Dissociative Amnesia with Dissociative Fugue and Psychosis: a Case Report from a 25-Year-Old Ethiopian Woman

Abstract

Introduction. The case after exposure to intense traumatic events manifests signs and symptoms of dissociative amnesia with a dissociative fugue and schizophrenia. The psychotic symptoms we found, in this case, were very complicated and mimicking primary psychotic disorders. Therefore, this might be a good forum for the scientific world to learn from this case report, how psychotic disorders coexist with dissociative disorders, since the literatures in this area are too rare. Main Symptoms and/or Important Clinical Findings. This case report focuses on the case of dissociative amnesia with dissociative fugue and psychosis in a 25-year-old Ethiopian female who lost her husband and three children at the same time during the nearby ethnic conflict. Associated with amnesia, she lost entire autobiographical information, and she also had psychotic symptoms like delusions and auditory hallucination which is related to the traumatic event she faced. The Main Diagnoses, Therapeutic Interventions, and Outcomes. The diagnosis of dissociative amnesia with a dissociative fugue comorbid with schizophrenia was made, and both pharmacological and psychological interventions were given to the patient. After the intervention, the patient had a slight improvement regarding psychotic symptoms but her memory problem was not restored. Conclusions. The observation in this case report brings to the fore that individuals with dissociative amnesia with dissociative fugue can have psychotic symptoms, and it takes a longer time to recover from memory disturbances.