Recently, quite often they began to mention an amazing phenomenon that affects some tourists who came to Paris or Jerusalem. People who, it would seem, should enjoy the sights of these amazing cities and enthusiastically listen to the guide, suddenly find themselves disoriented, are in a state of delirium and mental excitement. What happens to them? What so much affects the psyche of visitors? We will talk about this later in the article.
It’s hard not to notice such a tourist
Parisians have long been accustomed (and even a little tired) to an infinite number of tourists passing through the historical part of the famous city of lovers. No one pays attention to visitors from different countries , but sometimes among the disciplined and serious guests from Japan, who, by the way, especially love Paris, suddenly there is one who behaves clearly inadequately.
He looks scared, rushing about, shouting something in his tongue, trying to hide somewhere and shy in horror from anyone who offers him help.
As a rule, it all ends with the fact that the unfortunate patient is sent to the psychiatric ward of the hospital.
How did you become aware of the Paris syndrome
Thanks to the psychiatrist Hirotaki Ota, who described in 1986 a strange mental disorder that mostly catches tourists from Japan, a new syndrome has become known to the whole world.
Moreover, the Japanese Embassy in Paris even opened a one-of-a-kind psychological assistance service offering it to tourists from the Land of the Rising Sun who came to France. It turns out that the sensitive and vulnerable Japanese are experiencing a real cultural shock in the European capital , which in some (and their number reaches 20 people a year) translates into a real mental disorder, which is called “Paris syndrome” with the light hand of physicians.
Signs of the manifestation of the Paris syndrome
Specialists refer the mentioned pathology to psychoses, and usually it manifests itself in the form of a characteristic headache, an acute feeling of persecution, anxiety, depression and mild hallucinations. Often found in such patients and aggressive attitude towards the French. In severe cases, there may even be attempts to commit suicide, which accompany many types of mental disorders.
Symptoms arising from this syndrome are also expressed in the form of derealization, manifested in a feeling of unreality of everything that a person sees around, as well as in depersonalization (perceiving oneself from the side, the feeling of loss of thoughts, feelings and ideas).
Autonomic disturbances, expressed in heart palpitations, sweating, and dizziness, usually join these manifestations.
Why is this syndrome manifested specifically by the Japanese
Yes, mental disorders sometimes appear quite unexpectedly. And confirmation of this is the aforementioned syndrome. As it turned out, every summer a certain number of Japanese out of a million who visited Paris become victims of this mysterious disease. And half of them, by the way, require hospitalization.
An explanation for this phenomenon was found quite quickly. The whole point is the totality of the physical and psychological state of tourists who first arrived in the capital of France and found that this city was not at all what it was pictured in their enthusiastic imagination.
Tours to Paris can and will disappoint
For all foreigners, Paris has long been a symbol of romantic dreams, the sophistication of taste and sophistication. At his mention, almost everyone imagines one of the many carefully advertised pictures, which depict either small cafes with cozy summer areas facing directly to the cobblestone street, or the Seine embankment, or the famous Eiffel Tower.
Residents of Japan were also in the grip of a dream city fostered by local media. And thanks to this, as it turned out, the views of Paris among ordinary Japanese people are very far from reality.
The pictures on the television screen show lines running away in perspective of pretty houses decorated with flowers, pressed against each other, but at the same time the camera does not fall on a dirty sidewalk. And as a result of such filing, foreigners who have bought tours to Paris are experiencing real difficulties in adapting to his real, not at all elegant and cloudless life. And, by the way, they feel guilty.
Two worlds - two cultures
The explanation of the problem lies in the huge difference in cultures, which cannot but affect especially young girls, who, as noted, most often become victims of the Paris syndrome.
Indeed, in this psychological clash between Europe and Asia, two extremes are brought face to face:
- the natural shyness and modesty of the Japanese and the personal freedom of the French;
- pushed to the limit the respectfulness of Asians and the irony of Europeans:
- restraint in expressing the emotions of guests and a quick change of mood of local residents;
- highly developed collectivism of Japanese tourists and exaggerated egoism of Parisians.
Linguistic differences can also provoke the Paris syndrome among the Japanese - after all, even for those who know a little French, it can be difficult to perceive some expressions that simply do not have an adequate translation. And this, in turn, not only deprives a person of the opportunity to communicate, but also can cause a feeling of depression and isolation from the outside world.
Paris and Parisians are not at all glamorous
From the foregoing, the mechanism for the occurrence of the described disorder becomes clear - this is a mismatch between the real Paris and its glamorous image. Constant strikes, dirt and frequent thefts on the streets, rather untidy Parisians, as well as their habit of quickly getting involved in a dispute among restrained and polite Japanese cause confusion. And the clash of the team spirit of Asians and Western individualism leads to the loss of familiar guidelines and, as a result, to increased self-doubt.
According to reviews of those who survived the Paris Syndrome, visitors are especially scared that local residents behave as if they do not see foreigners addressing them point blank. This, as well as the cold disrespectful treatment of the staff, leads impressionable Japanese people who are accustomed to the fact that in their country the client is always greeted as a noble person, to a nervous breakdown.
The presence of the Paris syndrome is called into question
Despite the fact that the topic of the rising sun is mentioned regularly, there is still no consensus on whether the Paris syndrome actually exists.
Many Japanese psychologists and psychiatrists question its existence, believing that all this is just a very unsuccessful attempt to joke. It is no secret, they explain, that some people are able to break psychologically, leaving the familiar society. And this condition can only be attributed to cultural shock. In addition, it is important that in this situation most often we are talking about young ladies who are leaving for Paris for their romantic dream of a sophisticated French youth.
And according to some observations, it turns out that almost a third of patients at the time of the onset of the syndrome already suffered from schizophrenia. Therefore, there is every reason to assume that the clinical picture described above was due to an exacerbation of an existing disease. Although provoking facts, all this does not cancel.
What is common between Paris and Jerusalem syndrome?
As an analogue of what Japanese tourists experience, one more syndrome, referred to in Jerusalem as medicine, is often given. He was recognized as an independent disease after the work of employees of the Kfar Shaul psychiatric hospital located in Jerusalem was published in 2000 in one of the prestigious international medical publications.
Since the beginning of the eighties, its specialists have been studying this syndrome and have accumulated interesting material confirming that some foreign tourists who have finally arrived at their dream destination lose their sense of reality and are plunged into a state of psychosis.
Features of the Jerusalem syndrome
Jerusalem syndrome, of course, has its own characteristics. One of them is that people of different nationalities and belonging to different religious faiths are exposed to it. Pilgrims, as a rule, dream of visiting shrines that overwhelm the Eternal City (and Orthodox, Catholics, Jews, and Muslims can consider them as such), and when they are there, they can hardly cope with the exaltation caused by their proximity to the iconic places.
As a rule, the set of main symptoms that accompany this syndrome always looks the same:
- the patient is excited and excited;
- he seeks to disconnect from those with whom he travels and moves around the city alone;
- he has an obsessive desire to wash himself, to cleanse - for this he very often takes a shower and cuts off his nails;
- he refuses food and sleep;
- the patient is trying to make a toga out of a white hotel sheet;
- he shouts out lines from the Bible, sings religious hymns and tries to preach to others.
Unfortunately, with the Jerusalem syndrome, there is a danger that some patients pose both for themselves and for others. Indeed, in a state of delirium, they can not only imagine themselves to be one of the biblical characters, but also try to destroy those who are considered enemies.
Who may be at risk
Doctors studying the described problem came to the conclusion that almost 90% of those who reacted so violently to visiting the Eternal City, even before traveling here, had some mental deviations.
The Jerusalem syndrome also threatens people with high emotionality and suggestibility, who, having realized their dream, find themselves in a state of religious ecstasy, in some cases turning into psychosis.
As in the case of the Paris syndrome, he is characterized by depersonalization and derealization. But if in the first embodiment, psychosis most often affects young girls, then here both men and women are affected by the disease (which, incidentally, does not prevent them from identifying themselves with male saints).
Most often, as noted by researchers, attacks of inappropriate behavior occur near the Wailing Wall. There are always a lot of worshipers, among whom you can almost always see a person in a hysterical fit.
Are these diseases treated
And the Paris syndrome, and the Jerusalem syndrome similar to it, fortunately, are short-lived. The insanity lasts no more than two weeks, after which there is no trace of the symptoms, and the memory of the most acute manifestations of these ailments is not preserved. A person who has suffered any of the syndromes described continues to live an ordinary life, never again experiencing anything like it.
The treatment of such patients, as a rule, involves their quick removal from provocative situations, as well as getting rid of psychological and physical stress, which helps to reduce emotional stress and makes it possible to mobilize internal resources. Therapy in many cases can be carried out on an outpatient basis.
But psychopathological syndromes should not only be stopped, but also carried out for the patient subsequently without fail rehabilitation measures. An important role in this is given to psychocorrection, with the help of which the patient is helped to “work through” traumatic memories, reduce stress and organize emotions. And if the manifestation of the syndrome is not based on mental illness, then it will be possible to speak with confidence about the full recovery of a person. Well, at least until the next trip!