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Stockholm syndrome is a psychological response sometimes seen in abducted hostages, in which the hostage shows signs of loyalty to the hostage-taker, regardless of the danger or risk in which they have been placed. The syndrome is named after the Norrmalmstorg robbery of Kreditbanken at Norrmalmstorg in Stockholm, in which the bank robbers held bank employees hostage from August 23 to August 28, 1973. In this case, the victims became emotionally attached to their captors, and even defended them after they were freed from their six-day ordeal. The term "Stockholm Syndrome" was coined by the criminologist and psychiatrist Nils Bejerot, who assisted the police during the robbery, and referred to the syndrome in a news broadcast, as defined by Wikipedia.
One theory as described on Wikipedia, to explain the Stockholm syndrome is cognitive dissonance. For example, people don't like being unhappy for long periods of time, but when people are kidnapped for a long period of time, they will be unhappy for that time, unless they come to love their captors. Thus, to resolve the cognitive dissonance, the victim may begin to identify with the captors.
This appears to be what happened in the case of Jaycee Dugard and her daughters. Because they were held for such a long period of time, the captivity became normal to Jaycee, she accepted it because her mind couldn’t accept the alterative. Jaycee’s daughters on the other hand, only knew their lives the way it was; and for Jaycee running away as an adult meant it would uproot her daughters and take them away from the only family they knew. And from what the media has portrayed, they never knew their mother was kidnapped in this first place. So living in captivity was their normal life.
Jaycee Dugard’s stepfather, Carl Probyn, told the New York Times that Jaycee told her mother that she feels guilty about forming a bond with Phillip Garrido. "She is feeling guilt for having bonded with this guy the way she did," said Probyn. "He had her for 18 years. We had her for 11."
Now that Jaycee's been reunited with her real family, the shock Jaycee will feel will be enormous. Psychiatrists usually warn, in circumstances like this, it can be exceptionally hard on the real family as the person who was kidnapped will mention their kidnapper in positive terms and defend them and their actions, according to Associated Content.
Spending time with her real family and getting to know them will help. Having someone she trusts or a therapist explain to her and help her understand what happened may help. A lot of patience and taking it slow will be essential to her recovery. At first, it may take some time for to understand that anything was even wrong in the first place. And she may even want to see Phillip and Nancy Garrido.
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Garrido is not what he appears to be – Jaycee Dugard case (video link)
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