Post by Admin on Feb 8, 2024 11:31:21 GMT
Dromomania, The Horrible 19th Century Illness That Caused People To Unknowingly Travel The World
For a time, there was an influx of people who claimed to unwittingly wander
historianandrew.medium.com/dromomania-the-horrible-19th-century-illness-that-caused-people-to-unknowingly-travel-the-world-7d7ed78dd9ea
Humans experience different manias and afflictions that cause them to do a variety of behaviors that are unexpected or unknown to them. Sometimes these are fleeting or downright bizarre. A very strange example of this is dromomania, the insatiable compulsion to travel or wander, which experienced a craze in the 19th and early 20th century, where some people traveled far distances around the world without even realizing it.
Dromomania is a long-standing psychiatric diagnosis characterized by an uncontrollable urge to wander or walk. The term dromomania is derived from the Greek words “dromos,” meaning running, and the root mania. Initially coined in the 17th century to describe enthusiasm towards a particular activity, the term mania eventually found its most common usage as various clinical diagnoses.
During the 19th and early 20th centuries, dromomania became more widely known as a psychiatric disorder similar to more commonly recognized impulse control disorders such as kleptomania. It was most prominent between 1887–1909, when it became a cause celebre in those studying the human mind and behaviors. In the burgeoning field of psychiatry, French practitioners played a key role in defining dromomania. The symptoms of the disorder include an automatic state during travel, amnesia, a loss of personal identity, and in some cases even impulses towards self-harm.
Perhaps the most famous case of dromomania was that of Jean-Albert Dadas, a simple gas-fitter from Bordeaux, France. The unsuspecting man would suddenly depart on foot journeys covering vast distances, reaching such faraway cities as Moscow, Prague or Vienna. Incredibly, he was left with no memory of his travels. Fortunately, he was usually able to somehow make it back home, although in 1886 he was hospitalized while abroad due to exhaustion.
Dadas would arrive from his travels exhausted and confused. His compulsive traveling was believed to have started after deserting from the French army in 1881. He walked away from his service Prague and other major cities throughout Eastern…
For a time, there was an influx of people who claimed to unwittingly wander
historianandrew.medium.com/dromomania-the-horrible-19th-century-illness-that-caused-people-to-unknowingly-travel-the-world-7d7ed78dd9ea
Humans experience different manias and afflictions that cause them to do a variety of behaviors that are unexpected or unknown to them. Sometimes these are fleeting or downright bizarre. A very strange example of this is dromomania, the insatiable compulsion to travel or wander, which experienced a craze in the 19th and early 20th century, where some people traveled far distances around the world without even realizing it.
Dromomania is a long-standing psychiatric diagnosis characterized by an uncontrollable urge to wander or walk. The term dromomania is derived from the Greek words “dromos,” meaning running, and the root mania. Initially coined in the 17th century to describe enthusiasm towards a particular activity, the term mania eventually found its most common usage as various clinical diagnoses.
During the 19th and early 20th centuries, dromomania became more widely known as a psychiatric disorder similar to more commonly recognized impulse control disorders such as kleptomania. It was most prominent between 1887–1909, when it became a cause celebre in those studying the human mind and behaviors. In the burgeoning field of psychiatry, French practitioners played a key role in defining dromomania. The symptoms of the disorder include an automatic state during travel, amnesia, a loss of personal identity, and in some cases even impulses towards self-harm.
Perhaps the most famous case of dromomania was that of Jean-Albert Dadas, a simple gas-fitter from Bordeaux, France. The unsuspecting man would suddenly depart on foot journeys covering vast distances, reaching such faraway cities as Moscow, Prague or Vienna. Incredibly, he was left with no memory of his travels. Fortunately, he was usually able to somehow make it back home, although in 1886 he was hospitalized while abroad due to exhaustion.
Dadas would arrive from his travels exhausted and confused. His compulsive traveling was believed to have started after deserting from the French army in 1881. He walked away from his service Prague and other major cities throughout Eastern…