Dromomania: causes of pathological craving for vagrancy

Dromomania is a mental disorder in which a person experiences an obsessive urge to leave home. This is not the thirst to see new beautiful places, which is characteristic of a normal traveler, but a painful, impulsive desire to get away from the familiar world “wherever one looks.”

The first episode of leaving home can be triggered by some kind of psychological trauma or stress. But in the case of pathology development, the reasons for wandering become very insignificant reasons.

In modern psychiatry, the syndrome has other names: “poriomania” or “vagabondage.” But the essence of the disease is the same.

How to recognize pathology?

Dromomania may look like an innocent desire to take a walk in the fresh air or go fishing. However, there are certain signs that indicate the presence of the syndrome:

A person decides to “rest” suddenly, completely unexpectedly for loved ones. He may completely forget about previous plans, that he agreed with his family to spend the weekend together. Pathological impulsivity is expressed in the fact that a person can interrupt an ongoing activity or meal, get dressed and leave.

A person’s absolute unpreparedness for the “journey” makes him starve, freeze and go astray. People with this syndrome do not plan a trip in advance. Accordingly, they do not take warm clothes, food, a map and other necessary things with them.

A person who decides to set out on a journey does not worry about an abandoned job, an unfinished project, or an unfed child. He doesn’t warn anyone or inform anyone in advance about his plans, because he himself didn’t know about them a minute ago.

Dromomania is indeed a mental disorder. Translated from Greek, the term means “running mania.” A person feels an urgent need to escape from a space that for some reason causes emotional pressure. He describes his feelings as intense anxiety, which only subsides during the trip. When this feeling passes completely, the person returns home, already realizing the abnormality of his impulsive act.

A more severe form of the syndrome manifests itself in prolonged wandering. The term "vagabondage" is translated from French as "vagrancy." A person simply goes forward and forward as long as he has enough strength and health. What matters to him is not the destination, but the process of escaping. To describe this condition, the concept of “poriomania” is usually used, meaning “path” translated from Greek.

Impulsive behavior is the first sign of illness

Dromomania is a disorder that at first glance may seem like a simple desire to breathe fresh air or go fishing. But there are several signs that indicate the presence of the disease. The first of them is impulsiveness. The patient may have a sudden desire to “rest.” For relatives and close friends, such behavior seems absurd. The patient may completely forget that he planned anything and leave home without telling anyone. Cases of pathological impulsivity are expressed in the fact that the patient is able to abruptly quit the task he was starting or even eat, get ready and leave the house.

Causes

The so-called false dromomania is most often diagnosed in children of adolescence. During this period of antagonism and confrontation with the outside world, the teenager is capable of committing rash actions, including running away from home. If this happens once, the syndrome does not bother you in adulthood. Chronic poriomania develops only on the basis of regular episodes of vagrancy.

The reasons for constant running away in childhood can be both quite expected and completely unexpected:

• unfavorable home environment;
• too strict parents;
• excessive study loads;
• impressionability and touchiness;
• obsessive desires inspired by books or films about travel.

The appearance of the syndrome in adults may not have a previous predisposition in childhood. In men and women, an unexpected impulse to “drop everything and run away” is possible in the following situations:

• due to severe stress;
• due to emotional pressure from loved ones;
• against the background of a nervous breakdown or overwork.

If you do not try to correct the situation that influenced a person’s behavior, or do not strengthen the nervous system, in the future he will be “pushed” to leave home every time some problems arise in life.

In some cases, dromomania is a consequence of obsessive-compulsive disorder or psychopathy. When conducting magnetic resonance imaging, experts note pathological activity in the temporal lobes of the brain in precisely those people who have symptoms of Vagabondage syndrome.

Reasons for appearance

Psychotherapists around the world are trying to establish the exact causes of the development of this mental pathology, which has not been fully studied. Dromomania or vagrancy, as a form of deviant behavior, is most typical for adolescents who want to resist society and its ways at any cost. Everyone is familiar with the vagrancy of minors, which is associated with the period of puberty and growing up, when frequent leaving home is aimed at attracting the attention of parents to their person. At this stage, an experienced psychologist, or even a sincere conversation with a loved one, can help the teenager.

However, doctors are familiar with cases where this disorder was diagnosed in adults. What motivates a person who has all the conditions for a normal life, social status and family, to wander? The tendency to wander most often makes itself felt during some critical stage in life. As practice shows, most often the disorder is diagnosed in people with a weak inner core, vulnerable, impressionable, weak in spirit.

The trigger mechanism in the development of this psychopathology may be:

• frequent conflicts in the family, at work, at school;
• excessive physical and nervous stress;
• constant contact with representatives of antisocial strata of society;
• mental, physical or sexual violence;
• lack of adequate sleep and rest;
• sudden impact of stress factors.

Do not forget that dromomania can be one of the symptoms of mental disorders. Thus, the syndrome of withdrawal and vagrancy is characteristic of some forms of schizophrenia, episyndrome, depression and neuroses. The urge to leave home may worsen after a traumatic brain injury, stroke, cerebrovascular accident, or oncological tumors of the brain. Dromomania for such patients is a way to escape from themselves, their inferiority, problems and others.

How to fight?

Dromamania, like other syndromes, has its own stages of development:

1. The first attack in which a person runs away from home is usually nothing more than a reaction to severe stress, conflict with family or infringement of personal interests. At this stage, the person quickly comes to his senses and returns home.
2. Vagabondage is becoming a common response to problems at home or at work. Vagrancy drags on over time and leads to deep depression.
3. At the third stage, dromomania acquires a clinical character, in which it is difficult for a person to overcome his pathological cravings; he has practically no control over his actions during the next impulsive escape.

From the above, it becomes clear the need to start treatment as early as possible. Often this cannot be done without the help of a qualified psychologist. You may need to undergo treatment with antidepressants.

As a preventive measure, experts advise discussing with loved ones in a timely manner what causes internal anxiety, and finding compromises together.

To strengthen the nervous system, it is advisable to exercise regularly. A good habit is to jog in the morning or evening. This type of activity, in addition to improving health, helps to throw out accumulated negative thoughts and recharge yourself with positivity.

What is dromomania?

The main symptom of dromomania is the development in a person of an irresistible attraction to change of location: causeless escapes from one’s own home, spontaneous changes of place of residence

The desire to travel is not usually considered a mental disorder. A huge number of people prefer to periodically go to other cities or countries in order to fully relax in an unusual environment for them.

In the international classification of diseases, a mental disorder called dromomania is listed under code F91 (conduct disorder). The code F21.4 (psycho-like low-progressive schizophrenia) is also suitable for him, if the pathology is accompanied by signs of schizophrenia.

Reasons for violation

Vagabondage, also known as dromomania, manifests itself in people who suffer from various mental illnesses. Also, this violation can be considered as one of the features of temperament inherent in a particular person.

Dromomania is a mental disorder that is caused by the following unfavorable factors:

1. Organic brain damage caused by vascular pathology or traumatic brain injury.
2. Schizophrenia.
3. Histrionic personality disorder.
4. Epilepsy.
5. Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder.

Adolescents may periodically experience a false type of dromomania. They are forced to leave their home for the following reasons:

1. The influence of excessive loads.
2. Unwillingness to obey parental orders and perform household responsibilities.
3. The presence of constant conflicts in the family.
4. The desire to show your importance and complete independence from adults.

Adolescent children may develop a desire to travel under the influence of stories from adventure films or books. Excessive enthusiasm does not allow them to feel the clear difference between the real world and fantasy.

Dromomania can occur in adults who do not have any mental health problems. Such individuals are characterized by infantilism. A person simply does not have enough new experiences in life, so he decides to move and travel frequently.

Stages

The disease goes through several stages in its development, as they progress, the passion for vagrancy becomes more persistent

Dromania has several stages of development. With each new degree, the attraction to travel and wandering only intensifies.

Experts identify the following stages in the development of mental disorder:

• Reactive stage. This is the initial phase of the pathological process. A man makes his first escape from home. It is short in duration. After a couple of days of wandering, the patient returns to his normal life. Already at this stage, an ideal plan for responding to uncomfortable situations and stress appears in his head.
• Stage of consolidation of pathology. The intermediate phase is characterized by the emergence of an unhealthy habit of wandering. Any problem forces the patient to drop everything and leave home. The individual is deprived of the opportunity to resist the irresistible desire to travel. Attacks of dromomania bother a person more and more often.
• The stage of the final formation of the disease. The final phase leads to frequent impulses to run away from home. The individual ceases to adequately assess his current state and control the desire to start wandering.

A person needs to be given adequate help at the first signs of dromomania. The sooner he begins to fight his problem, the higher the chances of achieving recovery.

Symptoms

Vagabondage is determined by the symptoms characteristic of this pathological condition:

1. Lack of responsibility. The patient has no desire to warn friends and relatives about his sudden departure. He can quit his job or his favorite activity and hit the road.
2. Suddenness. The patient suddenly has the idea to give up everything and take up vagrancy. He follows his desire, despite possible obstacles and circumstances.
3. Lack of a plan. At the moment of the next attack of dromomania, a person goes on the road, forgetting to take with him important things that he may need on the trip. We are talking about a change of clothes, money and documents. This is one of the reasons why dromomaniacs are often forced to ask passers-by for financial assistance.
4. An attack of anxiety and a desire to change the current environment. The patient manages to get rid of the obsession only during the trip. As soon as this symptom decreases, the person returns home.

These symptoms should cause concern to people around the dromomaniac. He himself is not always able to understand that he is suffering from a mental disorder, so he can only count on the help of relatives and friends.

Consequences of dromomania

In their constant travels and wanderings, dromomaniacs can easily contact people who have a tendency to abuse alcohol, drugs or have problems with the law

Dromomaniacs who cannot cope with an attack face complications of the disease. They are caused by prolonged exposure to unsanitary conditions and wearing clothing that does not correspond to weather conditions.

Why do people start wandering: the origins and overcoming of dromomania

People have loved to travel at all times. Brave wanderers set off to unknown lands and discovered new lands. Travelers conquered seas and oceans, climbed mountain peaks, crossed hot deserts and icy plains. The passion for unknown worlds, the thirst to visit all the most beautiful corners of the planet is a worthy hobby for contemporaries. Travel, trips, cruises and voyages broaden your horizons and give you a feeling of fullness of life. An adequate person plans his tour in advance: studies the route, chooses the best path to reach the destination, takes with him the necessary things and equipment. A mentally healthy subject always knows where he is going and for what purpose he is making the trip. One is a group of people who, for no reason and spontaneously, leave their place of permanent residence and go wherever they look. Such persons do not carry out any preparatory activities before their trip. They don't understand where exactly they want to go. They do not realize why they leave home and in an instant destroy their established life. Such people are driven by an impulsive, obsessive, uncontrollable passion for changing their location. Such an uncontrollable illogical craving for vagrancy in the scientific community is called dromomania or vagobondage. What is dromomania: the essence of the disorder

A patient with this disorder is overcome by an irrational desire to leave the confines of his own home.
At the same time, he cannot resist his obsessive cravings. Leaving home during dromomania can be explained by the presence of a painful, uncontrollable need to leave the confines of one’s home in any way. This impulsive impulse is never preceded by drawing up a hiking route and planning the duration of absence from home. Without any reasons or motives, the subject leaves home without warning his family and begins to wander aimlessly. A patient with dromomania is not at all distinguished by strong excitement and desire to travel. He has no desire to see overseas countries or visit exotic resorts. He is not at all interested in spectacular panoramas, picturesque landscapes or historical landmarks. It doesn’t matter to him what area he is in - in regions inhabited by civilization or in abandoned wild territories. A patient with dromomania is not embarrassed or stopped by the inconveniences that naturally arise during an unprepared hike. In fact, he doesn’t care what to eat or where to sleep. Neither the sweltering heat nor the severe frost stops him. He is not afraid of the prospect of catching colds and experiencing all the painful “delights” of intestinal infections. For him, losing a prestigious job, losing a place in the service, or losing his own business during his travels is not a hindrance. He doesn’t care what experiences his relatives experience, who don’t know whether he’s alive or not. Why does the passion for wandering arise: the causes of dromomania
In most patients with dromomania, the first unreasonable escape from home occurs in the period immediately following the personal tragedy they experienced. A person, unable to constructively overcome the impact of extreme stressors, escapes from emotional distress by running away from himself. Finding some peace outside of your usual place of residence and not having to solve the problem at hand leads to the formation of a special subconscious program. The essence of the subconscious scenario is this: if a problem arises, it is not necessary to solve it, because there is always the opportunity to ignore it, that is, it is better to run away from difficulties. Subsequent consolidation in practice of such a false unconscious attitude leads to the establishment of mania - an obsessive craving for vagrancy. As the disorder worsens, the need to leave home arises more and more often: the desire to leave one’s home overcomes the subject every time difficulties are encountered along the way. Moreover, each time the duration of his trip becomes longer, and he moves away to longer distances. Very often, the first episode of the disorder occurs in adolescence, which is explained by the natural features of puberty - the period of development and personality formation. The characteristic features of many boys and girls are acute opposition to social foundations. Teenagers are distinguished by their unacceptability and denial of existing norms and foundations in society. Leaving home is an attempt to demonstrate one’s disagreement with the prevailing social rules. In addition, such an action is also a kind of attempt to declare one’s independence and autonomy. The desire to leave their native land usually arises among those children who grow up in an asocial environment. Being with drinking parents and constantly seeing scenes of drunken showdowns and fights strengthens the teenager’s desire to leave such an environment for the normal human world. However, most young children do not have the opportunity to solve this problem on their own: they do not have their own housing, they do not have a source of income, they do not know how to behave in the adult world. Escaping from home and subsequent wanderings is a way to somehow brighten up your painful existence, to leave the world of alcoholic fog. Another reason for dromomania is also hidden in the characteristics of a person’s growing up. Very often, caring parents take full responsibility for the life of their child. They do not give the child the opportunity to express his own desires and ignore his point of view. They do not allow a young person to overcome naturally occurring difficulties on his own. Such protective parents watch the child’s every step, simply not giving him a chance to do things independently. However, any person strives for independence. The desire to get rid of parental oppression leads to the child leaving home. Naturally, in most cases, the valiant police returns him to the bosom of his family. However, the experienced sweetness of the air of freedom requires the teenager to escape again. In the future, this model of behavior in response to an intractable situation is reinforced. And, as an adult, such a person, when faced with problems, uses the same model of behavior. Over time, the tendency to aimless wandering acquires an uncontrollable obsessive nature. A person who finds himself in the clutches of dromomania simply does not have sufficient energy resources to resist the irrational impulsive craving for vagrancy. At the same time, such an obsessive idea to wander around the world covers the entire thinking of the individual. Seized by dromomania, a person cannot resist his passion. Neither his beloved husband, nor his children in need of care, nor his elderly parents, nor his professional responsibilities stop him. We can say that dromomania controls a person’s thinking and behavior, depriving him of the will and strength to resist abnormal passion. In such a situation, there is every reason to assert that dromomania in this subject is a variant of the course of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Often, an uncontrollable urge to wander is not an independent isolated problem. A passion for wandering and regular escapes from home are a symptom of severe mental disorders. Dromomania can be identified in dissocial personality disorder. Regular episodes of the disorder may indicate epilepsy. Running away from home is a characteristic phenomenon in schizophrenia. Dromomania may indicate major depressive disorder. Often the causes of the passion for vagrancy are pathologies of the central nervous system that arise as a result of impaired blood supply to the brain or as a result of skull injuries. An irresistible desire to wander can occur after severe neuroinfections. Such an abnormal passion may indicate the occurrence of benign or malignant tumors in the brain. Psychological and social factors that can provoke dromomania are:

• unhealthy atmosphere, lack of understanding in the family;
• conflicts and hostile environment at the place of study or work;
• forced, independent of a person, regular contacts with immoral individuals;
• excessive mental overload and lack of adequate leisure;
• exorbitant, clearly inflated demands on a person from the social unit;
• excessive unfair criticism;
• moral pressure and humiliation from others;
• experienced an episode of hooligan attack, beating, violence;
• sudden extreme stress, interpreted by individuals as catastrophic circumstances;
• the predominance of emotive character traits in the personal portrait;
• lack of a strong inner core, lack of understanding of one’s place in life, lack of true goals;
• existing internal conflict;
• painful feelings of guilt and worthlessness;
• pathological fear of the future, reluctance to develop oneself as an individual.

How to identify dromomania: signs of pathology The
following symptoms may indicate that a person is not at all driven by a desire to travel, but is driven by an obsessive, uncontrollable passion for wandering.
A person gripped by dromomania is unable to give a sober assessment of his situation. It turns out to be impossible for him to redirect his train of thought to another plane. His mind is consumed by obsessive thoughts about the upcoming campaign. In the period preceding the escape, the individual is in a very excited state. He looks distracted and worried. He is unable to have a full conversation with his opponent, since all his thoughts are occupied with the idea of ​​escaping. The subject is unable to perform quality work because he cannot concentrate on the task at hand. At some point, a person experiences an unreasonable impulse - a spontaneous urge to leave the place where they are staying. He does not even think about the need to warn about his absence. A person may leave his place of work without explanation. A person can, without saying a word, go outside the home. At the same time, the patient with dromomania never takes the necessary things and objects. He can leave the apartment in his pajamas. He forgets his wallet and bank card at home. He doesn't put any means of communication in his pocket. The patient does not bother to take personal hygiene items and medications with him. He does not care what he eats or drinks, so the subject does not take food or water with him. That is, a person leaves his home without any things needed on a hike. It is worth emphasizing that in the event of an urgent need, a dromomaniac may commit illegal acts, for example: he will beg passers-by for money or decide to steal other people’s personal property. Leaving the confines of his home, the patient does not have the slightest idea where he is going. It doesn't matter to him where he goes. The main thing is that he ends up away from his native land. Very often, dromomaniacs travel on foot or hitchhike along highways. As a rule, they do not have the means to pay for an overnight stay. That's why they spend the night at train stations, on benches in parks, or hang out with flocks of homeless people. A person dependent on the mania of vagrancy is in a state of prostration in the stage of “drunken travel.” She seems to be moving into an unreal habitat. The surrounding reality does not matter to her. While traveling, a sick person does not have thoughts about unfinished business, abandoned children, or a worried spouse. In his fantasy world there are no such concepts as duties, duty, responsibility. During manic “travels,” the subject loses the ability to critically evaluate. He is convinced that running away is a normal way to solve problems. After some period of time, his strange thirst for wanderings finds satisfaction. The subject is looking for an opportunity to reach his home. Upon returning from a “drinking trip,” the patient does not have any remorse. He does not understand that he has caused suffering to those close to him. However, with dromomania, periods of “enlightenment” may also occur, when the patient begins to realize the illogicality and absurdity of his behavior. Unfortunately, after a short period of remission, obsessive thoughts about the need to travel return again. How to overcome dromomania: methods of treatment
As clinical practice shows, it is impossible to get rid of dromomania on your own, since obsessive thinking completely paralyzes a person’s will and deprives him of the ability to reason sensibly. This disorder is characterized by rapid progression and aggravation of symptoms. That is why at the first signs of pathology it is necessary to seek help from a psychotherapist. Psychotherapeutic treatment for dromomania is a complex of various activities, which includes:

• familiarizing the patient with the characteristics of his disorder;
• training in adequate ways to cope with stressors;
• use of relaxation techniques;
• work to establish the primary source of the pathology and steps to eliminate the cause;
• motivating the patient to lead a healthy lifestyle;
• conversation with the patient’s relatives in order to eliminate unfavorable factors in his environment.

If dromomania has psychological or social causes, then treatment is carried out using psychotherapeutic techniques. If there is a suspicion of a severe somatic or mental disorder, additional examination is required to establish an accurate diagnosis. After the examination, a drug treatment strategy is developed individually. Most often, the patient is prescribed tranquilizers of the benzodiazepine class, antidepressants from the SSRI group, and antipsychotic drugs.

Treatment and prognosis

Both adolescents and adults with dromomania require treatment from a psychotherapist

Single cases of the syndrome in children and adolescents do not require special treatment. In such a situation, it is necessary to find out the reason for the child’s desire to leave home and find a way to eliminate it.

A mental disorder in adulthood in a person who does not have serious illnesses can be eliminated with the help of a competent psychotherapist. The specialist diagnoses the patient and then offers him special training to increase self-awareness and level of responsibility.

If there are concomitant pathological processes, medications will be required. Psychiatrists prescribe antipsychotics, nootropics and antidepressants to dromomaniacs. Physiotherapeutic procedures and psychotherapeutic techniques can also improve the patient’s condition.

The prognosis for recovery directly depends on the cause of dromomania. The most difficult thing to cope with is a patient who has been diagnosed with pathologies of a physical and mental nature.

Treatment

In most cases, this pathology in children and adolescents does not require specialized treatment, as it gradually goes away as the psyche develops. Sudden escapes at this age are often repeated and parents most often turn this problem to the police, harming the psyche of the escapee and spoiling their relationship with him.

Adults need to learn that as a teenager grows up, he gains his own life experience, all bad deeds will gradually pass. But this does not mean at all that you just need to wait idly for the child to grow up, allowing him to continue to run away and wander.

It is best to take him to an appointment with a qualified psychologist.

At the clinical stage of dromomania, good psychotherapeutic treatment is necessary. The doctor, first of all, will help to establish the real causes and begin to take appropriate measures to relieve them at least partially. The main goal of psychotherapy is to increase a person's self-awareness and degree of social responsibility. The pathology itself cannot be treated, so it is necessary to understand and eradicate its causes - this is the main task of a psychotherapist.

During the examination, a connection between dromomania and another psychological disease is sometimes revealed. In this situation, you must first treat the underlying disease.

A psychologist can recommend all kinds of psychotherapeutic methods, drug therapy and physiotherapeutic procedures. Be healthy!

Great people suffering from dromomania

Among great people there were individuals who suffered from poriomania and dromomania. Many men and women who have great achievements in science or art still suffer from pathology today. The list of people suffering from dromomania usually starts with Jean-Albert Dada. This is the name of a person who is a prime example of a droromaniac. In 1886, the man ended up in the hospital. Doctors found out that he had been traveling to different cities and countries for several years. After this, doctors began to diagnose increasing cases of dromomania in other individuals.

The classic Maxim Gorky suffered from a mental disorder. Even as a child, he repeatedly ran away from home. This syndrome also bothered the writer’s father. Therefore, we can say that the disease was inherited by Gorky.

History also knows of other great people who were forced to constantly leave home and wander, because they could not suppress the desire to wander.

Vagrancy syndrome is a disorder of social behavior characterized by an irresistible desire to leave home. Common among school-age children, less common in adults. As a rule, the syndrome manifests itself in impressionable individuals under the influence of strong external stimuli. These could be problems and quarrels in the family, violence, clashes with classmates at school. Usually the trigger for leaving home is a strong experience: an episode of bullying at school, an adventure film, an act of violence. Dromamania (also called vagrancy syndrome) can also affect adults. In this case, their actions have serious consequences, since they often leave without warning, abandoning their family and children.

Why does wandering syndrome occur?

The exact cause of the disease is unknown. The tendency to wander must be distinguished from the desire to leave home. The first is characterized by sudden impulses; a person can leave his home in the middle of the night, without taking even the most necessary things with him: change of clothes, money, telephone, without warning his family and friends. It has been proven that boys aged 12–17 years are most susceptible to the syndrome (i.e., with the onset of puberty, children more often leave home); this occurs less frequently in girls. Among the possible reasons contributing to the development of dromomania are:

• Microclimate in the family. Most often, children leave dysfunctional relatives. In such families, they often drink alcohol, use force against children, or use sexual coercion. Sometimes parents also lead an antisocial lifestyle, setting a bad example. Children, unable to change the situation, leave home.
• Mental disorders. The craving for street life and vagrancy is most often observed in people suffering from schizophrenia, mild dementia, epilepsy, and autism.
• Problems with social adaptation. Misunderstanding among peers, bullying - all this pushes children to run away from home in search of a better life.
• Psychological characteristics. The desire to leave most often arises among dreamy, impressionable individuals; some seek entertainment and new sensations in this. Such persons often resort to hooliganism, theft, and begin to use alcohol and drugs.

Signs

In the clinical picture of dromomania, several signs specific to this pathopsychological condition can be identified:

1. Waiting to escape. Before an episode of leaving home, patients fall into a state of nervous, feverish excitement. They can't think about anything else other than the “necessity” of another escape. At the same time, they joyfully anticipate the euphoria that will arise immediately after leaving home.
2. An irresistible sudden unconscious urge to escape. The desire to take another trip arises suddenly. As a result, a person leaves without saying a word to anyone, without finishing his business, without taking the necessary things with him. The craving for wandering sometimes occurs at night, then patients leave home in their night pajamas.
3. Indifference to the details of the upcoming trip. Patients do not have a “hike” plan. They don’t take with them a change of clothes, hygiene products, money, or a mobile phone, and they don’t think about the fact that they might be hungry, cold, or sick. While traveling, patients may steal, commit fraud, or beg to meet their needs.
4. Irresponsibility. During the period of escape, patients go into their irrational world, without thinking or even remembering loved ones, unfinished work and their obligations.
5. Lack of criticality towards one's condition. Patients suffering from dromomania are confident that running away from home is a normal way to resolve a conflict situation. Only after their anomalous passion is satisfied do they begin to realize the illogicality of their action. After returning home, a person experiences a feeling of shame in front of loved ones, but it does not last long, and after a while the craving for vagrancy arises again.

Patients with dromophobia usually do not prepare for escape in advance.

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Signs of dromomania in adults

An independent adult is less susceptible to the influence of traumatic exogenous factors than children, so dromomania practically does not occur in them (provided that the person has not suffered from it before). The syndrome can develop for no apparent reason, but in most cases it is preceded by certain factors:

• Presence of mental illnesses: schizophrenia, epilepsy, paranoia.
• Constant stress: problems at work and in the family, nervous and mental overload.
• Lack of rest, constant workload.
• Severe shocks: death of a loved one, dismissal from work.

A person may not be aware of his desire to leave home. It appears suddenly or develops over a long period of time. The following signs indicate the presence of vagrancy syndrome in most adults:

• A strong desire to leave the house, which arises unexpectedly - at night, on the way from work.
• The patient does not warn his family and friends and leaves his family and children.
• Subsistence is usually obtained through begging or theft.
• The patient can return home as abruptly as he left.

Complications and consequences

The consequences of vagrancy syndrome in children and adolescents depend on the number of times they leave home, their duration, and also on the nature of the individual. Among the most common are:

• Formation of persistent antisocial behavior. Such children do not attend school, do not think about their future profession and family, and often use alcohol and drugs. Society condemns such actions, but in most cases it has the opposite effect.
• Problems with law. Homelessness leads to various crimes: theft, robbery, prostitution. All this is done in order to get money, food, buy alcohol or drugs.
• Health problems. Living on the street, failure to comply with hygiene rules, poor-quality water and food, consumption of alcohol and prohibited substances - all this can undermine the health of a young body and leave problems for many years, or even for life. Begging for a long time leads to problems with the skin and gastrointestinal tract; such children are more likely to get ARVI.

Vagrancy syndrome is often complicated by depression, mood swings, and an inability to learn and live within social norms. A person cannot take responsibility, solve problems and experience failures, or control his mood.

How to help a tramp?

In most cases, social assistance from the state is needed - moral, material, medical, psychological and drug treatment.

• We need special social institutions throughout the country, where a person without a fixed place of residence can get a roof over their head, a clean bed, the opportunity to take a shower and change linen, eat, undergo a medical examination and treatment, get help in paperwork, finding a job, etc. . and so on.
• Full (and, if necessary, compulsory) treatment for alcoholism is necessary.
• Long-term meaningful communication with a psychologist or psychotherapist is necessary.
• It is necessary to learn a new profession and subsequent employment in a regular organization or a special occupational therapy workshop.
• Social readaptation and restoration of lost family ties are important

In general, a lot of work is needed by society and the state to return its “lost” citizens to service. And to do this, first you need not to hide your “head in the sand,” but to turn your face to the problem and solve it “with the whole world.”

Diagnosis and treatment

Like any other disease, dromomania can be identified and treated. The standard diagnostic plan consists of the following points:

• Consultation with a child psychiatrist. The doctor will determine whether the child really has a pathology or whether leaving home is associated with something else, and will find out the reasons for the appearance of vagrancy syndrome.
• Psychological research. This includes various tests that determine the severity of certain symptoms - this will help you choose the right therapeutic plan.
• Instrumental methods (MRI, CT) are used when organic psychopathy is suspected.

Treatment also includes a holistic approach that is used for most mental illnesses:

• Psychotherapy.
• Pharmacotherapy.
• Social and occupational therapy.