In search of meaning or exoticism, India is a destination that attracts.
But this exotic experience can sometimes drive you crazy!
More than any other country, India has the gift of stimulating the imagination and arousing intense aesthetic emotions that can at any moment plunge the traveler into total anxiety.
For this reason, our "experience" of India can be somewhat ambivalent.
"It depends on the personal history of each person, his or her "desire to travel" and the past traumas buried deep inside (...). Because India speaks to the unconscious: it provokes it, makes it boil and, sometimes, overflow." Régis Ayrault in his essay "Mad about India"
The India Syndrome is a concept theorized by Régis Ayrault, psychiatrist at the French Consulate in Mumbai who observed curious behaviors on the part of Westerners freshly arrived in India: loss of bearings, anxiety, sadness, hallucinations or psychotic delusions...
More than a simple culture shock, the India syndrome can manifest itself in two ways:
- a fascination for the country and a connection with it: the person feels at home.
- a rejection of the country, its culture and its codes: the person does not manage to acclimatize.
This is more relevant to teenagers or young adults looking for answers.
For some, the only remedy is to take a return ticket to reconnect with reality.
But for others, this experience can leave lifelong scars.
This phenomenon is well known since insurance companies provide packages for tourists whose insurance coverage may be cancelled when the traveler has a psychiatric or mental health history if he/she uses drugs (the risks of being affected by this syndrome are thus higher).