What is dissociative amnesia?
Dissociative amnesia is a disorder in which the distinctive feature is the patient's inability to remember important personal information to a degree that cannot be explained by normal forgetfulness. In many cases, it is a reaction to a traumatic
accident or witnessing a violent crime. Patients with dissociative amnesia may develop depersonalization or trance states as part of the disorder, but they do not experience a change in identity.
Dissociative amnesia is characterized by a blocking out of critical personal information, usually of a traumatic or stressful nature. Dissociative amnesia, unlike other types of amnesia, does not result from other medical trauma (e.g. a blow to the head). Dissociative amnesia has several subtypes. Localized amnesia is present in an individual who has no memory of specific events that took place, usually traumatic. The loss of memory is localized with a specific window of time. For example, a survivor of a car wreck who has no memory of the experience until two days later is experiencing localized amnesia. Selective amnesia happens when a person can recall only small parts of events that took place in a defined period of time. For example, an abuse victim may recall only some parts of the series of events around the abuse. Generalized amnesia is diagnosed when a person's amnesia encompasses his or her entire life. Systematized amnesia is characterized by a loss of memory for a specific category of information. A person with this disorder might, for example, be missing all memories about one specific family member. |
More information on amnesia
What is amnesia? - Amnesia is a profound memory loss which is usually caused either by physical injury to the brain or by the ingestion of a toxic substance which affects the brain.
What types of amnesia are there? - Types of amnesia inclue anterograde amnesia, retrograde amnesia, transient global amnesia, traumatic amnesia, wernike-Korsakoff's psychosis.
What is anterograde amnesia? - Anterograde amnesia is a form of amnesia where new events are not transferred to long-term memory. Anterograde amnesia is a deficit in learning subsequent to the onset of the disorder.
What's retrograde amnesia? - Retrograde amnesia is a form of amnesia where someone will be unable to recall events that occurred before the onset of amnesia.
What is dissociative amnesia? - Dissociative amnesia is characterized by a blocking out of critical personal information, usually of a traumatic or stressful nature.
What is infantile amnesia? - Infantile/childhood amnesia refers to a person's inability to recall events from early childhood. Infantile amnesia could be linked to language development.
What causes amnesia? - Amnesia has several root causes. Amnesia is usually caused either by physical injury to the brain or by the ingestion of a toxic substance which affects the brain.
What're the symptoms of amnesia? - People with amnesia have difficulty learning new information, and they have difficulty recalling previously learned information.
How is amnesia diagnosed? - In diagnosing amnesia and its cause, psychological exams may be ordered to determine the extent of amnesia and the memory system affected.
What is the treatment for amnesia? - Treatment of amnesia depends on the root cause of amnesia and is handled on an individual basis. Psychotherapy can be helpful for amnesia caused by emotional trauma.
How to prevent amnesia? - Amnesia is only preventable in so far as brain injury can be prevented or minimized. Brain infections should be treated swiftly and aggressively. |
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