Jean-Albert Dadas
Jean-Albert Dadas | |
|---|---|
| Born | 10 May 1860 |
| Died | 28 November 1907 (aged 47) |
| Known for | Dromomania |
Jean-Albert Dadas (10 May 1860 - 28 November 1907) was the first recorded and most famous case of dromomania. A gas-fitter from Bordeaux, Dadas travelled by train, by boat and on foot to several European countries and Algeria on his numerous fugues, "awakening" in a dazed state at some point of his trips, with no memory of how he got there. His longest trip led him to Moscow and Constantinople. When he was hospitalized in Bordeaux, he was examined by a medical student, Philippe Tissié, who used hypnosis to make him describe his travels. Tissié wrote about Dadas in his doctoral dissertation in 1887, coining the term "dromomania".
Life and travels
Dadas was born in 1860. At the age of eight, he fell from a tree and had a concussion. When he was 12, he became a gas fitting apprentice and had his first fugue: he suddenly disappeared and was found in a nearby town helping a traveling salesman in a dazed state. His fugues continued. At some point of each trip, he would come around, as if awaking from sleep, far from home and without money. He would usually look for the local French consul, or any French people abroad, to help him get on his way back. Once he got as far as Algeria and then returned home, doing menial jobs to pay for his trips. He enlisted in the French army as a volunteer, but deserted with a friend. They traveled through Belgium and Holland on foot. After his friend died from exhaustion, Dadas continued through Germany to Vienna. Upon hearing of a general amnesty for French deserters, he went back home.[1]
Deserting once again, he went on his longest trip. He reached Prague and then Berlin. In East Prussia, he was wounded by a dog. After spending two weeks in a hospital, he continued east and reached Moscow, where he was arrested as a nihilist. After three months in prison, he was marched with other prisoners to Turkey. The French consul in Constantinople gave him the money to reach Vienna, where he worked to earn for his return home. He was arrested for desertion and sentenced to three years hard labour in Algeria.[1]
Released from the army, he returned to Bordeaux and disappeared once again for several months. In January 1886, he entered the local hospital, disappeared the next day, but returned in May and was examined by Tissié. Dadas married in 1887, had a daughter and moved to Paris. When his wife died of tuberculosis, he gave his daughter for adoption as he still had fugues. After another trip to Berlin, he stayed with Tissié in Pau for a while. He died on 28 November 1907.[1]
Dromomania
When he was admitted to Saint-André hospital in Bordeaux, Dadas was placed in the ward of famous neurologist Albert Pitres. He was examined by Philippe Tissié, a hospital intern who had embarked on a medical career quite late, in his mid-twenties. When he first met Dadas, Tissié was 33 and only needed to write a thesis to obtain his medical degree. Based on Dadas' case, he wrote Les Aliénés voyageurs (Traveling Madmen) in 1887, coining the term "dromomania" for his complaint. Ian Hacking, in his book Mad Travelers, admits the possibility that Dadas' case could have been folie à deux, a delusion shared by doctor and patient, since Tissié used suggestion and hypnosis to obtain almost all available information from Dadas. While there is evidence for some of his travels — work papers from Vienna and testimonies by a consul and several Frenchmen who helped him abroad — nothing corroborates his trip to Moscow, and he could have learned about nihilists from the papers (Dadas could read but hardly write). Hacking notes that Tissié's thesis led to a "fugue epidemic" spreading from Bordeaux to much of Europe and lasting until 1909.[1]
According to Tissié, Dadas would hear a place name and become restless. While Dadas led a calm life outside of his fugues, they were preceded by three days of severe headaches, anxiety, sweats, insomnia, and masturbation. While he deplored the fact that he could not lead a normal life, he did want to travel to faraway lands since an early age.[1]
Dadas has been described as a "pathological tourist"[2][3] and a victim of wanderlust.[4] He is the main character of Man Who Walked Away, a novel by Maud Casey.[2]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e Hacking, Ian (1998). Mad Travelers: Reflections On the Reality of Transient Mental Illnesses. University of Virginia Press. p. 7-31. ISBN 9780585120942.
- ^ a b "Book review: Man walks away and into dawn of psychiatry in 19th-century Europe". The Washington Post. March 24, 2014.
- ^ "Travel Addiction Is Real". Conde Nast Traveler. June 13, 2017.
- ^ Watt Smith, Tiffany (2015). The Book of Human Emotions: An Encyclopedia of Feeling from Anger to Wanderlust. Profile Books. ISBN 9781847659675. Retrieved July 14, 2018.
