Sources for this story include:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2...
A person may not agree with all the sentiments in this report but honestly, ya gotta ask: What's next?
BTW, I'm a big fan of Jamie Oliver whose campaign to get junk food out of Britain's school met with such success that he brought the program over to the USA. After watching the movie documentary "Super size me" (real scary, folks!) I realized just how extensive the danger of a continuous diet of fast foods can be.
And, yeah, I'm one of those people suffering (?) from orthorexia nervosa. D'ya suppose they're gonna pack me off and medicate me?:funnyface:
Rez
PS...sorry for the broken or outdated link. (Now I'm off to finish my orthorexic lunch of banana/yogurt smoothie with sprouted salba seeds.)
What about this rare but real psychological phenomenon:
Jerusalem Syndrome
For some who come on a visit to the Holy City, 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 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 -- sacred to Jews, Muslims and Christians -- 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 travelers.
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, one of Judaism's holiest sites, open up and reveal the Messiah. "He had a vision that the stones of the wall opened and the Messiah appeared and spoke to him," Green said. "He became delusional and violent and had to be hospitalized."
Between 30 and 40 tourists each year are admitted to hospital for similar behavior, said Dr. Gregory Katz, head of the emergency unit at Givat Shaul Mental Health Centre. Of those, 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," Katz said. "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, hailing from small towns in the United States or Scandinavia, Katz said. They are usually on organized tours with religious groups and develop a feeling of ecstasy when they see holy places mentioned in the Bible. "Add jet lag and not sleeping for a few nights, and they begin to identify with biblical characters," Katz said. "You might see them dressed in white and preaching at holy sites. Such behavior can be dangerous."
The same clinical picture always emerges. It begins with general anxiety and nervousness, and then the tourist feels an imperative need to visit the holy places. First, he undertakes a series of purification rituals, like shaving all his body hair, cutting his nails and washing himself over and over before he dons white clothes. Most often, he lifts the white sheets from his hotel room. Then he begins to cry or to sing Biblical or religious songs in a very loud voice. The next step is a procession or march to the holy places, most often from the life of Jesus. It ends with the need to don a toga and deliver a sermon at a holy place. The sermon is usually very confusing and based on a plea to humankind to adopt a more wholesome, moral, simple way of life.
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.
It is reported that Kfar Shaul Mental Health Center in Jerusalem once housed three Virgin Marys at the same time. One day psychiatrist Bar-El performed an experiment in which he put two "Messiahs" in the same room. After an hour, Bar-El told, each said, "I am the real Messiah. He's an imposter." John The Baptist is the most popular Jerusalem syndrome choice for Christian men. Christian women prefer the Virgin Mary.
Bar-El talks about a memorable case which actually led to one of the first instances of collaboration between Palestinian and Israeli police. The Palestinians found a man without clothes, money or ID, and, after interrogation, they figured out he wasn't a security risk. They had no idea what to do with him, so they contacted an Israeli officer. The Israeli asked only one question: "Is the guy really completely nude?" "No," answered the Palestinian, "he's wearing an animal skin." "Oh," said the Israeli, "you've got another John the Baptist." It was the sixth John the Baptist the Israelis had run into.
Katz told the story of a man from the Midwest who was found in the Old City of Jerusalem wearing a white robe and claiming to be the Apostle Paul. He was arrested by police and brought to Kfar Shaul after he tried to force observant Jews and Muslims to follow his ways and beliefs -- an effort that "really caused some disturbances," Katz said.
The episode lasts a few days, after which the person usually does not remember what happened, Katz said.
TOURIST POLICE
In 1986, Victor Wadhawkar helped form the Israeli police tourism unit to deal with foreign travelers. Whenever there was a report of a ranting tourist, his team was sent.
"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," said Wadhawkar, who retired after working 14 years in the unit.
He told how several years ago, a woman in her 60s went missing during Passover when her tour group visited Jerusalem. Her frantic husband called the police. "We found her the next morning in Bethlehem near (the biblical matriarch) Rachel's tomb. She had walked through the night about nine km by herself," he said. "She told us she didn't remember a thing, only that she had gotten a sign."
Other psychiatrists say Jerusalem Syndrome is not a disorder in itself but a manifestation of other psychoses.
"It's not Jerusalem that made them psychotic. They have previous disturbances and the exhilaration (of Jerusalem) augments their behavior," said Moshe Kalian, District Psychiatrist of Jerusalem. In most cases, the delusional travelers came with a messianic mission in mind and Jerusalem was just a stage to act it out, Kalian said.
In two articles published in mental-health journals, Kalian recounts numerous cases of erratic behavior in pilgrims visiting Jerusalem from as far back as the Middle Ages. In most cases the travelers' delusions began elsewhere. He wrote: "The eccentric conduct and bizarre performance of those colorful yet psychotic visitors become dramatically overt once they reached the Holy City -- a geographical locus containing the 'axis mundi' of their religious beliefs." â–
Afterthought: What would psychotherapy on a biblical foundation or according to the Christian worldview look like?
Also seen on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLkBo55OTko
Rez,
On a forum like this one I find it is best to follow the golden rule.
Treat everyone the way we ourselves would like to be treated.
If the discussion contains conflict aimed at the person rather than the argument then try and find the actual argument in the discussion and answer only that.
Even if the person is flawed it is only the argument that should be given an answer.
If an injustice is perceived, identify and explain it without condemning the one perpetrating the perceived injustice. After all, it could be a misunderstanding on our own part.
If a poster attacks your own person rather than the argument, recognize that the poster either has no logical response to your argument or misunderstood your post.
If a poster tries to build consensus against your argument with a differing point of view (demagogues) then recognize that the poster has no alternative argument remaining other than to incite some sycophants.
(Reminds me of another forum where the owner maintained his own peanut gallery.)
If none of this works then never let your anger go beyond what Jesus Christ did.
Calling people "offspring of vipers" and throwing over tables and chairs should only be used in extraordinary circumstances.
In Christ
abe