Coined in the 1990's, 'Paris Syndrome' describes the physical responses tourists have when their romantic vision of the city meets an imperfect reality. Photo / Unsplash
One woman took to TikTok to share her disappointment while visiting Paris on holiday and according to science, there's a reason why.
The video showed American tourist, Syd Hill, hysterically laughing and crying in front of the Eiffel tower before saying "I hate it here."
In response, TikTok user Jacob Brainerd explained the response is often called Paris Syndrome.
"There is actually a named medical illness called Paris Syndrome that people get," Brainerd said.
"People who have this giant, fantastic idea of how great Paris is and it's so disappointing when they get there that they actually get sick."
"If you look at the symptoms, it says things like hallucinations.
"Imagine hating Paris so much you that start hallucinating."
The phrase was coined in the 1990s by Professor Hiroaki Ota, a Japanese psychiatrist working in France, according to the BBC.
Symptoms can also include dizziness, anxiety, vomiting, sweating and rapid heart rate.
Ota believed it to be a severe version of culture shock, which tends to affect Japanese, Korean and Chinese tourists who can hold unrealistically romanticised visions of Paris.
When tourists from these quiet, polite cultures are met with language barriers, foreign foods, physical exhaustion and assertive Parisians, the stress can result in a kind of psychiatric breakdown.
The syndrome is so common that the Japanese Embassy in Paris has a 24-hour hotline for those experiencing symptoms and repatriated an average of 12 tourists a year due to symptoms. These tourists tend to be women in their 30s who have high expectations of the city.
Many TikTok viewers voiced their own challenging experiences of visiting the French capital.
"Went to Paris in 2001 and it was by far the dirtiest, smelliest city I've ever been in my life," wrote one viewer.
One viewer even said they were hospitalised the day they arrived due to Paris Syndrome.
A solution, according to one viewer, was visiting France's less popular areas. "go to France for the countryside. Not Paris. It's like visiting the United States for New York," they wrote.
There were, however, some Paris fans in the crowd.
"I don't understand this Paris 100% lived up to the hype for me," wrote one viewer.
"Yeah I've been twice and enjoyed it each time, you just have to do non-tourist stuff," wrote another.
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