The Mad Traveller

Imogen Groome is a journalist and copywriter who has written extensively on mental health, relationships and politics. She has worked in the creative industry for over 6 years, with her work appearing in Metro, The Sun, The Independent, iNews, New Statesman and Huffington Post. Her life has revolved around awareness of mental health and disability from the start, as she grew up alongside two siblings with autism. She began experiencing anxiety, panic attacks and a fractured sense of self from the age of 13, which led to being diagnosed with one of the rarest psychiatric disorders in the world - fugue state. Also known as reversible amnesia or dissociative fugue, the condition saw Imogen spend 4 years experiencing 'time black-outs', where she would lose access to chunks of her life and 'wake up' somewhere she didn't recognise. Sometimes she was unaware of who she was. Sometimes she thought she was someone else. To this day, she has not regained all of her memories. But 7 years later, enough has trickled through for her to create a narrative that describes what it's like to lose all sense of who you are. The Mad Traveller has been written in the hope that it will resonate, at least in part, with some, give inspiration for those who believe they cannot build a life with mental health issues, and provide a compelling story for all who choose to read it.