Stunned theatergoers suddenly found themselves in a real life drama
when a band of Chechen rebels stormed into a popular Moscow theater and
took 700 people hostage. The musical "Nord-Ost" --meaning
"North-East"--was preparing to begin its second act on October 23 when
rebels stormed the Palace of Culture, taking control of the building for
what is now going on two days. Judging by the unprecedented number of
hostages, experts worry that it is only a matter of time before things
get worse.
Captives' responses to a hostage situation fall along a continuum,
according to Herbert Neiburg, Ph.D., a hostage negotiator based out of
Four Winds Hospital in Westchester, New York. On the left, he explains,
are people "crying, begging and pleading not to be killed." In the
middle—the most healthy position to be in—are those who are
afraid and yet bide their time to avoid inviting danger. And on the right
are "John Wayne characters;" those who confront their aggressors. "The
most dangerous are the extreme left and extreme right," says Neiburg.
"They are the ones most likely to be killed."
Another common complication in hostage situations is a human
defense mechanism called the Stockholm syndrome, in which hostages come
to empathize with the captors and their cause. Inside the Palace of
Culture, Neiburg surmises, there is probably a large group of people that
has taken sides with the Chechens. "We in the law enforcement field hate
[the Stockholm syndrome]. These hostages frequently make a lot of trouble
for us," he says. "Usually there is a polarity; the Stockholm people
versus the other hostages. "
Of course, no one knows for certain what is happening inside the
Russian theater, but with so many hostages, there will likely be some
type of group behavior that pushes them to act irrationally. "I suspect
that a group of people is going to try to figure out how to take the
rebels down," predicts Neiburg.
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