WUNRN
Stockholm Syndrome, is a psychological phenomenon in which hostages express empathy and sympathy and have positive feelings toward their captors, sometimes to the point of defending them. These feelings are generally considered irrational in light of the danger or risk endured by the victims, who essentially mistake a lack of abuse from their captors for an act of kindness.[1][2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome
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http://www.fairobserver.com/article/stockholm-syndrome-sex-trafficking-why-dont-they-do-something
STOCKHOLM SYNDROME, TRAFFICKING, SEX WORKERS, HOSTAGES
21
August 2013 - By Dr.Shirley Jülich
From time to
time it is reported that yet another person, usually a young woman, has been
held hostage as a sex slave for a lengthy period. There have been the recent
events in Ohio, with Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight.
Before them, the media reported about Jaycee Lee Dugard of California, Natascha
Kampusch of Austria, and Elizabeth Smart of Utah. While we do not know all the
facts of the case in Ohio, it is known that in the other cases, victims had the
opportunity to leave or to ask someone for help in the later stages of their
captivity. They did not, and this puzzles the public.
Why do
hostages find it so difficult to leave? The answer is simple – Stockholm
Syndrome, a survival technique that enables a hostage to survive. It is also a
technique that victims of sex trafficking use to survive. There is an established body of literature documenting the contradictory relationship that develops between
hostages and hostage-takers. This phenomenon is usually referred to as the
Stockholm Syndrome; although it is sometimes known as the Hostage Identification
Syndrome, Survival Identification Syndrome, or traumatic bonding.
The term,
“Stockholm Syndrome,” was initially used in 1973 to describe what was
considered as unusual reactions of four bank employees, three women and one
man, who had been held hostage by two ex-convicts during a bank raid in
Stockholm, Sweden. Over their six days of captivity, the hostages developed an
emotional bond with the hostage-takers to the extent that they not only
identified with the hostage-takers, but came to view the police as the enemy
and subsequently attempted to protect the hostage-takers from the police. The
relationship between the hostages and hostage-takers did not stop at the end of
the siege, but carried on for years after the actual event. In their work on
Stockholm Syndrome, Dee Graham and her colleagues investigated the syndrome and
argued that bonding between an abuser and a victim occurred when four
pre-cursors were co-existent. Victims of sex trafficking – those who have
become involved in the sex trade voluntarily and those who have been tricked or
coerced – are subjected to these very same conditions.
Perceived
Threat to Survival
For most
victims of sex trafficking, there is a clear and direct threat to their
physical survival and the belief that the abuser is willing to carry out that
threat. For others it might be more subtle. Emotional abuse, or the threat of
harm, is a threat to physical survival. There might not be any threat to
survival at the beginning of the relationship, but once the victim is bonded to
the abuser and it is too late to escape, the victim will feel a very real
threat to his or her survival. Victims are dependent on the abuser, no matter
what their circumstances. They are very aware that they cannot survive without
the protection and support of the abuser. Some victims might experience threats
to their family and believe they are responsible for the safety of others
around them. Some might not be threatened so explicitly but they might believe
that if they ask for help or attempt to escape, they or their families could be
in danger.
Perception
of Kindness
People who
are threatened understand kindness quite differently to those whose survival is
not threatened. Victims are ashamed they are in these situations and so their
self-esteem is very low. They might think they are responsible. Perceptions of
kindness – even in the smallest form — can take on disproportionate
understandings. Many victims believe that the abuser loves them and this is
perceived as kindness; as is often the case between a pimp and the prostitute
he or she controls. If victims are subjected to physical or sexual violence,
its cessation is interpreted as kindness. Some victims might minimize what
has happened to them and make such comments as: “At least he
didn’t...,” “...hurt my family,” “it wasn’t that bad” or “it could have been
worse.” In some instances, victims are just thankful to be alive. All victims
of sexual trafficking over time are likely to misunderstand many small acts as
a demonstration of kindness.
Isolation
When people
are held hostage, they are physically isolated from other people and so from
perspectives other than those of the abuser. Victims of sex trafficking are not
isolated from others. The isolation they experience is not so obvious. An
outsider, a person who has not been subjected to the same dynamics as the
victim, is likely to be unable to understand why victims just don’t run away or
ask for help. From their perspective, the victim maintains contact with others
around them.
However, the
emotional and psychological isolation that victims experience is
profound. Survivors of child sexual abuse reported that abusers used a variety
of strategies to discourage their disclosure, such as threats of
violence against themselves and their families. Victims come to believe that
they have no one else to blame but themselves. They think no one will believe
them. They think they deserve what is happening to them and they are ashamed.
So victims of sexual trafficking become psychologically isolated from the
perspectives of those who have not been subjected to these complex dynamics. They
only know the perspective of the abuser. This sense of isolation can be
extremely difficult to break down.
Perceived
Inability to Escape
If hostages
are physically isolated from others, they obviously have limited opportunities,
if any, to escape. Abusers typically use violence to control victims. But in
the case of sexual trafficking, victims do not have access to their personal
identification documents – these are held by the abuser. Neither do they have
access to money.
So, if they
do escape, they cannot go far. There may be no family members nearby to help
them. It might be that these people, the very ones who should have protected
them, failed to do so for whatever reason. Some victims will have seen what has
happened to others if they try to escape. There will be other people,
bystanders, who know what is happening, but do nothing. They do nothing,
perhaps because they are receiving some sort of positive benefits from sex
trafficking, or because they too are subjected to the same sorts of dynamics to
which the victim has been subjected. They might be powerless, and unable to
act.
Victims of
sex trafficking will interpret this as further proof that they cannot escape.
For these victims, it is not merely a perception that they are unable to
escape: it is their reality.
Exposure to
these four conditions explains why victims of sexual trafficking cannot escape
as easily as outsiders might expect. Those who understand the phenomenon of
Stockholm Syndrome, such as Graham, would expect the development of a relationship
as I described in my research with survivors of child sexual abuse.
The abuser
threatens the victim’s survival, who, unable to escape and isolated from others,
turns to the abuser for protection. The need for protection, combined with the
will to survive, drives victims to actively search for expressions of kindness,
empathy or affection by the abuser. The victim suppresses any feelings of
danger, terror or rage and, through this denial, is able to bond to the
positive side of the abuse. So that they can survive, the victim becomes both
hypervigilant and hypersensitive to the abuser’s needs, feelings and
perspectives, suppressing their own needs. To effectively anticipate the needs
of the abuser, the victim views the world through the perspective of the abuser
and this translates into positive feelings for the abuser. The harder victims
must work to meet the needs of the abuser, the stronger their bond is to the
abuser. Victims come to view any would-be rescuers, such as parents, police,
therapists or friends, as the “bad guys,” because that is the abuser’s
perspective. The abuser becomes the “good guy” and victims eventually come to
believe that they deserve the abuse or are somehow responsible.
Events
identified as “acts of god,” such as natural disasters, earthquakes and the
like, provoke sympathy and empathy for the victim. This response is not always
the same for trauma caused by people. Bystanders, those working in the industry
or receiving services from it, tend to benefit from sexual trafficking; they
are unlikely to sympathize or empathize. They will do nothing — they will look
the other way.
Outsiders,
on the other hand, have not been subjected to the complex dynamics of Stockholm
Syndrome. Their perception is distorted by a need to believe that they would
act differently if they found themselves in a similar situation. While this can
be understood as a coping mechanism, unfortunately it serves to minimize the
realities of victims. This is further encouraged by the actions of the abuser,
as he or she undermines the credibility of the victim by using a range of
sophisticated arguments and rationalizations. The more powerful the abuser, the
more influential he or she is, and the more readily he or she can define
reality. Devalued members of society – children and women – will likely learn
that their realities occur outside of socially validated parameters.
Some writers
on Stockholm Syndrome support the idea that this syndrome develops over a
lengthy period of time, while others argue that it can develop very quickly. If
we took the time to examine our own reactions in different situations, we might
be surprised to discover that we tend to want to develop a bond with — or
accommodate — the person we find the most threatening. We try to personalize
ourselves to the abuser, encourage him or her to see us as human beings with
names, lives and families, and we do as we are told in the hope that we might
survive.
Stockholm
Syndrome, Hostage Identification Syndrome, Survival Identification Syndrome,
traumatic bonding or any other name it might be given, is a natural survival
technique that we all use to enable our survival. So too do victims of sexual
trafficking.
####
Author - Dr.
Shirley Jülich is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Health and Social
Services, Massey University, Albany. Her PhD investigated the complex
relationship between the criminal justice system, restorative justice, and
child sexual abuse from the perspective of adult survivors of child sexual
abuse.