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PST 321 INSTRUCTOR'S NOTES - WEEK FIVE STOCKHOLM SYNDROMEChapter 5 deals with the fascinating topic of the Stockholm Syndrome. Many experts today now refer to the Stockholm Syndrome as Pathological Transference. It is truly amazing to see the way the Stockholm Syndrome affects hostages. In last week’s instructor notes I mentioned a situation where a subject took his ex-wife and stepchildren hostage and shot through his wife and stepdaughter’s hair. About nine hours into that situation, the subject’s wife took the phone and proceeded to curse me and tell me that we “just needed to leave” and “everything would be alright.” She could not understand why we were not bringing beer to her ex-husband and why we were giving “them” such a hard time. This is the same woman that had been screaming for help a few hours before and had told me on the phone earlier that we would have to kill him because he would never come out alive. It is almost surreal to see how people can change in these extreme situations. It is very important that you plan to address the effects of the Stockholm Syndrome before you find yourself having to deal with it. Be very careful what you say to hostages. My rule-of-thumb is to talk to the hostages as if the hostage taker is listening (because he may very well be). Even if the hostage taker is not listening, you may find that the hostages will tell the hostage taker what you have said. This can be devastating to your position in the negotiation process. The best way to deal with this phenomenon is to treat everybody on the inside the same regarding information. I do not mean to imply that the Stockholm Syndrome is a bad thing. To the contrary, the Stockholm Syndrome will almost always work in your favor if you learn to recognize it and use it to your advantage. A form of the Stockholm Syndrome can develop between the negotiator and the hostage taker. It is very difficult to tell when the Stockholm Syndrome is affecting your judgment. This is another reason for using a team to negotiate. It is important that the negotiator not lose objectivity during negotiations. In the relationship between negotiator and hostage taker, some level of Stockholm Syndrome is a good thing. The trick is knowing when to take a break and when to ride it out. Time is almost always your ally in negotiations. It increases the influx of the Stockholm Syndrome, but it can also increase the stress in the situation. The negotiator must learn to sculpt time, to utilize it to his advantage.
Negotiation Golden Rule # 4: “Men, when
they receive good from whence they expect evil, feel the more indebted to their
benefactor…” Machiavelli, The Prince, 1513 |