Mental Disorders: Stendhal Syndrome
It’s normal to feel a bit overwhelmed in the presence of fine art or otherwise emotionally powerful surroundings. What isn’t so common, however, is a racing pulse, fainting, and hallucinations. These are the signs of Stendhal syndrome. The condition is triggered by different stimuli in different people and tends to strike in various yet specific places:
Jerusalem syndrome affects very religious people who visit the Holy Land. Jerusalem police and medical professionals have special procedures for coping with tourists who suddenly go off the rails and start proclaiming themselves to be the Messiah or trespassing on various holy sites and preaching to crowds.
Florence syndrome is the Stendhal subset that afflicted French author Marie-Henri Beyle, a.k.a. Stendhal, himself. The close proximity to staggering artistic genius overwhelmed him, and he wrote later about how his visit to the Uffizi gallery in Florence, Italy left him with a fluttering heart and vertigo. Hundreds of people have responded in a similar manner, often while visiting Michelangelo’s David.
Paris syndrome is the oddest of the lot, if only because it exclusively affects Japanese people who visit Paris as tourists. It seems to be triggered by the gigantic letdown of the real-world Paris, as opposed to that of their idealized expectations. Paris syndrome usually involves some kind of emotional breakdown or even acute psychosis. It’s a big enough issue that the Japanese embassy actually maintains a hotline for sufferers.
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