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The British Journal of Psychiatry (2000) 176: 86-90
© 2000 The Royal College of Psychiatrists

Jerusalem syndrome

YAIR BAR-EL, MD, RIMONA DURST, MD, GREGORY KATZ, MD, JOSEF ZISLIN, MD, ZIVA STRAUSS, MSW and HAIM Y. KNOBLER, MD

Kfer Shaul Mental Health Centre, Jerusalem, Israel

Correspondence: Dr Rimona Durst, Kfar Shaul Mental Health Centre, Givat Shaul, Jerusalem, Israel 91060. Tel: +972-2-6551550; Fax: +972-2-6512274

Declaration of interest None.

Background Jerusalem's psychiatrists expect to encounter, as the millennium approaches, an ever-increasing number of tourists who, upon arriving in Jerusalem, may suffer psychotic decompensation.

Aims To describe the Jerusalem syndrome as a unique acute psychotic state.

Method This analysis is based on accumulated clinical experience and phenomenological data consisting of cultural and religious perspectives.

Results Three main categories of the syndrome are identified and described, with special focus on the category pertaining to spontaneous manifestations, unconfounded by previous psychotic history or psychopathology.

Conclusions The discrete form of the Jerusalem syndrome is related to religious excitement induced by proximity to the holy places of Jerusalem, and is indicated by seven characteristic sequential stages.




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