Man loses memories, wanders for 25 days

Coming out of the fog
Bieger’s ordeal finally drew to a close on Oct. 30, in the suburb of Carrollton.

Mike Phillips, a construction foreman, spotted a man wandering close to the site where Bieger was having a new home built. Phillips thought the man might be Bieger, but he couldn’t be sure.

“Joe, Joe!” Phillips yelled, and then asked the man if he knew his name.

Bieger replied that his name must be Joe.

Did he know his last name? Phillips asked.

“No, I don’t guess I do,” Bieger said.

As the two men spoke, memories slowly came back, Bieger says. It took about two hours to come out of the fog.

“It wasn’t instantaneous,” Bieger says. “Over some period of time I began to realize who I was.”

Previous episodes
In September, before he wandered off, he had experienced two episodes of amnesia that lasted only a few hours, and so his wife of 37 years, Patricia, had an idea of what happened to him after he vanished. She says that during the ordeal, she always believed her husband was alive.

Nevertheless, “there were days when I just wanted to give up,” she says. The Sunday before he was found was her lowest point. “I said, ‘Lord, I can’t do this anymore. You just have to send my husband home,”’ she says.

Dana Ames, director of a search team that looked for Bieger, says: “We knew that his intellect should still be intact, so his survival skills were going to kick in and it was a matter of time to find him.”

No one seems to know exactly how many others are afflicted with psychogenic fugues, or what the precise underlying causes are. Victims may lose all memory of themselves, family or friends, but otherwise seem to function normally and can perform routine tasks. Many experience an urge to move constantly from place to place. Most victims eventually regain their memories, though it can take days and sometimes years.

Psychogenic fugues can be triggered by stress or unresolved conflict, according to experts. But Dr. John Hart Jr., president of the behavioral neurology section of the American Academy of Neurology, says researchers are trying to determine why some people might be more susceptible than others.

“It’s among the rarest of the dissociative disorders,” says Dr. David Spiegel, associate chairman of psychiatry at Stanford University.

Bieger’s return to the Highlands School, a 400-student Roman Catholic institution, was marked by a student assembly and tears of joy.

“Just to see him and see that he was OK, the children were euphoric,” says Denise Funke, a coordinator at the school.

MORE FROM MENTAL HEALTH

Mental health Section Front

Marriage wards off blues, just don't end it Climate change fears may worsen depression Six tips to help you feel instantly calm Autism seen as asset, not liability, in some jobs Coroner: Self-help course led to suicide Teen Internet addicts more likely to self harm Dark shadows loom over ‘facilitated’ talk Compulsive hoarders suddenly in the spotlight Early treatment may help kids with autism Military experiment seeks to predict PTSD Mental health Section Front   Add Mental health headlines to your news reader: