Last month, as we all
know, was Easter, a Christian celebration marking the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ. For such a celebration it is very
popular amongst many people, regardless of their religion, to spend
their Easter holidays at the place where it is said it all happened:
Jerusalem.
In big groups people
arrive and wander around the city, taking pictures, admiring the
Temple Mount (called “Haram Al-Sharif), the Western Wall or simply
let the interestingly holy feeling of the city wash over them.
It happens though, that
the peaceful visit in Jerusalem takes a completely unexpected and
surely entirely unwanted turn. It seems that the whole “holiness”
of the city can suddenly turn someone from completely normal to a bed
sheet-wearing self-proclaimed saint who has made it their mission to
preach loudly in the streets of Jerusalem. A rather mortifying
experience for all involved.
What's happening?
This behaviour, as crazy
and made-up as it may sound, is actually a real existing phenomenon
and is called the “Jerusalem Syndrome”. It is known as mental
phenomeon which consists of a collection of religiously themed
obsessive ideas, delusions or other experiences which can be
described as psychosis-like, and are triggered by the arrival and
stay in Jerusalem. It's important to note that this is something
different than the re-enactment of the Walk of the cross.
It could just end there,
but this mental phenomenon is a lot more complex than first
perceived. There are different types of it.
The first type refers to
those people where it could be a bit more understandable, those who
have already been diagnosed with a psychotic illness before their
trip to the city. These people usually visit with a certain goal or
mission already in their minds, often influenced by religious ideas.
The fact that they already have been diagnosed with a mental illness
before had been often used in the past to explain this syndrome, but
later (and after many tests) it occurred to the doctors that not all
of those who show the signs of the syndrome have been mentally ill
before. This revelation leads to the second type of the syndrome.
The second type is not
easily recognized and often over-looked, as it does not necessarily
show itself as a mental illness but more as a rather anomalously big
cultural obsession with Jerusalem. This type is often associated with
and/or complicated by eccentric ideas already existing in the
individuals mind.
The third type of the
Jerusalem syndrome is the best known type and refers to individuals
who previous to their visit to Jerusalem were mentally completely
stable but became psychotic upon their arrival in the city.
What to look out for
If you plan a trip to
Jerusalem in the future and now worry about getting the syndrome or
anyone coming with you getting it (which is not so likely as there
are only 100 tourists reported per year *) and you don't know how you
could recognize it, here are the stages of type I and type II:
1.The Feelings:
Anxiety, agitation, nervousness, tension and sometimes even
aggression mark a sort of beginning stage.
2.The Desire to split:
The individual shows the desire to split away from the group and walk
the streets of Jerusalem alone. Most tourist guides are aware of the
syndrome and if they notice someone wanting to leave the group
without understandable reason, they advise the individual to go to an
institution for psychiatric evaluation to check if the syndrome has
set in and if it is the case then to avoid the next stages. It is
important to know that without such an evaluation and the right kind
of help the next stages are unavoidable and the syndrome won't go
away by itself.
3.The
Purification-Need: Now it has truly started. The individual
starts feeling the need to be clean and pure, takes obsessively many
showers and compulsively cuts their nails.
4.The Preparation for
outside: Considering their own clothes as not pure enough, the
individual strip bare naked and wrap themselves in a gown which is
always white and which often looks suspiciously like their bed-linen.
Their outfit now finished, shoes aren't on their mind. (Side-note:
Some experience these stages faster and don't reach the hotel fast
enough to get a decent bed-linen-gown, so they content themselves
with walking around the airport completely naked, to the dismay of
their fellow group members)
5.The Need to sing:
The individual now develops the desire to shout out psalms or verses
from the Bible or to sing hymns. It is here very important for the
individual to do so very loudly, which luckily can warn the hotel
personnel and tourist guides who will then take the necessary steps.
If no alarm bells have
gone off after stage 5, then the next stage is inevitable.
6.The March: The
Individual now needs a place which holds a lot of religious
significance and proceeds to march to such a place (ex: Western wall,
the Birth church, asf) while continuing to shout and sing.
7.The Sermon: The
individual has now arrived at a holy place and starts to hold a
sermon which is usually a plea to everyone to live a morally better
and simpler life. As such sermons are usually not prepared, they come
over very disjointed.
Is the Jerusalem
Syndrome unique?
The Jerusalem Syndrome
with its sudden psychotic character traits is not alone; many other
places in the world have caused similar symptoms. There's for example
the Paris Syndrome, where tourists experience acute delusions, or the
Stendhal Syndrome, where tourists to Florence are completely
overwhelmed by the works of art and have severe hallucination or
confusion. It is quite possible for other Place Syndromes to exist,
though those are less known.
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*Source: Kfar
Shaul Mental Health Centre in Jerusalem,
data from a span of 13 years (1980-1993) indicates that around 1200
tourists have been diagnosed with Jerusalem Syndrome.
More sources: Wikipedia
“Jerusalem Syndrome”, a documentary about the Jerusalem Syndrome
on the Radio “SWR 2”, an article on Wired.com
by Milena Hüschen
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