BTSC Staff Nurse 31 July-2025
Mental Health Nursing
Easy
Dissociative fugue is a specific type of dissociative amnesia characterised by:
Appeared in: BTSC Staff Nurse 31 July-2025
Explanation
- Dissociative fugue is defined by two core features: sudden, unexpected travel away from one's usual surroundings and an inability to recall one's past.
- This memory loss is accompanied by significant confusion about personal identity, and in some cases, the person may assume a new identity.
- The combination of purposeful travel (the 'fugue' or 'flight') and identity disturbance is the key feature that distinguishes it from other forms of amnesia.
Why Other Options Were Wrong
- Option A: This describes dissociative amnesia in general, which is characterized by memory gaps, but it lacks the specific and defining element of travel that is essential for a diagnosis of fugue.
- Option B: This describes anterograde amnesia, which is the inability to create new memories. Dissociative fugue involves the loss of past memories (retrograde amnesia), not the inability to form new ones.
- Option D: These are obsessions, which are the hallmark of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). They are intrusive thoughts, not a disorder of memory or identity.
Related Visual
Clinical Relevance
- Nursing practice connection: This is primarily an exam-oriented knowledge point with limited direct bedside application, so retain Characteristics of Dissociative Fugue as background academic context rather than a clinical decision trigger.
- Nurses encountering a patient who is disoriented to person, place, and time must consider dissociative fugue in the differential diagnosis, especially if there is no evidence of substance use or head trauma.
- The primary nursing intervention is to ensure patient safety. A person in a fugue state is vulnerable and may not be aware of dangers in their environment.
- Management involves creating a safe, low-stimulus environment and avoiding confronting the patient with facts they cannot remember, as this can increase anxiety.
How to Approach the Question
- First, identify the core concept in the question stem: 'Dissociative fugue'.
- Recall the etymology of 'fugue,' which relates to 'flight' or 'fleeing'. This is a strong clue that travel is involved.
- Analyze each option to see which one incorporates both a memory disturbance and the element of travel.
- Option C explicitly mentions 'sudden travel away from home with identity confusion', which directly matches the definition of dissociative fugue.
- Eliminate the other options by identifying the conditions they describe: Option A is general dissociative amnesia, Option B is anterograde amnesia, and Option D describes obsessions in OCD.
Concept Tested & Keywords
- Concept Tested: Characteristics of Dissociative Fugue
- Stem keywords: Dissociative fugue, dissociative amnesia, characterised by
- Lead-in keywords: BEST, MOST RELEVANT CLUE
- Negative lead-in flag: false
Question ID
QXXHDcE-r9nteK2gI6FyLY
Reference Book
E6 Kaplan Sadock's Synopsis of Psychiatry-2022 (pp 1-3768 of 3768) p. 1402-1404
E6 Robert Boland, Marcia L. Verduin - Kaplan and Sadock's Comprehensive Text of Psychiatry-Wolters Kluwer Health (2024) (pp 1-16525 of 16525) p. 3839-3841
Practise the full BTSC Staff Nurse 31 July-2025
Attempt every question from this paper in a timed mock, then review the full solution for each one.
More Neurotic, stress related and somatisation disorders Questions
- The situation in which individuals have excessive worry or belief that they are suffering from a physical illness despite lack of medical evidence is…
- Following are associated with post traumatic stress disorder except?
- Which of the following disorder is commonly seen in rape victim girl?
- The defence mechanism in which emotional conflicts are expressed through motor, sensory, or somatic disability is identified as?
- Which of the following is NOT a sign/symptom of the obsessive-compulsive disorder?
- Anxiety is caused by?
- What is the term coined for circumscribed fear of a discrete object or situation?
- Which of the following options describes transient situational disturbances?
- What is the term used to explain the condition in which a patient perceives that his/her face is distorted and his/her legs have become short?
- The level of anxiety that enhances the individual's power of perception is?
More BTSC Staff Nurse 31 July-2025 Questions
- Which refers to the alternating bands of pigmentation in the hair of a child suffering from kwashiorkor?
- Who developed the Illness-Wellness Continuum model?
- What is the principle of using chlorine as an antiseptic?
- Which of the following, except one, are common scenarios for investigating medico-legal cases?
- In footling breech presentation, which part of the fetus presents first?
- What is the primary focus of care in the modular nursing model of nursing assignment?
- What causes acute pulmonary edema?
- How should used sharps be disposed of?
- Which of the following diseases are included in Chapter 06 of ICD-11?
- What is the full form of 'I' in ISBAR charting?