III.

Dissociative Reactions

Patients with hysterical conversion reactions may have periods of intense emotion and defective power of self-observation. In such a mental condition, patients may interact with others in a bizarre way. Extreme symptoms of dissociation are shown in fugue (flight) or somnambulism (sleepwalking). In fugue, a person suddenly leaves home, may assume a new identity, and has no recollection of their past. In somnambulism, which is a restricted but focused state of consciousness, and is most common in adolescence, the patient may be trying to come to terms with a former painful situation, but without adequate reference to the current realities of the situation.