A study of psychiatric syndromes manifested at an international airport

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“…Rates of overseas patients with schizophrenia or related disorders (74%) (Table 3) are comparable to figures from studies of travellers in New York -74% [2], London -50% [7], 46% [19], Jerusalem -63% [10], 85% [4], and Florence -68% [5]. These rates differ from figures of admissions with schizophrenic psychosis in inner London -30% [22], and Westminster -38% [23].…”

“…Ødegaard (1932) described the tendency to travel in people with schizophrenia; more recent literature describe "crisis-flight" as a way of finding a geographical solution to internal problems [1], and airports as concrete representation of subjective conflicts related to separation and reunion at times of crisis [2]. Mental health care models of delivery, such as de-institutionalisation, the legal framework for admissions, the social acceptance of mental illness (including stigma and alienation) vary across countries world-wide [3].…”

The Peregrinating Psychiatric Patient in the Emergency Department

“…The most relevant articles included case series (two articles),7,8 case reports (three articles),9–11 and a review of pertinent pathology (one article) 3. Four papers compared traveling ED patients to non-traveling controls 5,12–14.…”

Travel Risks for Those With Serious Mental Illness

“…12 For someone starting out on a trip, the crowds, hubbub, and general arousal of the airport experience initiate a chain of uncertainty and bewilderment that can culminate in psychosis. 13 For individuals with pre-existing psychotic illness, the airport environment can engender a delusional mood, a source of delusional thinking. 14 Alcohol is often used to assuage fears associated with travel, and this in itself constitutes an important travel-associated mental health risk.…”