Fugue

Personality dissociation characterized by amnesia and involving actual physical flight from the customary environment or field of conflict.

A memory loss characterized by an actual physical departure from the stress-producing situation. The person may wander aimlessly and may manifest symptoms of amnesia.

A condition in which someone loses his or her memory and leaves home.

State in which a person appears to be conscious of his/her actions but later has no recollection of them. If the condition lasts for a long time, the person may leave his/her usual surroundings and start a new life elsewhere. The condition is believed to be due to inability to handle a conflict or severe stress. Sometimes called fugue state.

Sudden, unexpected travel away from home or work accompanied by an inability to remember some or all of one’s past and either confusion about identity or the assumption of a new identity. The travel may last only hours or days and cover short distances, or it may extend to weeks or months and thousands of miles. Individuals in a fugue state do not appear to be abnormal and do not attract attention. When the individual recovers and returns to normal consciousness, he or she may have no memory of events during the fugue. Fugue is thought to represent a response to the overwhelming emotional trauma of an insurmountable crisis and can also be associated with epilepsy or head injury. Fugue is one of a group of mental illnesses known as dissociative disorders.

A period of memory loss during which the patient leaves his usual surroundings and wanders aimlessly or starts a new life elsewhere. It is often preceded by psychological conflict and depression and may be associated with hysteria or organic mental disease.

The term literally means flight, and it is used to describe the mental condition in which an individual is suddenly seized with a subconscious motivation to flee from some intolerable reality of everyday existence: this usually involves some agonising interpersonal relationship. As a rule, fugue lasts for a matter of hours or days, but may go on for weeks or even months. During the fugue the individual seldom behaves in a particularly odd manner though he or she may be considered somewhat eccentric. When it is over there is no remembrance of events during the fugue.

A dissociative disorder in which the person acts normally but has almost complete amnesia for what happened when recovery occurs.

An occurrence of dissociation wherein an individual embarks on a journey distant from their abode, encountering amnesia regarding their previous experiences and potentially experiencing bewilderment regarding their own identity, while outwardly exhibiting typical behavior.

This is a state of altered consciousness characterized by a person intentionally wandering away from home or work and, in some instances, assuming a new identity. Subsequently, the individual has no memory of the events that transpired during this episode.

Fugues can persist for hours or even days. In a brief fugue, the person experiencing it may feel confused and agitated. During a prolonged fugue lasting for days, their behavior may seem normal, but they might also exhibit additional symptoms like hallucinations, feelings of unreality, and fluctuations in mood.

Fugues are uncommon occurrences. They can be linked to various factors such as dissociative disorders, temporal lobe epilepsy, depression, head injury, and dementia.