Fugue state (article)

The Black Oil

A term most of us have heard of, but not something which pops up very often in discussions or coverage that I've seen. As noted below, it is rare. Admittedly, I don't have much understanding, other than it being linked to memory. How much of a difference is there between this, as per case below, dissociation, a dissociative state, and dissociative identity disorder (aka multiple personality disorder)? Both linked to trauma, iirc - happy to be corrected on this.

Spotted it this NY Times article a few weeks ago.

A Teacher Vanishes Again. This Time, in the Virgin Islands.

On Sept. 14, one week after Hurricane Irma swept through the Caribbean, a 32-year-old teacher named Hannah Upp left her apartment on St. Thomas, in the Virgin Islands, to go for a morning swim at a nearby beach. According to a note she left for her friends, she then planned to go to the Virgin Islands Montessori School, where she worked as a teacher. It seemed as if she’d be home before the curfew the government had imposed in the wake of the storm.

Ms. Upp never came home. The next morning, a construction crew found her clothes and car keys by the beach; two days later, her car, with her cellphone, wallet and passport inside, was found in the beach’s parking lot. On Sept. 19, with Ms. Upp still missing as Hurricane Maria battered St. Thomas, her friends and family created a Find Hannah Upp Facebook page. “If any one sees Hannah, please go to her,” they wrote. “She has a rare dissociative amnesia disorder that may be in play. If so, she may not know where she is, or who she is.”

Although Ms. Upp’s disappearance is only one of many gut-wrenching stories to emerge from the devastated Caribbean in the past few weeks, it is one that may carry a sadly familiar ring for some New Yorkers.

Almost a decade ago, on Aug. 28, 2008, Ms. Upp, then a 23-year-old Spanish teacher, left her Hamilton Heights apartment to go jogging along Riverside Drive. About three weeks later, a keen-eyed Staten Island Ferry captain spotted her floating facedown in the waters of New York Harbor.

After being pulled to safety, Ms. Upp was diagnosed with dissociative fugue, an extremely rare form of amnesia. Those with the condition, which is characterized in part by sudden and unexpected travel, “lose awareness for a lot of memory that has to do with their own identity and recent experience,” said Dr. David Spiegel, Willson professor and associate chairman of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University. The condition’s most famous, albeit fictional, sufferer is Jason Bourne of the “Bourne Identity” franchise.

Later, it does say

While Ms. Upp may be suffering another dissociative fugue episode, it is far from a foregone conclusion. She could be caught up in the chaos following the two storms.

Sadly, she is still missing. Must be terrible for all involved, including Upp.

JuliusCaesar

Yeah, they are different things, but generally arise from abuse/neglect as a child. https://www.nami.org/Learn-More/Mental-Health-Conditions/Dissociative-Disorders

Carolyn Spring in the UK is a sufferer who runs training courses: https://carolynspring.co.uk/ and PODS (Positive Outcomes for Dissociative Survivors) https://www.pods-online.org.uk/