In Love With Your Captor: The Stockholm Syndrome

People have always been curious about why some hostages either fall in love or are protective of their captors. It is a psychological condition so complex that even after being given a name only a mere forty-one years ago, there are still studies conducted to determine why it is that some people are more prone to Stockholm Syndrome than others.

Jan-Eric Olsson being taken into custody by gas-masked police

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In 1973, two armed men, Jan-Eric Olsson and Clark Oloffson held hostage four employees of Kreditbanken, a bank based in Stockholm, Sweden. In the matter of a mere six days, the hostages had taken sides of their captors, as they tried to rescue them (the captors) and even trying to save them after they had surrendered. One called the then Prime Minister of Sweden Olof Palme, scolding him to let both the captors and the hostages free. She continued to remain friends with Olofsson in particular after his arrest.

More recent cases involving Stockholm Syndrome would perhaps be those of Elizabeth Smart in 2003 where she only admitted to being herself after being shown a picture of her before she was abducted and Shawn Hornbeck in 2002 who did not reveal his predicament to police officers when he had the opportunity to do so during his captivity.

There are several reasons as to why hostages develop Stockholm Syndrome some of which are a threat to their lives or those of their loved one, some kindness from their captor, the feeling of being continually watched and the threat that they would continually be harmed even after escaping.

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Literature and movies have always romanticized the idea of being captured and falling in love with captors. Tales like Beauty and the Beast and movies such as Seven Brides for Seven Brothers immediately spring to mind. But are they true to the condition of Stockholm Syndrome? Does the freedom to choose to fall in love make it any different from Stockholm Syndrome?

My romantic sensibilities would think it is different. In Beauty and the Beast for instance, the Beast changes to accommodate Belle in his life and so do the brothers in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Other than that, there would have been no continual threat to the lives of these captives had they chosen to leave them.

And more than anything else, there is the idea that both the captive and captor had fallen in love and lived 'happily ever after'- so to speak.



While some are averse to stories of captivity, there are others who will continue to be mystified and dream of some swashbuckling beast who they could tame and fall in love with.

My new romance titled "Captive: Veiled Desires" touches on love with a captor.

Nora Jennings quit her job as a photographer for a small community newspaper to fulfill her dreams of traveling. First stop-Kashmir, the land renowned as heaven on Earth.

But dreams have a terrible habit of turning into a nightmare. And suddenly she finds herself bound and gagged in Afghanistan, ready to be wedded to Pashtun brute, Adam Afridi.