Stockholm Syndrome

While on the train to Stockholm, I was visiting with a Swedish young man and jokingly made a comparison between the Stockholm syndrome and running a marathon. He was not amused. According to Wikipedia, Stockholm Syndrome “is a psychological phenomenon in which hostages have positive feelings toward their captors, sometimes to the point of defending and identifying with the captors. These feelings are generally considered irrational in light of the danger or risk endured by the victims, who essentially mistake a lack of abuse from their captors for an act of kindness.”

I was joking that running a marathon is like being “captured” by the thrill of the race, having positive feelings about running 26+ miles, while knowing that the end will probably involve pain, dehydration, exhaustion (and in my case, hyperthermia—and no one left to see me cross the finish line).  In trying to explain my feeble attempts at humor, I went on to say that one could view marathoners as irrational, masochistic and delusional. OK. It wasn’t funny. That’s why I’m not a comedian.

If you have forgotten, Stockholm Syndrome is named after the Norrmalmstorg robbery of Kreditbanken at Norrmalmstorg in Stockholm, Sweden. During the crime, several bank employees were held hostage in a bank vault from August 23 to 28, 1973, while their captors negotiated with police. During this standoff, the victims became emotionally attached to their captors, rejected assistance from government officials at one point, and even defended their captors after they were freed. The term was coined by Nils Bejerot, consultant psychiatrist to the police when it happened. He called it "Norrmalmstorgssyndromet" (Swedish), directly translated as The Norrmalmstorg Syndrome, but then later became known abroad as the Stockholm syndrome. (Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome)

For some Swedes, Stockholm still has a negative image because of this coined phrase referencing a robbery nearly 50 years ago.

I think we ought to change the image. Let’s campaign for the Stockholm Syndrome to be a phrase referring to a psychological phenomenon in which runners from all over the world come to run a marathon for the purpose of raising funds to eradicate poverty.

24,000 strong at the Start Line... took us 12 minutes to reach that line!

The new entry into Wikipedia could go something like’ “Runners have positive feelings toward their Swedish hosts, sometimes to the point of vacationing and often staying in the homes of Swedish families. They raise hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to minimize the danger and risk endured by the victims of poverty on a daily basis.”

I am always amazed at the number of fun-loving folks across the globe who participate in their favorite passion for worthy humanitarian causes. I am blessed to be able to combine my love of other cultures, adventure for travel,  passion for running, and commitment to eradicating poverty into fantastic life experiences like this one.