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Originally Posted by JosieTheGirl
No, this is different than all of those things you mentioned.
As was stated, it is specifically in reaction to exposure to art- I think it is generally believed to be psychosomatic in origin. It's basically like "wow this thing is so overwhelmingly beautiful it's making me crazy".
It is fairly common in places that are considered centers of fine art- but many of the tourists who experience it do not recognize it. It is thought to be attributable to many other possible factors, and there is also a spectrum of severity.
This is a blog entry about it, but it includes a link to a short podcast called "Stendhal Syndrome: Kicked in the Brain by Art".
I ran across it a while ago- NPR also did a segment on it. It's kind of fascinating how are brains deal with "wow." sometimes. |
thanks for the link....
since yesterday I have been talking with my treatment providers....turns out I have heard of this only in a very different way....sometimes on religious shows they will show people who are just fine one second and the next passing out cold. the religious shows call this taking a walk with jesus..
the medical community here in NY calls it being in such a heightened state of awe, belief, anxiety, over stimulation the body medically goes into "shock" "shell Shock" "culture shock mode that includes blood pressure increasing or decreasing, hyperventilation, heart palpitations and other physical symptoms that cause a person to pass out.
it doesnt just happen with being exposed to art though in some people thats how it presents itself, in some people it revolves around their religion, others relocating to another country,location, some people its shopping, others it is part of their phobia/anxiety or other mental or physical health problem.
it happens so much that some medical and mental health people are separating each instance and giving it a name....kind of like when the mental health community comes up with changing DID into DID and OSDD. at first everything was lopped in together and now that they know more about it they separated it into two mental disorders..
now that they know more about people fainting like this they are giving it an official label....lopping all these types of situations together its called......Syncope (a fainting spell) now they are starting to come up with labels for each type of Syncope....Hysteria, Stendhal, .......
at least this is what I have been able to find out so far from treatment providers around NY about this.