Lima Syndrome

Lima syndrome is a proposed inversion of Stockholm syndrome in which hostage takers develop sympathy or positive feelings toward their captives rather than the reverse. The name comes from a 1996 hostage crisis at the Japanese ambassadors residence in Lima, Peru, where militants holding hundreds of hostages released many of them early and reportedly showed empathy toward the remaining captives. The concept remains poorly studied, drawn mainly from this single incident, and researchers have noted that the mostly high-level diplomatic hostages involved may simply have been unusually skilled at building rapport with their captors, a factor that could account for the reported empathy as much as any general syndrome.