What is Paris Syndrome?
Before I will tell you in details, you can read my blog post which I talked about my time in Paris, France being victimised of taxi scam by the rogue taxi driver few years ago. mrlimitless95.blogspot.com
So what is Paris Syndrome and what it does mean?
Well here is an definition of the term.
According to SBS news. “Paris Syndrome is a psychological condition experienced almost exclusively by Japanese tourists who are disappointed when the city of lights does not live up to their romantic experiences”. sbs.com.au
And according to Wikipedia. “Paris Syndrome is a sense of disappointment exhibited by some individuals when visiting Paris, who feel that the city was not what they had expected”. en.m.wikipedia.org
Coined by a Japanese doctor in the 1980s by the name of Hiroaki Ota who worked at Sainte - Anne Hospital Center as a psychiatrist.
In other words, it is viewed as a severe form of culture shock and that is treated as clinical condition for Foregin tourists mainly from Japan & other Asian countries like China, Singapore and South Korea.
Everything from acute delusional states, hallucinations, feelings of persecution (perceptions of being a victim of prejudice, aggression, and hostility from others), derealisation, depersonalisation, anxiety, and also psychosomatic manifestations such as dizziness, tachycardia, sweating and others, such as vomiting.
Now I am not a doctor so I do not have qualifications that are medical.
So for that, here is my opinion on Paris Syndrome.
My opinion on Paris Syndrome
Until now, I have not heard of the term “Paris Syndrome”. One day when I was watching this video on Instagram by the British - French comedian. instagram.com
That led me to do a research on the term and what does it really mean now I know it is a form of culture shock.
Paris Syndrome = part of culture shock. At least I didn’t experienced any of Paris syndrome in Paris, France 2 years ago except being conned (scammed) by rogue taxi driver with rip off taxi fare that is not proper taxi fare.
Thank goodness that I didn’t let it overshadow my time in France because most of the time that I enjoyed in Paris was trouble free. It was unfortunate that I became victimised of the scam the moment when I arrived at the Paris Gare Du Nord train station via Eurostar train. Given I was all set to book for Uber, the rogue taxi driver (who was a tout. Fake taxi driver) approached me & said whether I would like to go for the ride which I said yes. Not knowing what was going to happen next with me paying the rip off taxi fare that was not genuine fare price. I was indeed conned by the touting & scammy taxi driver.
Just because I was victim of Paris taxi scam, it didn’t really mean that I had experienced Paris Syndrome because I didn’t had anything of that. Only a taxi scam.
So for that, I didn’t had any kind of Paris Syndrome or culture shock.
I really wonder why Paris Syndrome is a thing. Real thing & yet, cities does not have anything of city name syndrome (except Havana. Cuban Capital city) like London, New York, Sydney, Berlin, Brussels, Rome, Tokyo, Beijing, Hong Kong, Singapore, Madrid, Barcelona, Stockholm, etc. The list goes on. My point is that some international tourists might not experience of what is expected in the city they are visiting in an foreign country outside his/her/their home country
They may be surprised. Either they are happy or not happy of what they see in any particular city. During my time in Barcelona, I seen street vendors who are from overseas. Mainly Africa (particularly West Africa like Ghana, Senegal & Nigeria). Same there in Paris during my time when I see street vendors who are from Africa (including French speaking countries in Africa). Although it was not what I expected in both cities (Paris and Barcelona) nonetheless, it was interesting to see despite some warnings that nobody should buy some things from street vendors and that they might be dodgy or not genuine which I will not go much into details. So I didn’t had a Paris Syndrome either when I enjoyed my time in Paris.
No wonder in 2006, BBC News talked about Paris Syndrome. news.bbc.co.uk
Overall, there will always be things that are unexpected but as long it is trouble free & not anything that is any form of culture shock, everything will be okay. So stay safe and avoid any forms of things that may be “Paris Syndrome” in Paris or anything that is dodgy/shady in any place in the world.
Here are more sources if you want to know more about the term “Paris Syndrome”.
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