The Origins of Stockholm Syndrome

Best-selling author Matthew Syed explores the ideas that shape our lives with stories of seeing the world differently.

A criminal walks into a Swedish bank brandishing a machine gun. He takes a handful of bank workers hostage. The police lock the victims and their captors in the vault and then things start to get weird. Despite being held captive and threatened with violence, the hostages side with the criminals.

Stockholm Syndrome is born.

In this episode, Matthew Syed re-examines the birth of this peculiar psychiatric disorder and discovers that all is not what it seems.

Producer: Gemma Newby

A Novel production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in February 2021.