Desertion: Dromomania.
Case 191. (Consiglio, 1917.)
An Italian private, 19, came up for desertion in the face of the enemy. He had had a good record during a year of military service and his army conduct in the war was regarded as very good.
He felt sad and preoccupied for a number of days, but all of a sudden “some indomitable force” thrust the idea into him to go out into the country a distance of some 20 kilometers from the front, with the definite object of praying in a certain church. It seems that this same impulse had occurred to him several times before but not so forcibly. These prayers were to be said in memory of some sad events in his life.
Upon examination he was found in a sad and self-accusatory state, much discouraged with ideas of his guilt, unworthiness, and ruin. He had a variety of gloomy fears and obsessions, all of which contributed to the dromomania that culminated in desertion.
As to his previous history, he had had a depressive psychosis two years before, but the delusions at that time were of persecution. He had also suffered from typhoid fever a few weeks thereafter.