Dissociative Fugue

Patients with this Dissociative Disorder suddenly and unexpectedly travel away from their home geographic location, experience impaired recall of their past. They may be confused about their former identity and may assume a new identity.

Diagnostic criteria for 300.13 Dissociative Fugue

A. The predominant disturbance is sudden, unexpected travel away from home or one's customary place of work, with inability to recall one's past. 

B. Confusion about personal identity or assumption of a new identity (partial or complete). 

C. The disturbance does not occur exclusively during the course of Dissociative Identity Disorder and is not due to the direct physiological effects of asubstance (e.g., a drug of abuse, a medication) or a general medical condition (e.g., temporal lobe epilepsy). 

D. The symptoms cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

Reprinted with permission from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision. Copyright 2000 American Psychiatric Association

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