supports this by saying, “The perceived inability to escape the situation-- you have been belittled and beaten down so long you begin to lose all self- respect and begin to question your own abilities.” The abuser uses the method of terrorization to make the victim listen and obey. Patty Hearst was raped and physically abused, and she said “they stole her reputation.” The physical abuse would frighten the victims which is why they ended up losing their identity. They lost themselves to the obeying because they had to

It disrupts or changes their way of thinking because they are with their captor continuously. The captor may even have small moments of kindness towards the victim which tricks the victim into thinking they care about them. This is what starts the emotions with in the captive’s head. The captive convinces themselves that they truly love their kidnapper, and these feelings are real. For Patty Hearst, she was more of an emotional mess after the experience. She would see the newspapers about her, and it reminded her about those moments. In the article by Gross, the author wrote, “… she (Patty Hearst) has never re-read news accounts of her ordeal, looked at photographs of herself in radical uniform...” Patty refused to see or hear anything with her involvement with the captors because it was a very emotional