The workshop is for psychologists from police and army only.
Hostage taking
Emeritus Professor David A Alexander MA[Hons], PhD, FBPS, FRSM, [Hon]FRCPsych
This workshop will be restricted to about 20 persons. There will be a combination of didactic teaching, discussion, and exercises. The Professor will refer to significant cases of hostage taking reported in the literature, and from his own experience. For about 15 years, he taught at the Scottish Police College on the subject; he is Principal Adviser to the UK police services on hostage taking, and has recently run workshops on the topic at the Pakistan School of Military Intelligence.
Hostage taking has a very long history but is becoming increasingly common. It is used by different persons and groups for various reasons. Terrorist organisations often use it to generate income and/or to put pressure on governments and other organisations to achieve ideological, political, and religious ends. As a crime, it has the potential to cause serious psychological damage. In the workshop, Professor Alexander will help participants to:
[1] recognise how hostages typically react to their situation in the short term and the longer term,
[2] identify those persons who are most vulnerable to the adverse effects of being kidnapped,
[3] make sense of the so-called “Stockholm syndrome”,
[4] learn how hostages can adjust to their captivity, and
[5] anticipate the problems of adjustment for hostages and their families when the hostages are released.