Psychiatria pre prax 1/2017

Art and culture induced psychiatric syndromes

In the recent past years, in magazines and blogs as well as psychiatric journals, reports about the so called Stendhal syndrome started to appear. It is an curious reversibile psychosomatic and sometimes even psychotic reaction to extraordinary artistic work, which evolves typically in tourists in Florence. Similar features appear in several Japanese tourists visiting Paris. An intensive spiritual atmosphere can also cause Jerusalem syndrome. With increasing tourism are these syndromes still more and more actual. Therefore, we bring a short review which summarizes the most important facts about their history and clinics.

Keywords: Stendhal, Stendhal syndrome, Paris syndrome, Jerusalem syndrome