Fugue in psychiatry means a pathological state in which an unacceptable and repressed part of personality gains control of the total personality. In this state the individual usually runs away from an intolerable environmental situation and does not remember anything about his previous state. It differs from somnambulism in that the individual afflicted with fugue is in touch with his environment. He may buy a railway ticket, travel from place to place or even establish himself temporarily in some form of business. Fugue differs only in degree from multiple personality. If the secondary state is more complex and more permanent, it is looked upon as multiple personality. Sometimes the two are hard to difierentiate, since a fugue may lead to multiple personality. A fugue may last minutes, hours, months, or even years. Upon recovery, there is amnesia as to the fugue state.
A case briefly stated may clarify the concept. A number of years ago, a bank clerk in Paris disappeared. Several months later he approached the police in Belgium and asked for help. It was established that he had worked for some time in a grocery store doing a good Job. All he remembered was that on his way home from the bank he felt a severe pain in his head. He could not tell how he got to Belgium.
His life in París was intolerable since he had dificulties with his wife and mother-in-law. Circumstantial evidence pointed to him as an absconder of money from the bank. He "escaped" from this situation by "flight" into another country and different type of work.
