drapetomania

noun2

1. •
   (historical) The desire of slaves to run away, viewed as a mental illness.

   • Forbidding alcohol, eliminating visits to neighbors at night, and withholding adequate food, shelter, and clothing also were measures taken to prevent drapetomania. — 2008
2. •
   (old-fashioned) An overwhelming urge to run away (from home, a bad situation, responsibility, etc.).

   • One of these is a supposed form of mental disease, termed by him "Drapetomania, which, like a malady that cats are liable to, manifests itself by an irrestrainable propensity to run away." — 1857