Dissociative Fugue in Missing William

By: Becca Pantoja

Psychology Basis

Dissociative FugueDissociative Fugue is a dreamlike state of altered consciousness• It is stress-induced• Memory loss can be reversed

Media

Introduction• James and Abby are childhood friends • James has an abusive father which whom James and his mother are on the run from • When James’s father finds them, they leave again and leave behind James’s first love, Abby

Several years later…• James returns and meets Abby at her art auction• They reconnect only to find out that Abby is engaged to a man named William and is to be married that very weekend• They continue their friendship putting their love for each other aside

• A year later, it’s James’s birthday and he chooses to celebrate at his favorite bar• The married couple attends and William immediately feels uncomfortable

The Incident• A drunk, insolent man grabs Abby’s butt and William runs to her defense• Unaware of how to act in a bar, William tells the man to apologize but only angers him more• The drunk man motions to throw a punch but is instead punched in the face by James• The bartender kicks out the man and his friends, leaving the man vengeful • When leaving the bar, the man sneaks out of a dark corner and punches William in the face• William falls and hits his head on the hitch of a truck, knocking him out cold

Connection

After the incident • William returns home but is not himself – he doesn’t speak; he barely moves; it’s almost as if he’s not there• Abby cares for him as much as she can while her mother and William encourage her to get out of the house more• After constantly arguing with them and slapping James in the face, she goes out to meet him at the dock• They kiss and she immediately feels guilty having left William at home with her mother• She runs back home only to find neither her mother, nor William are there at the house…

• Abby thinks William has run off because he saw her and James kiss at the dock• James reveals to her that he is gone, and he has been gone for a long time now • She remembers back to the night of James’s birthday when William hit his head – he died that night• Every moment spent with him after that night was only a figment of her heartbroken imagination – events she fabricated through her altered consciousness

Proof of Dissociative FugueAlthough I do not have a license to diagnose, it seems immensely possible that Abby was a patient that suffered from dissociative fugue: • Dreamlike state of alt. consciousness – She definitely entered this state by imagining William’s presence. She made excuses for him when he wouldn’t “talk” or “eat.” She also continued to tell James and her mother several times that William is not a burden and she enjoys taking care of him. • The whole incident was obviously stress-induced seeing as though she just lost her husband in a bar fight.• Finally, her form of amnesia was indeed reversed when she realized that William was, and has been, gone.