KEY POINTS:
As Christmas approaches, Christians around the world turn to thoughts of the Holy Land and the great figures in the Bible.
For some who visit Jerusalem, the religious energy is enough to make them recite scriptures on the street or claim to be King David or Jesus.
The phenomenon is known as the Jerusalem Syndrome, though psychiatrists disagree on whether it can affect otherwise healthy people, or causes only those predisposed to psychoses to believe they have seen the Messiah.
The police set up a unit in the city to deal with the minority of tourists each year who believe they are characters from the Bible, and hospitals have special wards to treat wayward travellers.
During a walking tour of Jerusalem's Old City in 2003, tour operator Avi Green said a 19-year-old American participant saw the stones of the Western Wall open up and reveal the Messiah.
"He became delusional and violent and had to be hospitalised," Green said. Between 30 and 40 tourists each year are admitted to hospital for similar behaviour, said Dr Gregory Katz, of Givat Shaul Mental Health Centre. Only a few are diagnosed with "true" Jerusalem Syndrome. "It's extremely rare. It's only Jerusalem Syndrome if the person has had no prior psychiatric problems. It usually occurs on their first trip to the Holy Land. They see a meeting of the real Jerusalem and the Jerusalem from the Bible."
Most patients are middle-aged with strong religious foundations.
They develop a feeling of ecstasy when they see holy places. "Add jet lag and not sleeping for a few nights, and they begin to identify with biblical characters. You might see them dressed in white and preaching at holy sites. Such behaviour can be dangerous."
Katz described the syndrome's progression in an article published in the British Journal of Psychiatry in 2000.
He described a 35-year-old woman from a Christian tour group who, after three or four days without sleep, believed she was the Virgin Mary. The woman walked out of her hotel room dressed in a white sheet and began preaching about not committing sins.
The episode lasts a few days, after which the person usually does not remember what happened, Katz said.
In 1986, Victor Wadhawkar helped form the Israeli police tourism unit to deal with foreign travellers. "We dealt with about a dozen delusional tourists a year ... with a spike during Christmas and Passover holidays when more tourists walk around and visit holy places," he said.
Several years ago, a woman in her 60s went missing in Jerusalem during Passover. "We found her the next morning in Bethlehem. She had walked through the night about 9km by herself. She told us she didn't remember a thing, only that she had gotten a sign."
* HOLIER THAN THOU? THE SIGNS TO LOOK OUT FOR...
The seven stages of the syndrome, according to Gregory Katz:
STAGE 1 The afflicted tourist becomes agitated, nervous and tense.
STAGE 2 The person declares a desire to split away from his or her group and tour Jerusalem alone. Katz says after stage two, the progression is usually irreversible.
STAGE 3 The individual has the need to be clean and pure and will obsess about bathing and cutting fingernails and toenails.
STAGE 4 The person prepares a long, white, ankle-length, toga-like gown, often using a hotel sheet.
STAGE 5 The person feels the need to shout or sing psalms, verses from the Bible or hymns.
STAGE 6 The person marches to one of Jerusalem's holiest places, often along the Via Dolorosa or near the Western Wall.
STAGE 7 The psychotic traveller delivers a sermon at the holy place. Katz described the sermon as being "very confused and based on an unrealistic plea to humankind to adopt a more wholesome, moral, simple way of life".
- REUTERS
