“The Strange Case of Jane O.” By Karen Thompson Walker

The author says Jane has a strange case of “dissociative fugue” (front flap) (1). And since Dissociative Fugue is one of psychiatry’s Dissociative Disorders, and the chief Dissociative Disorder is Multiple Personality (a.k.a. dissociative identity disorder), any novel with a dissociative patient under psychiatric care should evaluate the patient for multiple personality, which real-life patients often try to hide. But this novel never mentions multiple personality.

And since the author is a professor of creative writing (back flap) (1), she may have heard of Agatha Christie’s famous real-life case of dissociative fugue: When Christie was already famous, she disappeared from her home, and the search for her was headline news for weeks. She had disappeared after her husband was unfaithful, and she was eventually discovered checked-in at a hotel under another name (her dissociative identity).

In short, “time loss” is the single most common symptom of MPD, and fugue episodes are found in 55% of MPD patients (2, p. 59). Once a novel raises the issue of dissociation, a conscientious author must consider multiple personality.

1. Karen Thompson Walker. The Strange Case of Jane O. NewYork Random House, 2025.

2. Frank W. Putnam, MD. Diagnosis and Treatment of Multiple Personality Disorder,  New York, The Guilford Press, 1989.