How crazy would it be to fall in love with someone who holds you captive. This is called Stockholm syndrome, which is a psychological disorder that causes a person to fall in love with their captor. Moreover, when it comes to domestic violence, the victims most times tend to go back to their abusers, refuse to report their abusers and continuously allow their abusers to have a massive hold over them.

In an article from a criminal justice research website, it states that, Stockholm Syndrome was discovered by Lange (1974), who portrayed an interesting bond which was  created between bank-worker hostages and their detainers after a bank burglary in Stockholm, Sweden. In the wake of investigating this record, as well as broadly reviewing nine ”prisoner” gatherings (prisoners, death camp detainees, detainees of war, regular citizens held in Chinese Communist jails, incest victims, mishandled kids, cult members, battered ladies, and pimp-prosistute relationships), Graham and partners recognized conditions under which this holding creates; the psychodynamics of the holding; proof that a security (which is bidirectional) has created; and mental outcomes of this holding.

Is Stockholm syndrome a leading factor for domestic violence? possibly. Women stay in abusive relationships for many reasons. In my opinion it’s not a one size fits all. However, it is debatable because the abuser is keeping the victim emotionally, psychologically as a hostage, when in reality the victim is free to walk away at any time. There are situations such as kidnapping where the victim can’t escape but ends up starting a family with the person that held her captive and fell in love with them. Moreover, there are many ways to look at this topic at different angles.

What makes the person stay is seeing kindness. When the abuser shows a form of kindness that allows the victim to feel pity. To feel that the person may change or to have hope that things will get better, the victim allows kindness to cloud her judgment.

Domestic Violence affects people differently but the most important thing is to recognize is despite the kindness that is deep inside the abuser, the victim should find courage and strength to realize that hoping and wishing isn’t enough and to be able to walk away once and for all.