How Stockholm Stuck

How an idea born in a Swedish bank wormed its way into all of our brains. In August of 1973, Jan-Erik Olsson walked into the lobby of a bank in central Stockholm. He fired his submachine gun at the ceiling and yelled “The party starts now!” Then he started taking hostages. For the next six days, Swedish police and international media would tie themselves in knots trying to understand what seemed to them a sordid attachment between captor and captives. And this fixation, later pathologized as “Stockholm Syndrome,” would soon spread across the globe, becoming an easy, often flippant explanation for why people—especially women—in crisis behave in ways outsiders can’t understand. But what if we got the origin story wrong? Today on Radiolab, we reexamine that week in 1973 and the earworm heard ‘round the world. Is “Stockholm Syndrome” just pop psychology built on a pile of lies? Or does it hold some kernel of truth that could help all of us better understand inexplicable trauma? Special thanks to David Mandel, Ruth Reymundo Mandel, Frank Ochberg, Terence Mickey, Cara Pellegrini, Kathy Yuen, Mimi Wilcox and Jani Pellikka. "We have some exciting news! In the “Zoozve” episode, Radiolab named its first-ever quasi-moon, and now it's your turn! Radiolab teamed up with The International Astronomical Union to launch a global naming contest for one of Earth’s quasi-moons. Now is you chance to make your mark on the heavens. You can now vote on your favorites, here: https://radiolab.org/moon" EPISODE CREDITS: Reported by - Sarah Qariwith help from - Alice Edwards (also contributed research and translation)Produced by - Sarah Qariwith help from - Rebecca LaksOriginal music and sound design contributed by - Jeremy BloomAdditional Field Recording by - Albert Murillo (CC-BY)with mixing help from - Jeremy BloomFact-checking by - Natalie Middletonand Edited by  - Alex Neason EPISODE CITATIONS: Please put any supporting materials you think our audience would find interesting or use