This is a Lexicon entry: the mechanism, when it shows up, and the countermeasure. The full correction, with real-world cases and the audit prompt, hasn't been written yet.
Definition
A documented psychiatric phenomenon in which apparently psychologically healthy individuals visiting Jerusalem develop intense, delusional religious identities and undergo spontaneous psychotic episodes that typically resolve upon leaving. Triggered by the collision between an intensely idealised mental image built over decades and the reality of the actual place. More broadly applicable: the gap between the imagined version of a place, person or achievement and its reality can produce anything from mild disappointment to genuine distress.
When it shows up
When anticipating any long-imagined experience - a travel destination, meeting someone famous, achieving a major goal or beginning a new life chapter.
Failure mode
Profound disappointment or estrangement when reality fails to match a decades-long idealised mental image. Rage at reality for being real.
Countermeasure
Audit your expectations before the anticipated experience. Ask: "How much of my excitement is about the actual thing vs. the imagined version?" Expect the real thing to be different - different, not worse.
Related traps
Also connected in the map3 more, locked
Credit & first seen
DiscoveredDocumented and named by Israeli psychiatrists Yair Bar El, Rimona Witztum and Moshe Kalian at Kfar Shaul Psychiatric Hospital, Jerusalem.
Also revealed
Entry #624 of 631 in The Lexicon · see the full Lexicon