Dromomania: causes, manifestations, treatment of pathological wanderlust. Dromomania in children Vagrancy syndrome in adults

Dromomania is a mental disorder in which a person experiences an obsessive urge to leave home. This is not the thirst to see new beautiful places, which is characteristic of a normal traveler, but a painful, impulsive desire to get away from the familiar world “wherever one looks.”

The first episode of leaving home can be triggered by some kind of psychological trauma or stress. But in the case of pathology development, the reasons for wandering become very insignificant reasons.

In modern psychiatry, the syndrome has other names: “poriomania” or “vagabondage.” But the essence of the disease is the same.

How to recognize pathology?

Dromomania may look like an innocent desire to take a walk in the fresh air or go fishing. However, there are certain signs that indicate the presence of the syndrome:

1. Impulsiveness.

A person decides to “rest” suddenly, completely unexpectedly for loved ones. He may completely forget about previous plans, that he agreed with his family to spend the weekend together. Pathological impulsivity is expressed in the fact that a person can interrupt an ongoing activity or meal, get dressed and leave.

1. Indifference to details.

A person’s absolute unpreparedness for the “journey” makes him starve, freeze and go astray. People with this syndrome do not plan a trip in advance. Accordingly, they do not take warm clothes, food, a map and other necessary things with them.

1. Irresponsibility.

A person who decides to set out on a journey does not worry about an abandoned job, an unfinished project, or an unfed child. He doesn’t warn anyone or inform anyone in advance about his plans, because he himself didn’t know about them a minute ago.

Dromomania is indeed a mental disorder. Translated from Greek, the term means “running mania.” A person feels an urgent need to escape from a space that for some reason causes emotional pressure. He describes his feelings as intense anxiety, which only subsides during the trip. When this feeling passes completely, the person returns home, already realizing the abnormality of his impulsive act.

A more severe form of the syndrome manifests itself in prolonged wandering. The term "vagabondage" is translated from French as "vagrancy". A person simply goes forward and forward as long as he has enough strength and health. What matters to him is not the destination, but the process of escaping. To describe this condition, the concept of “poriomania” is usually used, meaning “path” translated from Greek.

Causes

The so-called false dromomania is most often diagnosed in children of adolescence. During this period of antagonism and confrontation with the outside world, the teenager is capable of committing rash actions, including running away from home. If this happens once, the syndrome does not bother you in adulthood. Chronic poriomania develops only on the basis of regular episodes of vagrancy.

The reasons for constant running away in childhood can be both quite expected and completely unexpected:

• unfavorable home environment;
• too strict parents;
• excessive study loads;
• impressionability and touchiness;
• obsessive desires inspired by books or films about travel.

The appearance of the syndrome in adults may not have a previous predisposition in childhood. In men and women, an unexpected impulse to “drop everything and run away” is possible in the following situations:

• due to severe stress;
• due to emotional pressure from loved ones;
• against the background of a nervous breakdown or overwork.

If you do not try to correct the situation that influenced a person’s behavior, or do not strengthen nervous system, in the future he will be “pushed” to leave home every time some problems arise in his life.

In some cases, dromomania is a consequence of obsessive-compulsive disorder or psychopathy. When conducting magnetic resonance imaging, specialists note pathological activity in the temporal lobes of the brain in precisely those people who have symptoms of Vagabondage syndrome.

How to fight?

Dromamania, like other syndromes, has its own stages of development:

1. The first attack in which a person runs away from home is usually nothing more than a reaction to severe stress, conflict with family or infringement of personal interests. At this stage, the person quickly comes to his senses and returns home.
2. Vagabondage is becoming a common response to problems at home or at work. Vagrancy drags on over time and leads to deep depression.
3. At the third stage, dromomania acquires a clinical character, in which it is difficult for a person to overcome his pathological cravings; he has practically no control over his actions during the next impulsive escape.

From the above, it becomes clear the need to start treatment as early as possible. Often this cannot be done without the help of a qualified psychologist. You may need to undergo treatment with antidepressants.

As a preventive measure, experts advise discussing with loved ones in a timely manner what causes internal anxiety, and finding compromises together.

To strengthen the nervous system, it is advisable to exercise regularly. A good habit is to jog in the morning or evening. This type of activity, in addition to improving health, helps to throw out accumulated negative thoughts and recharge yourself with positivity.

Every person loves to visit new places, admire their beauty, and enjoy traveling. Usually, this event is planned and prepared in advance. But there are individuals who experience a pathological, irresistible attraction to constantly changing their place of residence. A similar phenomenon among psychiatrists is called dromomania, poriomania or vagabondage.

To distinguish pathology from the usual hobby for tourism, it is necessary to have certain knowledge, know the reasons for the appearance of attraction, and also clinical manifestations disorders.

Reasons for appearance

Psychotherapists around the world are trying to establish the exact causes of the development of this mental pathology, which has not been fully studied. Dromamania or vagrancy as a form deviant behavior most typical for teenagers who want to resist society and its ways at any cost. Everyone is familiar with the vagrancy of minors, which is associated with the period of puberty and growing up, when frequent leaving home is aimed at attracting the attention of parents to their person. At this stage, an experienced psychologist, or even a sincere conversation with a loved one, can help the teenager.

However, doctors are familiar with cases where this disorder was diagnosed in adults. What motivates a person who has all the conditions for a normal life, social status and family, to wander? The tendency to wander most often makes itself felt during some critical stage in life. As practice shows, most often the disorder is diagnosed in people with a weak inner core, vulnerable, impressionable, weak in spirit.

The trigger mechanism in the development of this psychopathology may be:

• frequent conflicts in the family, at work, at school;
• excessive physical and nervous stress;
• constant contact with representatives of antisocial strata of society;
• mental, physical or sexual violence;
• lack of adequate sleep and rest;
• sharp impact stress factors.

Do not forget that dromomania can be one of the symptoms of mental disorders. Thus, the syndrome of withdrawal and vagrancy is characteristic of some forms of schizophrenia, episyndrome, depression and neuroses. The urge to leave home may worsen after a traumatic brain injury, stroke, cerebrovascular accident, or oncological tumors of the brain. Dromomania for such patients is a way to escape from themselves, their inferiority, problems and others.

Stages of development

Psychiatrists are confident that this disorder, like other mental syndromes, goes through several stages of development, which are characterized by an increase in the desire for vagrancy.

The first attack most often occurs after severe nervous shock or stress, when the patient spontaneously feels the desire to escape from all loved ones and acquaintances. Such a person achieves what he wants, but very quickly comes to his senses and returns to his usual life. This short-term escape should be the first call for loved ones to contact a highly qualified psychologist.

At the second stage, a person prone to dromomania leaves for several days when the first troubles appear in the family or at work. Such escapes are becoming a frequent occurrence and are very alarming to loved ones. It is worth noting that dromomaniacs do not realize that their actions can further aggravate the situation and lead to prolonged depression.

The third stage of the disease development is already clinical stage when the patient is not aware of what he is doing. During an attack, he has virtually no control over his actions and is guided only by an all-consuming desire to escape.

It is interesting that the famous Russian writer M. Gorky suffered from dromomania, who lost his parents while still a child. It is known that his mother and grandmother were also lovers of vagabondage. It is for this reason, probably, that the lives of tramps suffering from mental disorders are so accurately described in his works.

Clinical manifestations

When studying dromomaniacs, scientists identified several symptoms characteristic of such patients:

• Predestination. The patients themselves claim that escape is preceded by a special mental state when nervous excitement and fever take over completely. They feverishly gather, anticipating the euphoria that will come after they leave the threshold of the house and nothing can stop them.
• Suddenness of action. The desire to leave home or go on a trip arises abruptly, without first drawing up a plan of action. The patient may wake up at night with a firm decision to go on a trip, get up, get dressed and leave. This is completely normal behavior for dromomaniacs.

• Irresponsibility. In most cases, such people do not think about the upcoming consequences. They do not warn anyone about their departure, their family responsibilities or children do not stop them. Work also fades into the background at such moments. A parent prone to this pathology will abandon his child, without thinking that this could be fatal for the baby.
• Anxiety and stress. The patients themselves claim that they are often driven by the desire to escape when there is some tension or problems in the family or at work. At such moments, they want one thing - a change of scenery. When the attack subsides, they return to normal life, as if nothing had happened.
• Physiological changes. Scientists have studied this disease for many years and came to the conclusion that people with a tendency to dromomania are diagnosed with increased brain activity in the temporal parts.

Features of the development of pathology in children

A pathological craving for spontaneous travel or vagrancy very often first appears in childhood or adolescence. Such patients try to escape from problems at school, at home or with their parents. Everyone knows that adolescence is one of the most difficult periods. As practice shows, children's vagabondage does not require special treatment, since it goes away on its own as the teenager’s psyche matures and develops. Running away from home becomes less common and later disappears completely.

When parents turn to a psychologist with the problem that their child has a tendency to vagabondage or wandering, an experienced specialist should explain to them what dromomania disorder is and how to deal with it. The best prevention vagrancy in childhood is to build trusting relationships between adults and children. Parents should understand their child, and not perceive him as an inconvenience in the household or a troublesome creature. It has been proven that in families where harmony and understanding reign, children very rarely, almost in exceptional cases, can run away from home.

Treatment methods

Treatment for this pathology is not carried out with medication or surgery; there is only one treatment – ​​psychotherapy. After the first attack of dromomania, it is necessary to seek advice from an experienced psychologist who will help determine the real reasons and help the patient himself deal with them.

When the disease takes on a clinical form, only a psychotherapist and psychiatrist can help. It is necessary to identify the cause of escapes and influence it. If the cause is another disease, then it is necessary to treat the root cause of dromomania. Along with psychotherapy, you can use sedatives or tranquilizing drugs, as well as use physical therapy methods.

Hypnosis has proven itself very well, which is aimed at destroying the destructive program that controls the patient. With an integrated approach to treatment, each patient has a chance to completely get rid of the desire to wander. The psychotherapist focuses the patient's attention on methods of getting rid of stress, minimizing the impact of stress factors, relaxation methods and ways to solve problems constructively.

Dromomania is a mental disorder that manifests itself as an irresistible desire to run away from one’s own home.
People suffering from this disorder typically do not plan anything, do not have a specific goal, and do not understand the extent of the consequences of their actions.

In other words, dromomania is an impulsive, unplanned journey that occurs without any reason or purpose. This is not a desire to visit new places, relax or see beauty for which a normal person travels, but an unhealthy desire to escape away from his usual surroundings.

The first “escape” is often triggered by a stressful situation or psychological trauma. In the future, if pathology develops, even a minor event may become the reason for wandering.

This syndrome in psychiatry is sometimes called poriomania or vagabondage, but in general it is the same thing.

Adults suffering from dromomania can leave everything - family, work, children - in order to go “wherever they look.” In childhood, false dromomania often occurs when children run away due to conflicts, stress, or psychological trauma. This behavior can subsequently develop into a syndrome of irresistible attraction.

Most often, this syndrome occurs in children, but can sometimes affect adults. There have been cases when the disease began to manifest itself in childhood and subsequently continued throughout life.

The most striking example of this disorder can be considered gas welder Jean-Alberto Dada from Bordeaux. He was hospitalized in 1886 after a journey that lasted several years. At the time he was admitted to a medical institution, he was very exhausted, he did not remember anything at all: where he was, what happened to him. The doctors themselves traced his approximate route and were quite surprised to learn that the Frenchman had visited several countries around the world. After this incident, there was a surge in dromomania, and Jean gained many followers.

Dromomania in children

In childhood, false dromomania most often occurs. Children run away from home in response to a difficult situation, conflicts in the family, or due to excessive stress. This reaction can become a habit and the child will develop dromomania syndrome. False syndrome of irresistible attraction occurs in overly emotional and temperamental children who are prone to affective reactions.

The second most popular reason is boredom, and not necessarily from a lack of hobbies or activities. Most often, children run away without the opportunity to do what they love and to realize their potential. Parents themselves, suffering from a “dependent personality disorder,” try to pay as much attention to their child as possible, while forgetting about his interests.

The child is forced to carry out all kinds of additional education, both within and outside the school curriculum, and is taught several languages, leaving no time at all for activities that interest him. All this often provokes escape. If a child ran away from home only once, this does not mean that he should immediately be diagnosed with an irresistible attraction and begin treatment as soon as possible. It is best to start by adjusting the family situation; this is often quite enough.

Reasons

False syndrome of irresistible attraction is typical for adolescent children. At this age of confrontation and struggle with the outside world, teenagers often commit impulsive actions, which means running away from home is possible.

A single incident does not lead to any consequences, chronic syndrome dromomania develops only on the basis of systematic escapes. The reasons for regular runaways in childhood are very wide ranging from quite simple and expected to completely extraordinary:

• unfavorable situation in the family circle;
• overly strict upbringing by parents;
• excessive workload in studies and extracurricular activities;
• sensitivity, touchiness;
• vivid dreams inspired by read books and films about travelers.

In adulthood, the onset of the syndrome does not always have a previous predisposition to escape in childhood. A sudden impulse to give up everything and run away is possible under different circumstances:

• severe stress;
• emotional pressure from family and friends;
• nervous breakdown, overwork.

The situation that caused the breakdown needs to be corrected, and at the same time the nervous system must be strengthened. If all this is not done, a person will be attracted to escape at the first difficult life situation. Sometimes dromomania can be a consequence of obsessive-compulsive disorder or psychopathy. Magnetic resonance imaging usually reveals abnormal activity in the temporal lobes of the brain in people with vagabondage syndrome.

Manifestations of the syndrome

Irresistible attraction syndrome is diagnosed if travel meets the following criteria:

1. Surprise. The strongest desire to escape and go wandering always arises unexpectedly. A person can wake up in the middle of the night, get up and leave.
2. Irresponsibility. A person with dromomania syndrome never warns anyone about his sudden travels. A mother may leave her children at home, not realizing how dangerous this could be, the father will not notify the family about his departure, the employee will leave workplace.
3. Lack of plans. Submitting to a sudden impulse, the patient can leave home without taking the money, wearing pajamas and slippers, etc. Most people suffering from irresistible attraction syndrome go on a journey, hitchhiking, wandering, and begging.

The “traveler” assures that he ran away from home due to severe anxiety and restlessness, and also because of an irresistible attraction to a change of scenery. Typically, once these symptoms subside, the person returns to his family.

Stages of development

Dromomania, like many other diseases, has several stages of development:

1. Primary attack. Most often, a person runs away for the first time after severe stress, a major conflict, or when personal interests are clearly limited. This stage usually passes quickly enough, the patient comes to his senses and returns back.
2. At the second stage, vagabondage becomes a habitual reaction to difficulties in the family or at work. Traveling becomes longer and leads to severe depression.
3. The third stage of irresistible attraction is clinical in nature. At this stage, the person himself is not able to cope with pathological attraction; during an attack, he has practically no control over his actions and does not understand what he is doing.

Treatment

In most cases, this pathology in children and adolescents does not require specialized treatment, as it gradually goes away as the psyche develops. Sudden escapes at this age are often repeated and parents most often turn this problem to the police, harming the psyche of the escapee and spoiling their relationship with him.

Adults need to learn that as a teenager grows up, he gains his own life experience, all bad deeds will gradually pass. But this does not mean at all that you just need to wait idly for the child to grow up, allowing him to continue to run away and wander.

It is best to take him to an appointment with a qualified psychologist.

At the clinical stage of dromomania, good psychotherapeutic treatment is necessary. The doctor, first of all, will help to establish the real causes and begin to take appropriate measures to relieve them at least partially. The main goal of psychotherapy is to increase self-awareness and degree social responsibility person. The pathology itself cannot be treated, so it is necessary to understand and eradicate its causes - this is the main task of a psychotherapist.

During the examination, a connection between dromomania and another psychological disease is sometimes revealed. In this situation, you must first treat the underlying disease.

Dromamania: causes, manifestations, treatment pathological passion to wanderings

Maria Barnikova

One of the forms of pathological mania is dromomania. About the causes of development, signs and methods of treatment of abnormal cravings for vagrancy.

Dromomania– a specific syndrome within the framework of the mental disorder depressive-manic course, which manifests itself in the presence of an obsessive, uncontrollable, impulsive craving in an individual to change places of stay. In psychiatry, such an abnormal passion for vagrancy also goes by other names: vagabondage, poriomania.

The main symptom of dromomania is the development in a person of an irresistible attraction to change of location: causeless escapes from one’s own home, spontaneous changes of place of residence, logically inexplicable wanderings. At the same time, a subject suffering from dromomania is not guided by the desire to travel: he does not feel the desire to visit exotic countries, visit attractions, or see picturesque corners of the planet.

His impulse to change his place of residence is a painful, uncontrollable passion to leave the boundaries of his “habitual” territory. Dromomania is a periodically occurring obsessive need to go “wherever your eyes look.” Leaving home is never preceded by developing a travel route, planning the duration of the trip, or a preliminary analysis of the likely difficulties and obstacles along the route.

Typically, the first episode of dromomania, called the reactive phase, is initiated by intense exposure to stressors and follows an unresolved traumatic event. In case of subsequent consolidation of mania, the obsessive need to wander becomes severe.

Progression pathological disorder leads to an increase in the frequency of episodes of leaving home and a longer period of abnormal “travel”. Over time, an unhealthy habit is formed and reinforced - from time to time or in response to some unpleasant event, leaving your home and wandering.

Dromomania: reasons

Dromamania often debuts during puberty. Running away from their own home among teenagers is a fairly common phenomenon, associated primarily with the “surprises” of puberty. Such teenage absence in most cases is not entirely normal, but a natural one-time event, directly objectively related to any real problems.

The single departure of a girl or boy from home can be explained by the peculiarities of puberty: acute antagonism, sharp confrontation with society, a desire to prove oneself and demonstrate one’s independence. As a person grows up, he accepts his individuality, finds his place in the human community, and acquires the skills of harmonious interaction with other individuals.

However, for some people, the tendency to wander takes on an irresistible, obsessive nature. A mature, established personality begins to be influenced by an irrational passion for vagrancy. With the development of dromomania, an adult subject is not able to control his impulses to wander, and cannot, through volitional efforts, resist the pathological thirst to leave home. Having become a prisoner of dromomania, the individual’s morbid desire to wander is not stopped by the presence of a family, parental responsibilities, or the need to go to work.

Chronic dromomania is often a concomitant phenomenon of various mental pathologies, among which obsessive-compulsive disorder occupies the palm. Also, an unreasonable and uncontrollable passion for vagrancy is defined by severe course constitutional psychopathy. Regular episodes of dromomania are recorded in schizophrenia, epilepsy, hysterical neuroses, depressive states. The development of a painful passion for escape can be triggered by an organic disease of the brain caused by an acute circulatory disorder, traumatic brain injury, an infectious disease, or oncological pathology.

The trigger for unexpected impulses to “escape from reality” are most often the following circumstances:

• unfavorable atmosphere in the family;
• conflict situation in the educational or work team;
• forced constant contact with asocial elements;
• excessive mental or physical stress;
• mental fatigue due to excessive workload and lack of proper rest;
• emotional “press” from those close to you;
• physical, sexual, moral violence;
• sudden intense exposure to stress factors.

Dromamania most often develops in a person of an emotive type: an impressionable, suspicious, vulnerable, touchy person. An obsessive desire to change the situation is often observed in people who do not have a strong inner core and experience an internal conflict of needs, interests, and goals. An individual who does not understand his own desires and aspirations, does not know in which direction he is moving in life, at a subconscious level is simply afraid of the realities of life. In such a situation, dromomania is a peculiar form of defensive behavior that allows you to avoid confronting reality, albeit in a very strange way.

Dromamania: stages

Like other psychopathological syndromes, dromomania goes through several stages in its development, as they progress, the passion for vagrancy becomes more persistent.

Initial phase– reactive stage – manifests itself as the first episode of dromomania. As a rule, the first run away from home, initiated by a personal tragedy experienced, does not last long. After wandering aimlessly for a couple of days, the person returns to his abode and begins to lead his usual life. However, already at the initial phase of dromomania, a person’s subconscious firmly fixes a “convenient” model of response to stress in the form of escape behavior.

Intermediate phase– the stage of consolidation of pathology – is characterized by the formation of an abnormal habit of vagrancy. When the slightest problem arises, the subject's consciousness is overcome by an irresistible desire to wander. The personality becomes unable to resist its obsessive impulses. At this stage, the duration of the period of vagrancy increases, and attacks of dromomania occur more often. Clinical signs of bipolar depression are often identified.

Final stage marks the stage of the final formation of dromomania syndrome. The individual loses the ability to control his impulsive impulses. During an episode of dromomania, the subject is unable to critically assess his condition, cannot influence his train of thought, and does not control his own behavior.

Dromamania: signs

Specific signs indicate the development of the pathological syndrome of dromomania. A person may be diagnosed with wanderlust if their condition meets the following criteria.

Factor 1. “Predetermination” of escape

As patients with dromomania say, they are pushed to undertake their next journey by a “special” internal state. They are in a feverish nervous excitement. All their thoughts are focused on the “necessity” of another escape. At the same time, they anticipate the euphoria that will arise as soon as they cross the threshold of their home.

Factor 2. Sudden unconscious irresistible urge to escape

The obsession with leaving home and going on a trip always arises spontaneously. An individual suffering from dromomania can interrupt the work process, leave the workplace and leave the office without saying a word to anyone. Often a dromomaniac goes on wanderings in the middle of the night, while wearing clothes intended for sleeping. Such a subject leaves home without warning loved ones, and he does not take with him mobile phone to contact relatives.

Factor 3. Indifference to travel details

With dromomania, the subject is absolutely indifferent to how their “campaign” will turn out. Not only does he have no travel plan, he has no idea where exactly he is going. With dromomania, a person often walks long distances or prefers to hitchhike.

He does not take personal hygiene products, a change of clothes and shoes, food or water with him. A person addicted to dromomania does not care about financial well-being and does not take money with him. He does not think about the fact that he will starve, suffer from thirst, or freeze. At the same time, it is not difficult for a dromomaniac to beg, steal, or cheat during the active phase of “running mania.”

Factor 4: Blatant irresponsibility.

A subject suffering from dromomania is distinguished by cynical irresponsibility. While wandering, the individual is not bothered by thoughts of unfulfilled work, abandoned family, suffering children, or worried relatives. He goes into his unreal world, in which criteria such as responsibilities, the need for attention and care are not present.

Factor 5. Reduced criticality

During the period of “binge travel,” the individual is unable to control his thoughts and actions. He loses the opportunity to critically assess his condition. He believes that his spontaneous escape from home is a normal way to solve his own problems.

However, as his abnormal passion is satisfied, the subject with dromomania begins to realize the illogicality and absurdity of his journey. He returns home and at first may experience minor pangs of conscience. However, very quickly dromomania takes the reins of the individual’s consciousness, and the obsessive craving for vagrancy returns again.

Dromomania: treatment

Since dromomania is characterized by a progressive nature, at the first signs of the syndrome it is necessary to consult a psychotherapist for advice. Conducting psychotherapeutic treatment at an early stage of the disorder will completely eliminate the painful passion for vagrancy.

When clinical signs of dromomania develop, it is advisable to conduct a comprehensive examination of the patient to determine the underlying somatic or mental pathology. Strategy drug treatment is selected exclusively on an individual basis and is aimed at eliminating the underlying disease. As a rule, the treatment program includes antidepressants, drugs that stabilize the emotional status, and anti-anxiety drugs.

The main emphasis in the treatment of dromomania is on psychotherapeutic measures and hypnosis. The doctor’s work is aimed at eliminating the subconscious destructive program that controls human behavior. Learning relaxation skills and ways to respond constructively to stressors, minimizing traumatic factors, and identifying the triggers of mania give a chance to completely get rid of the painful passion for vagrancy.

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Dromomania is a mental disorder. The manifestation of this disease is that a person experiences an irresistible desire to leave or escape from his home. The patient has an obsessive desire to leave the familiar environment and go into the unknown. At the same time, the patient does not want to see beautiful new places, but simply wants to avoid the familiar world.

Main Features

Dromomania is a disease that must be taken seriously. A person suffering from this disease is able to leave his family or quit his job in order to go anywhere. The first case of escape can be provoked by various psychological traumas or stressful situations. But if the pathology continues to develop, then the patient finds various, sometimes completely unimportant, reasons for wandering. Although dromomania most often affects children, adults can also be affected by this strange disease. Doctors have recorded frequent cases in which the very first signs of the disease in a person appeared in childhood and continued throughout life.

The most striking example in history

Dromomania is not a new disease. Cases of this disease have been recorded hundreds of years ago. A Frenchman named Jean-Albert Dada is the most prominent example of a person with this mental disorder. He lived in the city of Bordeaux, which is located in France, and worked as an ordinary gas welder. In 1886, Jean-Albert was taken to hospital. As it turned out, he wandered for several years. The patient arrived at the clinic in poor condition. He was very exhausted and could not remember what happened to him. During his wanderings, the Frenchman even managed to visit several countries around the world. After this incident, a real boom in dromomania began. Jean-Albert Dada himself acquired large number followers.

Impulsive behavior is the first sign of illness

Dromomania is a disorder that at first glance may seem like a simple desire to breathe fresh air or go fishing. But there are several signs that indicate the presence of the disease. The first of them is impulsiveness. The patient may have a sudden desire to “rest.” For relatives and close friends, such behavior seems absurd. The patient may completely forget that he planned anything and leave home without telling anyone. Cases of pathological impulsivity are expressed in the fact that the patient is able to abruptly quit the task he was starting or even eat, get ready and leave the house.

Indifference is the second feature of the disease

Dromomania is a serious mental disorder that is best recognized by early stage. The patient is absolutely not prepared for his future “journey”. At the same time, the person does not think about possible consequences of your departure. He can leave his family and go nowhere without any financial resources for a further life of wandering. He doesn't worry about planning his trip. Such an irresponsible attitude to detail can cause a lot of trouble for the patient. There are many known cases when people who left home were hungry, cold, and lost their way. Those suffering from dromomania will never take with them the necessary warm clothes, food, map, money and other things important for the trip.

Irresponsible attitude is the last symptom

A person suffering from the disease described does not worry about an abandoned job, an unfinished task, or unfed children. He does not realize that by leaving he could cause irreparable harm to someone. The patient does not tell anyone about his intentions to escape from the familiar world, since he himself did not know about his plans a few seconds ago. Cases have been recorded where a patient with dromomania woke up in the middle of the night, got dressed and left home without informing anyone close to him about his sudden decision.

How does the patient describe his feelings?

Dromomania is a disorder of desire, manifested in an obsessive desire to leave one’s home and change a boring environment. WITH Greek language the term translates as “running mania.” A person has an urgent need to leave an environment that, for some reason, puts strong emotional pressure on him. Often the patient describes his experiences as disturbing. He experiences mental discomfort and cannot find a place for himself in his home. These sensations subside only during a trip or wandering. When the anxiety completely disappears, the person begins to realize the absurdity of his situation and returns home. A more severe form of this disease is prolonged wandering, in which the patient simply moves forward as long as he has strength and health. At the same time, the process of escape itself is important to a person, and not the destination.

Causes of the disorder in children

Most often, dromomania is diagnosed in children and adolescents. Constant escapes of a child can be provoked for various reasons, both expected and completely unexpected. The reason for leaving home again may be the bad attitude of parents, an exorbitant academic load, the emotional instability of the child, as well as obsessions, which are most often inspired by books and films about travel.

Sources of disease in adults

Dromomania in adults has a predisposition in childhood. Women and men in adulthood who feel a strong desire to give up everything may have to leave home. Most often, impulsive and reckless behavior of patients is provoked by severe stress, nervous breakdown or overwork. The development of dromomania can also be caused by strong emotional pressure from relatives or friends. If the situation that influenced the patient’s behavior is not corrected, then subsequently, if any life problem arises, the person will constantly run away from home. Sometimes this disorder can be a consequence of diseases such as psychopathy or obsessive-compulsive disorder. OCD and dromomania are closely related, as people with these diseases have abnormal activity in the temporal regions of the brain.

Stages of development of dromomania

The first case of running away from home is often the result of some severe stress or conflict situations with family or friends. At this stage, it is not particularly difficult for a person to quickly recover and return home. At the second stage of the disease, the patient finds the only, as it seems to him, sure way to avoid family problems or work conflicts. For him, vagrancy becomes a habitual response to all unpleasant situations. At this stage, a person’s wanderings can take a very long time and lead to deep depression. Dromamania syndrome at the third stage is already clinical. The patient is practically unable to control his actions and overcome the pathological craving for impulsive escapes from his usual environment.

How to fight the disease?

Dromomania is a mental disorder in which a person has the urge to leave his home. The patient may have an irresistible desire to escape from the usual, so it is very important to recognize the symptoms of the disease at an early stage. Mostly, people resort to the help of qualified psychologists, since it is extremely difficult to cope with this problem alone. Often, the patient is prescribed antidepressants, which help to quickly overcome the anxiety state. To prevent dromomania, doctors advise not to keep negative emotions to yourself, but to discuss with loved ones everything that can cause internal discomfort. To strengthen the nervous system, it is important to exercise every day. A good antidepressant is morning or evening jogging.