Stockholm syndrome is a theorized condition in which hostages develop a psychological bond with their captors during captivity. It is supposed to result from a rather specific set of circumstances, namely the power imbalances contained in hostage-taking, kidnapping, and abusive relationships. Therefore, it is difficult to find a large number of people who experience Stockholm syndrome to conduct studies with any sort of power. This makes it hard to determine trends in the development and effects of the condition— and, in fact, it is a "contested illness" due to doubt about the legitimacy of the condition.Emotional bonds may be formed between captors and captives, during intimate time together, but these are generally considered irrational in light of the danger or risk endured by the victims. Stockholm syndrome has never been included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or DSM, the standard tool for diagnosis of psychiatric illnesses and disorders in the US, mainly due to the lack of a consistent body of academic research. The syndrome is rare: according to data from the FBI, about 8% of hostage victims show evidence of Stockholm syndrome.This term was first used by the media in 1973 when four hostages were taken during a bank robbery in Stockholm, Sweden. The hostages defended their captors after being released and would not agree to testify in court against them.
And here was my first television and my first cartoon and my first superhero — a hero who like my father, was in America—and somehow it all came together for me in a lightning bolt of longing and imagination. My fathers’ absence made perfect sense. He couldnt come back right away because he was busy fighting crime in NYC...as Spider–Man. The diasporic imagination really is its own superpower...I believed I had seen my father on that TV, and if I paid close enough attention it would show him to me again...For the record: my father did eventually return and take us to the States...My father was the worst shock of all. He had no problem laying hands on us kids for the slightest infraction. Beatings like he was making up for lost time. Like he was mad that he had a family...Are you surprised, then, that I was drawn back to the television? Because I was lost, because I wanted help with my English, because my father was a nightmare. And because I was convinced, foolish little fantasist that I was, that somehow my family and I had ended up in the wrong America and that the country and the father I’d first glimpsed on TV in Santo Domingo, the country and father I’d been promised, was still out there somewhere. I just had to find them. Never did.