Helsinki syndrome

alternative Helsinki Syndrome

1. proscribeduncountableStockholm syndrome.

   This is a variation of the Helsinki Syndrome, in which hostages come to sympathize with their captors.

   2001, Quinton Skinner, Do I Look Like a Daddy to You?:, page 90

   5 more examples

   "It's called Helsinki Syndrome.” Dr. Pantu said to the Doctor over the telephone. “The kidnapped, or hostages, begin to identify with their captors."

   1991, William Carney, Hide and Seek, page 203

   In the same field as brain washing but acting with almost immediate effect is a response now called the “Helsinki Syndrome" after an event that occurred in that city. Bank robbers took captive some bank staff after a robbery went wrong.

   1993, John Sword, Window on Mankind: Evolution and Human Behaviour, page 78

   Danny claimed he fell in love with Jeannie, but what seemed to Storms more likely was that she had developed some kind of Patti Hearst-like, Helsinki-syndrome, teenage crush on him.

   1995, Steven Naifeh, Gregory White Smith, A Stranger in the Family, page 289

   It's the Helsinki syndrome, Striker. We've encountered it before in the SAS. When hostages are totally dependent on their captors and do not know whether they'll live or die, they begin to identify with the terrorists.

   1997, Don Pendleton, Night of the Jaguar, page 329

   Niles wanted to know if Dr. Davis was familiar with the Helsinki Syndrome, where hostages were brainwashed into thinking of their captives as friends.

   1999, Lee Butcher, Sex, Money and Murder in Daytona Beach, page 342