"Stockholm Syndrome Doesn't Exist."

This phrase has been increasing in some parts of the online sphere, and for good reason.

You may have heard about the hostage situation that occurred at a bank in Stockholm and the hostages who came to actually appreciate their captors. In fact, one of them even fell in love with their assailants! How scandalous, right?

Wrong.

After those grueling days during the 1973 bank robbery in Stockholm, Sweden, psychologist Nils Bejerot spoke to none of the hostages and still diagnosed them with Norrmalmstorgssyndromet, or "The Norrmalm Square syndrome". Why? Because the men and women refused to testify against their captors. However, the reason had much less to do with infatuation and much more to do with how the police and the prime minister, Olof Palme, dealt with the robbery attempt:

• Misunderstanding who was actually committing the crime
• Trying to send a minor-aged family member to calm the situation, leading to the person almost getting shot
• Sending a requested accomplice to the crime scene to participate in said crime
• Attempting dangerous plans that further threatened the lives of the hostages in order to not back down in the face of the captors

In the case of Kristin Enmark, an employee of the sieged bank and outspoken critic of the police, Dr. Bejerot's misplaced diagnosis induced implications that she developed sexual affections toward her captors, which she swiftly denied and has denied for many, many years since then.

There have been a few cases in which short-term trauma bonding has occurred between hostages and their assailants, and there's good reason for that to happen. Hostages have been able to save themselves through their cooperation and temporary, genuine affection, much like the Suspension Bridge Effect.

However, I think that we should no longer attach the Stockholm name to it, considering that the former hostages, especially the most outspoken ones, have long stated they refused to testify against their captors because were dissatisfied with the police and government out of their incompetence, not because they fell in romantic love with their captors.

Trauma Bonding usually requires cyclical, longer-term abuse. To account for the short-term nature of the affection and the symptoms, I propose renaming Stockholm syndrome to Survivalist Affective syndrome.

I believe the renaming could also allow a further expansion and study of these behaviors. By shedding the faulty name, we can truly come to understand that these behaviors are based on survival rather than blaming victims for attempting to live through what seem to be insurmountable circumstances, like trafficking, domestic violence, and cult dynamics.

It's time to move on from misinformation and base our naming conventions on something more factual.