Agatha Christie’s disappearance took on a lot of publicity due to her famed writing abilities. As a popular mystery writer, her works take the third spot of the most sales in history, just behind the Bible and Shakespeare (Mason). It is safe to say that just within her career, there was much pressure to continue publishing her works and remain in the favor of the public.

     Along with her professional life, it is important to note the details of relationships closer to home. Christie was married to Colonel Archibald Christie, and together they had one daughter, Rosalind. The author loved her family very much and was of course troubled to find out about her husband’s affair with a woman named Nancy Neele. Archibald desired a divorce from his wife and for a while they were separated (“Disappearance”). The two, however, later moved to Styles together in an attempt to reconcile their relationship for the sake of their daughter, despite the affair never coming to an end (de Vito, Della Sala).

     One must also address that earlier that year, Christie’s mother had passed away, taking away a significant figure in her life. Her mother had been an active figure in raising Rosalind and supporting her daughter through the many stresses of her life.

     Agatha Christie’s struggle with depression has since been addressed. In an interview with The Daily Mail in 1928, Christie comments on her thoughts after driving past a quarry: “There came into my mind the thought of driving into it… However, as my daughter was with me in the car, I dismissed the idea at once. That night I felt terribly miserable. I felt that I go on no longer,” (Turner).

     Taking these factors into account, one may look at what is called a fugue state. Psychiatrist Neel Burton mentions that, “in dissociative fugue, a traumatic event may prompt a person to embark on an unexpected journey that may last for up to several months”. In a medical study conducted by Monday N. Igwe, it is concluded that “the observation in [the] case report brings to the fore that dissociative fugue is often related to stressful life events and can comorbid with a depressive disorder”.

     Stress and depression are the two most influential triggers of a fugue state, as well as two disorders that Agatha Christie struggled with greatly leading up to her disappearance. It is reasonable to claim that the death of her mother and her husband’s infidelity led to Christie experiencing her own fugue state that would cause her to lose her memory and to travel away from her home as she did.