Dissociative fugue

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Definition

The DSM-IV defines Dissociative Fugue as:

• Sudden, unexpected travel away from home or one's customary place of work, with inability to recall one's past,
• Confusion about personal identity, or the assumption of a new identity,
• Or, significant distress or impairment.

Description

The Merck Manual defines Dissociative Fugue as:

One or more episodes of amnesia in which the inability to recall some or all of one's past and either the loss of one's identity or the formation of a new identity occur with sudden, unexpected, purposeful travel away from home.

In support of this definition, the Merck Manual further defines Dissociative amnesia as:

An inability to recall important personal information, usually of a traumatic or stressful nature, that is too extensive to be explained by normal forgetfulness.

In the field of psychology, a fugue state is usually defined by the term dissociative fugue and from the definitions above it is etiologically related to dissociative amnesia (which in popular culture is usually simply called amnesia, the state where someone completely forgets who they are).

A fugue state is therefore similar in nature to the concept of dissociative identity disorder (DID) (formerly called multiple-personality disorder) although DID is widely understood to have its conception in a long-term life event (such as a traumatic childhood), where sufficient time is given for alternate personality representations to form and take hold. Sudden neurological damage would thus seem to fit more closely the onset of a fugue state.

As the person experiencing a fugue state may have recently suffered an amnesic onset—perhaps a head trauma, or the reappearance of an event or person representing an earlier life trauma—the emergence of a "new" personality seems to be for some, a logical apprehension of the situation.

Therefore, the terminology fugue state may carry a slight linguistic distinction from dissociative fugue, the former implying a greater degree of motion. For the purposes of this article then, a fugue state would occur while one is acting out a dissociative fugue.

Main article: Dissociative fugue: History of the disorder.

Main article: Dissociative fugue:Theoretical approaches.

Main article: Dissociative fugue:Epidemiology.

Main article: Dissociative fugue:Risk factors.

Main article: Dissociative fugue:Etiology.

Main article: Dissociative fugue:Diagnosis & evaluation.

Main article: Dissociative fugue:Comorbidity.

Main article: Dissociative fugue:Treatment.

Main article: Dissociative fugue:Prognosis.

Main article: Dissociative fugue:Service user page.

Main article: Dissociative fugue:Carer page.

External links

<http://www.mental-health-matters.com/disorders/dis_details.php?disID=38/>

<http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec07/ch106/ch106c.html/>

: Academic support materials

• Dissociative fugue: Academic: Lecture slides
• Dissociative fugue: Academic: Lecture notes
• Dissociative fugue: Academic: Lecture handouts
• Dissociative fugue: Academic: Multimedia materials
• Dissociative fugue: Academic: Other academic support materials
• Dissociative fugue: Academic: Anonymous fictional case studies for training