A man accused of smashing two second-century Roman statues at the Israel Museum was reportedly under the influence of “Jerusalem Syndrome”, according to his lawyers.
The 40-year-old tourist from the US was arrested following the alleged destruction of two statues, including one of the goddess Athena. After questioning, the Israeli police reveal that the man broke the statues because he considered them “idolatrous and contrary to the Torah”. However, the defense argues that the man was experiencing Jerusalem syndrome at the time of the incident.
Jerusalem syndrome refers to a set of religion-themed psychotic symptoms experienced by people visiting Jerusalem, a holy city for followers of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity.
Although not officially recognized as a distinct condition in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), enough patients have exhibited symptoms matching the syndrome that a specialized facility, the Kfar Shaul Mental Health Centre, has been established in Jerusalem to treat and study the condition. Over a span of 13 years, from 1980 to 1993, the facility received 1,200 referred tourists.
Jerusalem Syndrome encompasses a range of symptoms and behaviors, as documented in a 2018 review. Typically, patients have a pre-existing psychiatric condition, as was the case for an American tourist who began to identify with the Biblical figure Samson.
“Eventually, he felt compelled to come to Israel in order to move one of the giant stone blocks forming the Western (Wailing) Wall, which, in his opinion, was not in the correct position. Upon reaching the Western Wall, he attempted to move one of the stones,” wrote a team of psychiatrists in the review. “His actions caused a major disturbance, leading to police intervention and his subsequent placement in the hospital of the Kfar Shaul Mental Health Centre.”
Challenged about his identity, against the usual advice, he broke a window and escaped through it. He returned only after a nurse found him at a bus stop and convinced him that he possessed the qualities of Samson. With the help of antipsychotic medication, the man eventually recovered and was able to return home.
The syndrome always manifests with a religious aspect. Occasionally, individuals arrive as part of a religious group attempting to fulfill specific religious tasks, such as the creation of a red heifer based on Old Testament writings. However, most cases involve individuals who arrive alone or with their families.
In the most peculiar form of the syndrome, visitors with no prior psychiatric conditions experience a psychotic episode upon arriving in Jerusalem or elsewhere in Israel, before spontaneously recovering and returning to their normal lives.
In this version, religious patients often try to separate from their group or family, develop an obsession with cleanliness, and fashion their own garments, typically using hotel bed-linen to create ankle-length, white togalike gowns.
Shouting and singing religious texts is common, as is visiting a holy site and delivering a sermon while there. In this type, observed in 42 patients between 1980 and 1993, hallucinations are rare, and individuals tend to maintain their own identity rather than believing themselves to be religious figures. Treatment for this type of Jerusalem Syndrome generally involves removing the patient from Jerusalem and reuniting them with their families.
Unfortunately, patients in this category often hesitate or feel too embarrassed to discuss their episode once they have recovered. Nevertheless, doctors involved in treating the condition have developed a theory similar to “Paris Syndrome“.
“Those who succumb to type III of the Jerusalem syndrome struggle to reconcile the idealistic image of Jerusalem in their subconscious with the reality of the city as it appears today,” the team writes. “Their psychotic state and the need to preach a universal message can be seen as an attempt to bridge the gap between these two representations of Jerusalem.”
The review has been published in the British Journal of Psychiatry.
