The Paris Syndrome

Maybe I should stop writing this blog. Maybe my writing put you all at risks. Because that's what us French do when we talk to non-french people ! At least, according to Dr Ota, a Japanese-French psychiatrist living in Paris, who broke the news this morning in the french medias.

Dr Ota observed that when foreigners, especially the Japanese, have been living in Paris for more than three monthes, they are struck by a "strange kind of mental illness", that can lead them to a state of delirium or even on the verge of suicide. He calls it the "Paris Syndrome". Not the "Paris, Texas, Syndrome" that led the unhabitants of the world's most insignificant town to actually build the "Second Largest Eiffel Tower in the world", located at he corner of Jefferson Road and South Collegiate Drive, adjacent to the Love Civic Center (see by yourself : Cityofparistx.com).

"Each day, says Dr Ota, in Paris, France, I see people falling into that peculiar state. A hundred of tourists are struck each year. First, they are afraid to go out of their apartment, then they refuse to take any kind of public transportation. They even refuse to leave France, unable to admit that they are not able to embrace the "french way of life"".

Now, the question that needed to be asked to Dr Ota is "Why ?". Why do that terrible thing happen ? And why after three monthes in Paris ? What happen if you stay here for only two monthes and 29 days ?

"The French are not patients enough, says Dr Ota. They speak too much. They don't bother to listen when answered to. And the french humour can lead Foreigners to feel persecuted by the French" ! That's right ! We make jokes about you - such as "what is the name of your president again ?" - and then, all of a sudden, you fall into depression ! That's as easy as that. And what is to blame ? French humour ! I didn't know we had any. But, apparently, we do. And that's a weapon of mass destruction even you Americans are likely to find !

Another factor, according to Dr Ota, is that "foreign magazines tend to show a false image of Paris, as a city full of female models wearing Vuitton outfits and dating romantic painters. And that's not the truth". I agree on that one. That's not the truth. Vuitton is for tourists. A true French woman only wears Yves Saint Laurent.

See you soon in Paris ! Goodbye America !