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Thanks for posting this. My wife and I have discussed this syndrome for 4 decades. We didn't realize that it had a name.

We have seen people leave the parish/church for the lastest hip and happening movement and return after the movement died or they got bored.

This leave and come back syndrome was discussed last May with our best friends, 3 couples, who like us are long time members of our parish and have never left the church.
We talked about some couples who have left and returned to the parish at least twice to as high as 5 times.

One of our friend/couples has a son who is an E member in a church 60 miles away and is a detective. He described these leavers and returners in his church as those who were addicted to "Happenings in Church". He spent 5 years as a narc detective and has a good fix on addictive personalities.

The Cursillo movement in the Episcopal Church, in my wife's eyes and mine falls into this syndrome. We went and enjoyed it, but it wasn't really our thing. Other couples have gotten addicted to Cursillo's and live for the welcoming weekends, the return parties, reunions and meetings of fellow Cursillo attendees. If they went to the 10 am service,(our full traditional service) before their Cursillo, they would soon stop coming and would attend the Saturday nite (no traditional service or the 8 am quicky on Sunday, traditional service, lite.)

Another addiction was pointed out to me by a retired priest. He called this addiction, "Infection by the Diocese Virus". He was of the old school of moving to another parish about every 3-4 years and if possible in a different diocese. By the time he had retired, he had served in 11 parishes and 7 dioceses.

Yet, he saw the same infection/addiction in every parish over his 40 years as a priest. Lay people and other priests would be elected or volunteer to serve in a Diocese role. Then, they became addicted to the power they perceived that the Bishop and the other lay people working in the Diocese had. It was where the action was. The beautiful people were there. It was where the real word/sermons were said from the pulpits. The services were spectaculiar. Once infected/addicted the lay members and priests lived to be in the power clique of the diocese. Often their spouse shared this addiction and perceived power sharing.

hiho hiho, thanks again for posting this. Now my wife, my friends and I have a name for this syndrome, Spiritual OCD syndrome.