Today we learn The term "Stockholm syndrome" was coined after a bank robbery in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1973. During this incident, Jan-Erik Olsson took four employees of Sveriges Kreditbank hostage for six days. A criminologist and psychiatrist, Nils Bejerot, was asked by the Stockholm police to analyze the hostages' reactions and their status as hostages. Bejerot described the hostages' reactions as a result of being brainwashed by their captors and called it "Norrmalmstorgssyndromet," meaning "The Norrmalm Square syndrome," after the location of the attempted robbery. The term later became known outside Sweden as Stockholm syndrome.