Cities with their own psychological disorders • Hacker News Board

Re: Cities with their own psychological disorders

#21

Post by jbandela1 » Fri, Jul 28, 2023, 2:06 PM UTC

praptak wrote: post #14

meigwilym wrote: post #3

I'm no expert, but wasn't Stockholm Syndrome debunked? My understanding is that the response to the hostage taking was so incompetent that the hostages trusted the kidnappers more than the police. One of them was expected to "die at her post" by a bank executive. She refused to testify against them for these reasons rather than any sympathy to their cause.

Well this article seems to classify it as pure bullshit: https://www.stadafa.com/2020/12/stockholm-syndrome-discredit... "The psychiatrist who invented it, Nils Bejerot, never spoke to the woman he based it on, never bothered to ask her why she trusted her captors more than the authorities. More to the point, during the Swedish bank heist that inspired the syndrome, Bejerot was the psychiatrist leading the police res…

Maybe we should have a Bejerot Syndrome.

This is where an “expert” impugns the intellect or morality of the people who disagree with them instead of trying to understand the very real reasons why.

Re: Cities with their own psychological disorders

#22

Post by analog31 » Fri, Jul 28, 2023, 2:10 PM UTC

w-m wrote: post #18

I think they have forgotten a few. It's already Friday afternoon here, so I hope you'll be able to excuse my ChatGPT indulgence: Silicon Valley Disruption Delusion - This peculiar state of mind is characterized by an individual's inclination to perceive every life aspect as a sector ripe for modernization. Symptoms include an increased use of entrepreneurial vernacular, spontaneous pitching to unsuspecting venture ca…

Madison syndrome. The delusion that January is the time to play and ride bicycles outdoors instead of properly hibernating.

Re: Cities with their own psychological disorders

#23

Post by praptak » Fri, Jul 28, 2023, 2:14 PM UTC

jbandela1 wrote: post #21

praptak wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well this article seems to classify it as pure bullshit: https://www.stadafa.com/2020/12/stockholm-syndrome-discredit... "The psychiatrist who invented it, Nils Bejerot, never spoke to the woman he based it on, never bothered to ask her why she trusted her captors more than the authorities. More to the point, during the Swedish bank heist that inspired the syndrome, Bejerot was the psychiatrist leading the police res…

Maybe we should have a Bejerot Syndrome. This is where an “expert” impugns the intellect or morality of the people who disagree with them instead of trying to understand the very real reasons why.

That certainly sounds tempting but we should struggle to have less poorly substantiated syndromes, not more :-)

Re: Cities with their own psychological disorders

#24

Post by tokai » Fri, Jul 28, 2023, 2:16 PM UTC

marginalia_nu wrote: post #17

meigwilym wrote: post #3

I'm no expert, but wasn't Stockholm Syndrome debunked? My understanding is that the response to the hostage taking was so incompetent that the hostages trusted the kidnappers more than the police. One of them was expected to "die at her post" by a bank executive. She refused to testify against them for these reasons rather than any sympathy to their cause.

Most of these supposed syndromes seem fairly questionable.

Almost all of them just seems like first psycotic episode brought about by a novel stressful environment.

Re: Cities with their own psychological disorders

#25

Post by darkclouds » Fri, Jul 28, 2023, 2:17 PM UTC

simonbarker87 wrote: post #8

They also missed the Glasgow effect - residents have a significantly lower life expectancy that the rest of the UK and, from memory so could be wrong, it affects people who's first line ancestry is from Glasgow but who themselves have never lived there.

> residents have a significantly lower life expectancy that the rest of the UK

Diet - Seems like Glaswegians have forgotten Fee-fi-fo-fum In certain parts of the country, the NHS will prescribe some things to elderly people which increases life span, that would normally be found in high levels elsewhere in the country. I doubt Evian or San Pelligrino is high on the shopping list up there either.

> London Syndrome is when hostages become argumentative toward their captors—often with deadly results.

I think I must be suffering from London syndrome, in much the same way the population of voters feel at general election time, or a congregation feels towards a vicar.

Re: Cities with their own psychological disorders

#26

Post by escapedmoose » Fri, Jul 28, 2023, 2:19 PM UTC

3cats-in-a-coat wrote: post #20

aredox wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, Stockholm syndrome is a toxic lie, a mix of mysoginy, covering up police incompetence and Swedish "holier-than-thou" attitude. https://www.stadafa.com/2020/12/stockholm-syndrome-discredit...

Stockholm syndrome is an example of a phenomenon that is pervasive in society and nature in general and a basic consequence of trying to adapt to your environment. We can nitpick forever the specific Stockholm events, but they're just a noisy example of a pattern, not an ideal MODEL of the pattern.

But the distinction between the apparent pattern and its underlying cause is important. If the cause of this method of “trying to adapt to your environment” isn’t actually some bizarre psychological paradox after all, that fact has important implications for how we treat people in these scenarios.

Re: Cities with their own psychological disorders

#27

Post by meigwilym » Fri, Jul 28, 2023, 2:21 PM UTC

zgluck wrote: post #13

meigwilym wrote: post #3

I'm no expert, but wasn't Stockholm Syndrome debunked? My understanding is that the response to the hostage taking was so incompetent that the hostages trusted the kidnappers more than the police. One of them was expected to "die at her post" by a bank executive. She refused to testify against them for these reasons rather than any sympathy to their cause.

One of them was expected to "die at her post" by a bank executive. I wasn't a bank executive, it was the the social democratic prime minister Olof Palme. During a phone call he asked one of the hostages: "wouldn′t it be nice to die at your post?" https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/591659 ( https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2021/03/the-murder-of-swedish-prim... )

Thanks for the correction. I don't think I would have believed my memory even if I had remembered that fact correctly!

Re: Cities with their own psychological disorders

#28

Post by digdugdirk » Fri, Jul 28, 2023, 2:21 PM UTC

swarnie wrote: post #7

tter3 wrote: post #2

They missed Havana syndrome.

Isn't that just a civil service grift? As in, is actually a recognisable condition?

Not sure what you're implying here, but just because there isn't a scientific consensus on a condition does not immediately make it a "grift".

Re: Cities with their own psychological disorders

#29

Post by dghughes » Fri, Jul 28, 2023, 2:27 PM UTC

I would have figured London Syndrome as being people who visit London and then when back start speaking with with a pretentious posh accent.

Re: Cities with their own psychological disorders

#30

Post by beschizza » Fri, Jul 28, 2023, 2:28 PM UTC

praptak wrote: post #23

jbandela1 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe we should have a Bejerot Syndrome. This is where an “expert” impugns the intellect or morality of the people who disagree with them instead of trying to understand the very real reasons why.

That certainly sounds tempting but we should struggle to have less poorly substantiated syndromes, not more :-)

Perhaps Bejerot Syndrome could refer to the pop-science tendency to gather and link rational objections to a proposal, policy or practice so they can be posed as pathologically associated symptoms.