The Jerusalem Syndrome – Part 2

This article is a continuance of ‘The Jerusalem Syndrome – Part 1.’

In any culture it is difficult to draw a dividing line that separates sanity from insanity, here in Jerusalem, deciding when mysticism leads to psychosis is a mission that borders on the impossible. For people who would live elsewhere admitted to a psychiatric,
here is one more. Here in the place where many residents believe that the Messiah will come, hearing voices or talking to God is not no big deal.

"Here there is no clear line separating the deep mystical experience of a psychotic break," says Pesach Lichtenberg, director of the Department of Psychiatry, Herzog Hospital, located on a hill outside Jerusalem. This is one of two psychiatric centers in
the city in which patients remain hospitalized so-called Jerusalem Syndrome. Lichtenberg said that "psychiatrists who want to work in Jerusalem should be familiar with the religious culture of this place and what is culturally acceptable in this city." But
just where cultural practices eligible and begin the pathological diagnosis?

"The question is not what a person believes or who you talk but how he handles his delusions. You must enter if, for example, lives distraught because he feels too much responsibility because he thinks that the world will end if you miss the tasks assigned
or suffer severe persecution mania … ".

There is no reliable compilation of data affected by this syndrome, but Lichtenberg speaks of Christian pilgrims about 100 patients per year and hundreds of others who live more or less permanently in the city. He says Easter and Christmas are the periods
in which they recorded a higher number of cases. This year, Pesach, Passover coincides with the Catholic Easter and is celebrated just a few days before the Orthodox.

To be continued… 

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Posted by Fouad Ashraf on Apr 10 2012. Filed under World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry