Jerusalem syndrome

The so called Jerusalem syndrome is a phenomenon first described in clinical terms by the Jerusalem psychiatrist, Dr. Heinz Herman in the 1930s. The "clinical symptoms" comprise of a range of odd behaviours, from unhealthy self-reproach, self-identification with a biblical figure, street preaching and ritualistic actions, and even drastic violent acts.

Cases of the so-called syndrome were already observed during the middle ages, as it is described in the itinerary of Felix Fabri and the biography of Margery Kempe. Other cases were described in the vast literature of visitors to Jerusalem during the 19th century. Two studies carried out in "Kfar Shaul" hospital raised a debate regarding the initiation of the so called "Syndrome". Dr. Yair Bar El claimed that there is a specific syndrome which emerges in tourists who had no previous psychiatric history. Dr. Moshe Kalian and Prof. Eliezer Witztum claimed that there is not enough supporting data for such a conclusion. They stressed that most of the tourists who demonstrate the described behaviours were already mentally ill prior to their arrival to Jerusalem, and that the "syndrome" caught public and media attention because of the theatrical features of those behaviours. Results of the two studies, which conclude 14 years of referrals to Kfar Shaul since 1993 involved 470 tourists who had become temporarily in need of psychiatric hospitalization.

By far the majority of Jerusalem Syndrome patients are harmless, and the victims are usually regarded with pity mixed with amusement. However, there have been significant exceptions: most notably, in 1969 the Australian tourist Dennis Rohan became overwhelmed with the belief that it was his divine mission to set fire to the Al Aqsa Mosque. His act was followed by citywide rioting. These events helped form the premise of a movie called "The Jerusalem Syndrome".

At the approach of the year 2000, concern over the thousands of evangelical Christians who would be coming to the Holy City for millennium celebrations, produced a kind of reverse millennium fever in Jerusalem. Alarmed by the phenomenon of Jerusalem Syndrome, an anxiety began to grow at the prospect of thousands of visitors who otherwise may be normal, stable people, transformed overnight by Jerusalem Syndrome, into a mob of fanatics. Media driven hysteria over Y2K predictions fuelled this anxiety. Although the number of Jerusalem Syndrome patients increased as the year 2000 approached, the disaster which some anticipated did not materialize.