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by praptak 1054 days ago
Well this article seems to classify it as pure bullshit: https://www.stadafa.com/2020/12/stockholm-syndrome-discredit...

"The psychiatrist who invented it, Nils Bejerot, never spoke to the woman he based it on, never bothered to ask her why she trusted her captors more than the authorities. More to the point, during the Swedish bank heist that inspired the syndrome, Bejerot was the psychiatrist leading the police response. He was the authority that Kristin Enmark – the first woman diagnosed with Stockholm syndrome – distrusted."

"On the radio, Enmark criticized the police, and singled out Bejerot. In response, and without once speaking to her, Bejerot dismissed her comments as the product of a syndrome he made up: ‘Norrmalmstorg syndrome’ (later renamed Stockholm syndrome). The fear Enmark felt towards the police was irrational, Bejerot explained, caused by the emotional or sexual attachment she had with her captors. Bejerot’s snap diagnosis suited the Swedish media; they were suspicious of Enmark, who ‘did not appear as traumatized as she ought to be.’ "

At best,this syndrome was described based on one situation, not scientific research.

1 comments

Maybe we should have a Bejerot Syndrome.

This is where an “expert” impugns the intellect or morality of the people who disagree with them instead of trying to understand the very real reasons why.

Or more precisely, the mental health of the people who disagree with them.

Knowing that the person who came up with Stockholm Syndrome was the very same person who the hostages sided with the bank robbers against makes it look a lot like drapetomania (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drapetomania).

I can think of a few examples over the past 3-8 years where this would be a useful syndrome to have named and in the popular memory.

Oh well, Stockholm Syndrome is catchier.

That certainly sounds tempting but we should struggle to have less poorly substantiated syndromes, not more :-)
Perhaps Bejerot Syndrome could refer to the pop-science tendency to gather and link rational objections to a proposal, policy or practice so they can be posed as pathologically associated symptoms.
Agreed - but, isn't character assassination a classic technique of authorities employed against those who disagree with them?