Idiosyncratic ideations

 

An old summary of the baffling phenomenon known as Jerusalem Syndrome. Here are some quotes: 

>>>The third type of the Jerusalem syndrome is perhaps the most fascinating, in that it describes individuals with no previous history of mental illness, who fall victim to a psychotic episode while in Israel (and especially while in Jerusalem), recover fairly spontaneously, and then, after leaving the country, apparently enjoy normality. Hence, Type III is unconjoined to other psychopathologies, and can be described as the ‘pure’ or ‘unconfounded’ form of the syndrome. Numerically, type III is a relatively small category: between 1980 and 1993 there were 42 cases fitting the three main diagnostic criteria described below.

>>>Subjects have no previous history of psychiatric illness — no prior psychotic episodes, no significant problems regarding work or family and no drug use. In other words, the subjects can be defined as healthy and devoid of any mental disorder.

>>>Subjects arrive in Jerusalem as regular tourists, with no special mission or specific purpose in mind. They usually arrive with friends or family members, often as part of a larger group on an organised tour of Mediterranean countries.

>>>Subjects have, upon arrival in Jerusalem, an acute psychotic reaction that develops in a consistently characteristic sequence of seven identifiable clinical stages. 

Two of these are described as follows: 

>>>A need to be clean and pure: obsession with taking baths and showers; compulsive fingernail and toenail cutting

>>>Preparation, often with the aid of hotel bed-linen, of a long, ankle-length, togalike gown, which is always white.

Read everything here:

Jerusalem Syndrome

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