Evening star., 1932-11-23
FLIGHT TENDENCY
PRESENT IN MANY
Amnesia Is Attempt at Es-
cape From Reality,
Say Psychiatrists.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

However fantastic in its details, the
case of Col Raymond Robins, represents
only a rather extreme development OF
tendencies which many, If not all,
normal people may be able to recog-
nize In themselves.
Such is the conses5us of Government
psychiatrists in discussing this strange
instance of fight from reality or dual
personality. Any specific diagnosis is
necessarily impossible without more ex-
act information, not now available. AT
the best. it was explained, the basis
mechanism Is obscure. The so-called
"fl1Que" belongs to the great complex
of weird psychic phenomena ranging
from temporary forgetfulness of a
familiar name to the extreme dissocia-
tior of the katatonic in the insane hos
pital. Between the two are all sorts OF
intervals.
The victim runs away from dis
agreeable reality. The flight may De
physical, mental or both. 1t may con-
sist merely in closing the doors OF
memory to some disagreeabie TACT.
Thus. it was explained by DR.. Walter
l.. Treadway, assistant surgeon gen.
eral. the often-experienced and irrltat-
ing failure momentarily to recall a
familiar name often can be explained
on the basis of some unpleasant eX-
perience, perhaps apparently forgotten,
with some individual bearing the same
or q similar name. 1t is the common
situation of "having it on the end OF
nv tongue, but I can't say 1t" Many
persons, at least, have strong tendency
to shut out the disagreeable. 1t Is not
an Intentional forgetting. The Wnole
mechanism, whatever 1t may be, WORKS
below the level of consciousness. This
common instance, it was explained,
should serve as a warning against
careless accusation Of deceit when the
phenomenon appears in such an ex-
panded form as the Col. Robins case.
In any event the victim himself Is as
much deceived as the rest of the world.
Prison Psychosis Frequent.
A frequent experience of Government
psychiatrists, DR.. Treadway explained,
is with the "Ganser syndrome
situation, or prison, psychosiS. The
yitcim has committed q crime which
he cannot justify to his own conscience.
Neither can he a0duce valid reasons
why he should escape punishment. He
cannot escape from the prison bars.
Even if he could flee, he still would
be bounded by his own sense OF guilt.
The situation is intolerable. The only
escape Is through the mind itsef-com-
plete wiping Of the incident out OF
conscious memory. It is not done de-
Iberately, of course. No more SO than
Is the familiar name forgotten.
The Ganser syndrome, DR.. Treadway
explained, Is often evidenced In func-
tional deafness or dumbness IN prison.
ers. The victim, for example, may shut
out Of his mental life the capacity OF
hearing. It Is as actual case Of deaf
ness, for the time being. as If the inner
ear itself was destroyed. The man Is
not consciously pretending that he
cannot hear, but has called into oper-
alton some deep-lying mechanism Of
the psychic life, 50 that sound stim-
ulus does not register on his brain. Once
this Is accomplished, he Is safe from the
pain of listening to accusations. In the
same way he may dissociate the ca
pacity for speechs Then he feels re-
defending himself against something
for which he has no valid defense.
In the case of prisoners. DR.. Tread
way explained, the condition usually
clears up when 1t has accomplished,
or definitely failed to accomplish, its
temporary purpose. But sometimes a
man gets too far out on the limb" of
dnreality, remains IN q lengthy psy-
Ghosts, and shows considerable mental
deterioration.
Sleep Is Often Refuge.
The common way of meeting dis
agreeable contingency with great
number Of people, it was explained, is
partially or completely to shut 1t out
of the mind. Thus Dr. Mandel Sher-
man, former director of the National
Child Research Center here, found that
when children of the markedly intro
vert"-or inward-turning of per-
sonality faced punishment or were told
to do something they disliked fire.
quent reaction was to fall asleep. Thus
the pain Of the situation was shut out
Of the child's mind. 1t frequently has
sleep soundly on the night before exc
cution. It Is their only refuge from the
unbearable pain Of an anticipated ex-
tinction.
References in the Public Health Serv-
ice library described the fugue-or
fight-as prolonged waking phenome-
non somewhat allied to sleep walking
I'm essence" the description reads: 1T
Is sudden dissertation following some
emotional shock--an escape from an in
tolerable but repressed situation. The
individual may make long trips To
strange places and wake up" to won
der how he got there. He may even
temporarily take up new occupation
or follow interests altogether alien to
his natural character or station In life u
Splitting Of Personality.
The dual personality Is described as
~an absolute splitting of the whole
personality. The individual breaks with
himself and his past, wanders away
does not know where he is, assumes an
entirely different character, generally
a new name, lives with strangers and
leads q new life, until he suddenly
returns to the state in which he was
when the splitting Of the personality
took place. There are literally two OF
more personalities with different states
of consciousness. Occasionally the in
dividual Is in a state of Generalization
not knowing his name or who he is, the
whole memory being blank. The dis
sociation may last months or ever
years, recurring from time to time"
Numerous cases of fugues and dua1
personalities of soldiers are contained
in the records OF the Veterans Bureau
They we're due to the subconsciols eff.
forts to escape from the dangers anc
disccmforts of war, and ranged from
conscious or half-conscious assembling
to completely unconscious syndronles
Often the details become extremely
weird.
At present such cases are classified
with the neuroSes. Up to now, at least
Government psychiatrists say, they
must be considered as essentially dis,
orders of function-possibly having 6
physical basis for which there is NJ
clue. They lay in that obscure fielc
where the physical operations of th'
mind become altogether too hidden ant
complicated for the psychiatrist or neu
Tologist to follow.
State Railways Of Sweden have or
dered $4,000 tons Of coal from British
firm in exchange for coal mine timber