The Flip Side of Profiling: Coercion & the Captive Mind
The Strand Magazine asked me to write an article about Stockholm syndrome and it was posted today! Here's a taste:
THE FLIP SIDE OF PROFILING: COERCION & THE CAPTIVE MIND
Years ago, I wrote a true account of an astonishing crime that gave me nightmares: Twenty-year-old Colleen Stan was kidnapped at knifepoint, locked in a coffin-sized box, and held captive for over seven years. She was subjected to unthinkable deprivation and abuse.
She finally escaped, but at her kidnapper’s trial, the defense attorney startled everyone by portraying this captor/captive “relationship” as consensual. Indeed, the victim had failed to seize multiple opportunities to escape. Why?
You’re probably thinking “Stockholm syndrome,” but the term was so poorly understood in those days that journalists actually wagered over whether this sadistic kidnapper would be set free. Luckily, the jury also heard the testimony of expert witnesses who explained Stockholm syndrome as existing on a spectrum of mental coercion, or “brainwashing.”
Thus began my lifelong obsession with a niche of forensic psychology that is essentially the flip side of profiling, looking not at perpetrators, but victims.
Here’s a bit of background: The term Stockholm syndrome was coined by a Swedish criminologist in 1973 after a team of bank robbers locked hostages in a vault for six days. Some of the captives later expressed affection and sympathy for their captors. This seemingly counterintuitive response is a survival mechanism that has since been seen in so many cases—plane hijackings, prison riots, POWs—that hostage negotiators are trained to anticipate it.
...
If you'd like to read the whole article, here's the link: https://www.strandmag.com/the-flip-si...
THE FLIP SIDE OF PROFILING: COERCION & THE CAPTIVE MIND
Years ago, I wrote a true account of an astonishing crime that gave me nightmares: Twenty-year-old Colleen Stan was kidnapped at knifepoint, locked in a coffin-sized box, and held captive for over seven years. She was subjected to unthinkable deprivation and abuse.
She finally escaped, but at her kidnapper’s trial, the defense attorney startled everyone by portraying this captor/captive “relationship” as consensual. Indeed, the victim had failed to seize multiple opportunities to escape. Why?
You’re probably thinking “Stockholm syndrome,” but the term was so poorly understood in those days that journalists actually wagered over whether this sadistic kidnapper would be set free. Luckily, the jury also heard the testimony of expert witnesses who explained Stockholm syndrome as existing on a spectrum of mental coercion, or “brainwashing.”
Thus began my lifelong obsession with a niche of forensic psychology that is essentially the flip side of profiling, looking not at perpetrators, but victims.
Here’s a bit of background: The term Stockholm syndrome was coined by a Swedish criminologist in 1973 after a team of bank robbers locked hostages in a vault for six days. Some of the captives later expressed affection and sympathy for their captors. This seemingly counterintuitive response is a survival mechanism that has since been seen in so many cases—plane hijackings, prison riots, POWs—that hostage negotiators are trained to anticipate it.
...
If you'd like to read the whole article, here's the link: https://www.strandmag.com/the-flip-si...
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