(A view of Florence, Italy. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress. Source.)

Last month, I tweeted four psychological syndromes named after cities, and I think it's worth briefly mentioning them here, with the links for further investigation.

1) Paris Syndrome: wherein mainly Japanese tourists experience severe culture shock.

2) Jerusalem Syndrome: wherein tourists become religious zealots to the point of acting like ancient prophets.

3) Florence Syndrome (aka Stendhal's): wherein tourists become overwhelmed by art.

4) Stockholm Syndrome: wherein hostages become fond of their captors. (An inverse of Stockholm is called the Lima Syndrome.)

I've asked then, and I'll ask again: what other mental disorders are named after cities, particularly ones that are induced by a specific city? Peer reviewed, urban legends, literary, etc.

Could there be such a thing as a Berlin Syndrome, wherein you attach abnormal levels of affections to a barrier wall or a security fence? Could there be an epidemic of this, of which Banksy is Patient Zero, in the West Bank? How might a New York City Syndrome manifest itself? Chicago Syndrome?

In any case, I'd love to see a department of speculative urban syndromes at the Center for Disease Control, tucked away in the basement, crowded with filing cabinets and a poster, manned by two agents, one convinced of the growing aberrant psychosomatic effects of cities on a now mostly urban global population, the other a skeptic; you know them already, I think.