Dissociative fugue symptoms in a 28-year-old male Nigerian medical student: a case report

Journal of Medical Case Reports

Monday N Igwe¹ 

[1] Department of Psychological Medicine, Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, Nigeria

关键词: Student;    Medical;    Fugue;    Dissociative;   

Others  :  1181176
DOI  :  10.1186/1752-1947-7-143

 received in 2013-01-08, accepted in 2013-03-22,  发布年份 2013

【 摘 要 】

Introduction

Dissociative fugue is a psychiatric disorder characterized by amnesia coupled with sudden unexpected travel away from the individual’s usual surroundings and denial of all memory of his or her whereabouts during the period of wandering. Dissociative fugue is a rare disorder that is infrequently reported. Before now, no case of it had been reported in a medical student.

Case presentation

This article focuses on the report of a case of dissociative fugue symptoms in a 28-year-old male Nigerian medical student.

Conclusion

The observation in this case report brings to the fore that dissociative fugue is often related to stressful life events and can comorbid with a depressive disorder.

【 授权许可】

   
2013 Igwe; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 参考文献 】

• [1]American Psychiatric Association: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV, Text Revision). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing; 2000.
• [2]Gelder M, Harrison P, Cowen P: Shorter Oxford Textbook of Psychiatry. 5th edition. New York: Oxford University Press; 2006.
• [3]Coons PM: Psychogenic or dissociative fugue: a clinical investigation of five cases. Psychol Rep 1999, 84:881-886.
• [4]Macleod AD: Posttraumatic stress disorder, dissociative fugue and a locator beacon. Aust N Z J Psychiatry 1999, 33:102-104.
• [5]Davison GC, Neale JM: Abnormal Psychology With Cases. 8th edition. New York: John Wiley & Sons; 2003.
• [6]Moore DP: Handbook of Medical Psychiatry. St. Louis: Mosby-Year Book, Inc.; 1996.
• [7]Zlotnick C, Begin A, Shea MT, Pearlstein T, Simpson E, Costello E: The relationship between characteristics of sexual abuse and dissociative experiences. Compr Psychiatry 1994, 35(6):465-470.
• [8]Ahuja N: A Short Textbook of Psychiatry. New Delhi: Jaypee Brothers; 2006.
• [9]MacDonald K, MacDonald T: Peas, please: a case report and neuroscientific review of dissociative amnesia and fugue. J Trauma Dissociation 2009, 10(4):420-435.
• [10]Amrhein C, Hengmith S, Maragkos M, Hennig-Fast K: Neuropsychological characteristics of highly dissociative healthy individuals. J Trauma Dissociation 2008, 9(4):525-542.
• [11]Ross CA, Norton GR, Wozney K: Multiple personality disorder: an analysis of 236 cases. Can J Psychiatry 1989, 34:413-418.
• [12]Carlson EB, Putnam FW, Ross CA, Torem M, Coons P, Dill DL, Loewenstein RJ, Braun BG: Validity of the dissociative experiences scale in screening for multiple personality disorder: a multicenter study. Am J Psychiatry 1993, 150(7):1030-1036.