Jerusalem Syndrome
As a student of history, I found Jerusalem a most fascinating city the first time I was in Israel in 1960 as a grantee of the Asia Foundation to the global conference of the International Federation of Medical Student Associations being the national president of the Student Philippine Medical Association representing my fellow medical students from all five medical schools in the Philippines at that time. I carried the official message of then Philippine President Carlos P. Garcia and read it before the international assembly. That same fascination and more overwhelmed my being once again when I returned to this holy city 18 days ago with my wife, Farida, daughter Portia, her husband, Chito, and son, Brendan, and traced “the footsteps of Jesus Christ” on Via Dolorosa (Way of Suffering), the path to His crucifixion on Calvary (Golgotha) circa AD 30-33. The people of Israel are hospitable and friendly. It was a wonderful sentimental journey.
To some individuals with extraordinary religious belief, the experience could be over-powering. A few of them could develop the Jerusalem Syndrome, a temporary mental phenomenon of obsession, sadness, delusions, or psychosis triggered by an emotion-filled visit to this blessed city, affecting not only Christians but Jews and Muslims as well. The condition normalizes after departing from Jerusalem. In 2010, a man who was in Tel-Aviv (about 33 miles from Jerusalem) and dressed like Jesus Christ proclaimed he was the Messiah. Whether the tourists who developed the syndrome actually had a psychiatric disorder prior to arrival in Israel is not clear.
Stendhal Syndrome
Also known as the Florence (Italy) Syndrome, Stendhal Syndrome is a psychosomatic experience with rapid heart rate, dizziness, fainting spell, confusion or hallucinations, following exposure to objects of exquisite beauty or overwhelming phenomenon. This was named after a French author of the 19th century, Marie-Henri Beyle (1783-1842), pseudonym Stendhal, who described his experience in his 1817 visit to Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence, where Machiavelli, Michelangelo, and Galileo are buried. He was so awed and overcome with profound emotion to be in the “presence of greatness,” he developed some of the symptoms. This is more of an extreme emotional response rather than a psychiatric aberration.
Paris Syndrome
The Paris Syndrome (syndrome de Paris or Japanese Pari Shokogun) is a symptom complex among some tourists in Paris, France, resulting from extreme shock from severe disappointment after seeing the city of love different from their romantic expectations. Symptoms could include anxiety, acute delusion, hallucination and sense of being persecuted with prejudice, hostility and aggression, rapid heart rate, dizziness, sweating, nausea and vomiting. It is more of an acute cultural shock. This was observed particularly common among Japanese tourists, hence the name Pari Shokogun.
“Manila Syndrome”
I coined this “syndrome” just for this column to describe my “symptoms” whenever I arrive in Manila for our annual medical missions in the rural areas. They include an anxious anticipation and joyous expectations, a voracious appetite for pinakbet, kare kare, tortang talong, crispy pata, ginataang kalabasa, letchon kawali, dinuguan at puto, kutsinta, bibingka, kalamay, sapin-sapin, suman of various kinds, and, of course, halo-halo and buko pandan. The extreme gastronomic urges occur more than 3 times day, intermingled with itches for shopping and bulakbols to various resorts with pristine beaches and clear blue waters. The exhilarating feeling of “being home again” results in endless nostalgia and spiritual buoyancy. Sentimentality sets in on the day of departure from this City of Love in this Pearl of the Orient Seas, inspiring a MacArthurian pledge, even among foreign tourists.
Dead Sea – saltiest
The Dead Sea, a lake (1412 feet below the sea level, the lowest part in the world) bordering Jordan and Israel, is 1003.94 feet deep and is the saltiest body of water on earth. Except perhaps for some salt-tolerant bacteria deep under, there is no fish or any life form in the Dead Sea. It is the deepest hypersaline lake around the globe, with 34.2 percent or higher salinity, 9.6 to 10 times saltier than oceans, which have an average of 3.5 percent (35 grams of salt per liter). The Dead Sea has a thick density of 1.24 kg/liter, which makes a swimmer float, unable to stand, because the dense water pushes the legs up by buoyancy. It is impossible to submerge the whole body in the Dead Sea. Swallowing the very salty water could lead to acute pulmonary edema, heart-kidney failure. Because of the inability to bring the feet down to stabilize oneself while floating on the back, the person could get off balance and suddenly flip face down and drown. The presumption that nobody drowns in the Dead Sea is not true. I have floated on the Dead Sea twice now, 59 years apart, and felt exactly the same sense of instability and lack of control while afloat like a cork. Done cautiously, the Dead Sea experience in the Land of Jesus could be a pleasant memory to be cherished forever.
Black mud for health and beauty?
The black mud in the Dead Sea is rich in minerals, like sulfur, sodium, potassium, magnesium, etc., and claimed to have rejuvenating qualities. Dead Sea mud was baked by the sun for tens of thousands of years in this dessert and has been used to make the skin healthier, treat acne, reduce inflammation, and treat illnesses from psoriasis, arthritis, to back pains. Soaking in concentrated salt water reminds me of how to preserve fish, meat, and pickled vegetables. While there is no scientific evidence for their efficacy, black mud and other cosmetic products from the Dead Sea are very popular, marketed around the world at a premium price (some $100 or more for a small jar) for facial mask, moisturizers, shampoos, conditioners, pain relieving creams, etc. Like all the tourists at the Kalia Beach Resort in the Dead Sea that dry hot (97 degrees Farenheit) day of June 26, 2019, I scooped up some black mud myself and applied it to my face and all over my body, while in the water in this lowest part of the world. Here, this premium “cosmetic item” is free, so everyone on the beach was shiny black all over, hoping to look younger and make body aches and pains disappear even for a brief moment in time. After showering away the slimy black mud, I looked at myself in the mirror, and voila! — a younger me — but not by eight years, more like by eight seconds younger…and “pickled.” What ahype! But it was fun, anyway.
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Philip S. Chua, MD, FACS, FPCS, Cardiac Surgeon Emeritus in Northwest Indiana and chairman of cardiac surgery from 1997 to 2010 at Cebu Doctors University Hospital, where he holds the title of Physician Emeritus in Surgery, is based in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, the Philippine College of Surgeons, and the Denton A. Cooley Cardiovascular Surgical Society. He is the chairman of the Filipino United Network – USA, a 501(c)(3) humanitarian foundation in the United States. Email: [email protected]
