Psych 101 | What is Stockholm Syndrome?

You may have heard Stockholm Syndrome mentioned when people talk about things like true crime or Beauty and the Beast, but what is it really? Where did the term come from? Why does it happen? And how common is it?

Well, you’re in luck for some answers!

We did the research, so you don’t have to.


Stockholm syndrome is generally defined as the occurrence where hostages form emotional attachments to their captors and/or begin to feel sympathy for them. Criminologist and psychiatrist Nils Bejerot first coined the term Stockholm Syndrome in 1973.