Stendhal syndrome

Wed, 21 Dec 2022 20:48:04 -0400

Stendhal syndrome: The travel syndrome that causes panic

Affecting travellers every year, this bizarre phenomenon sees visitors to Florence suffer psychological breakdowns after being overwhelmed by the city's abundance of great art.

#art #travel #psychology

Psychology

hosh

Thu, 22 Dec 2022 11:05:34 -0400

I didn't click through, or rather I did, but got disconcerted by the BBC's pop-up regime. But it seems there are various kinds of travel "syndromes". One of these affects pilgrims coming to Jerusalem. Some flip out because the reality of the modern city undermines their life-long preconceptions; some of them turn into would-be messiahs.

A Palestinian who ran a small pilgrim hostel on the Mt of Olives used to say that it isn't so much a problem when you have the Messiah sitting with you at the hostel dinner table, but it does become more of a problem when you have two of them.

André França

Thu, 22 Dec 2022 13:35:35 -0400

Yes, @hosh - The text mentions this and another travel "syndrome" (and provides links to two articles about them):

In this regard, Stendhal syndrome may be related to Jerusalem syndrome, which sees visitors to that holy city break down in psychotic religious or messianic delusions; and Paris syndrome, which causes tourists to come down with acute psychiatric symptoms upon finding that the French capital does not match their unrealistically high expectations.

hosh

Thu, 22 Dec 2022 21:45:54 -0400

Yes that's it! - and I think that these are just the best documented cases.