Amnesia can stem from brain damage, post-traumatic stress disorder, and so many other reasons. It does not have one set of symptoms, nor does it have a single treatment approach. Some people with amnesia have short-term memory, while others struggle with absorbing new information, hence resulting in a decreased quality of life. If you're wondering how to deal with post-traumatic amnesia, dissociative symptoms or other types of memory impairments, this article will guide you through.
What is Amnesia?
Amnesia is the loss of memory. It can last a few hours, days or longer. Amnesia causes memory loss to go beyond ordinary forgetfulness, often because of a traumatic incident in the person's past. Memory loss can be selective or all-encompassing depending on its causes. People may be unable to remember specific events (selective), or they may forget everything about their lives (global).
What Causes Amnesia?
Amnesia refers to a range of conditions in which a person is unable to recall past experiences or knowledge. This can occur following a traumatic experience, an illness or as a result of being given certain drugs. In some cases, the causes are unknown or cryptogenic. The main causes of amnesia include:
- A brain injury
- Stroke
- Electric shock
- Alcohol misuse
- Certain psychiatric disorders including depression and anxiety
- Severe stress
- Head trauma
- Abuse during childhood
- A tumour
Amnesia can be classified by how the memory is lost. The most common causes of amnesia are brain tumors, epilepsy or diseases that affect circulation in the brain.
Types of Amnesia
There are different types of amnesia based on their causes, but the most common ones are as follows:
- Anterograde amnesia causes difficulty forming new memories since your amnesia, though you remember events prior to the amnesia.
- Retrograde amnesia causes loss of old memories. This is not selective; one will have trouble recalling all memories with no distinction between new and old ones. Your memories often start at the onset of symptoms or injuries, however this is not always the case.
- Global (or total) amnesia causes all memories to be lost after you incurred your injury. This causes gaps in memory that can last hours, days or even longer depending on how long the global amnesia lasts.
- Selective amnesia is a form of amnesia that causes loss of specific memories but not others. Some people show an inability to remember traumatic events, while others retain only certain types of knowledge such as foreign languages learned later in life.
- Transient amnesia causes temporary memory loss for a short period of time. It's dubbed an age-related memory loss that is common in older adults.
- Dissociative amnesia, also known as psychogenic amnesia, causes a disconnection between yourself and reality such as dissociating from what is going on around you. It is caused by emotional stress or trauma.
- Infantile amnesia describes the inability to recall childhood memories. Many people have no memories of their lives before the age of three or five, which is very common. At this age, the brain regions responsible for memories have not fully developed yet.
- Post-traumatic amnesia is a type of memory loss that occurs after a traumatic brain injury. It is characterised by disorientation.
Symptoms of Amnesia
The symptoms of amnesia are unique to each type of amnesia. A brain injury causes headaches, ringing in your ears, loss of sight or sense of taste and seizures. This may be accompanied by confusion or you may fall into a coma in severe cases.
Stroke causes loss in muscle strength, numbness in certain spots, paralysis on one side of the body, speech difficulties and trouble seeing out of one eye. You may also have slurred speech when not using your affected side, or you will remember events before the stroke but not after it happened. Here are some symptoms for the most common causes:
- Memory loss of past experiences
- Forgetting your identity or relationships with others
- Confusion about where you are, why you're there and what day it is
- Getting lost in familiar places if the cause is Alzheimer's or dementia
A person with amnesia would, regardless of their type of amnesia, repeatedly ask questions about their personal information. Additionally, they would experience rapid forgetting of new information and problems understanding new information.
Treatment Options for Amnesia
There are different treatment approaches to amnesia depending on the causes of your symptoms and extent of memory loss. Some causes such as brain injuries, strokes or epilepsy can be treated, while others cannot be treated at all; it will depend on whether or not you have permanent amnesia and what caused it to happen in the first place.
The most common treatments are medication to control seizures or treat psychiatric disorders such as depression, therapy, surgery, memory aids and more. Certain natural treatments and occupational therapies are also highly recommended for amnesia caused by certain events or conditions. For example, people suffering from Cold Characteristic Syndrome can benefit from acupuncture, while those with epilepsy can use biofeedback methods to reduce seizures that lead to amnesia.
Prevention for Amnesia
The best way to prevent amnesia is by eating a balanced diet and exercising regularly to keep your body healthy. Avoiding high risk activities, such as motorcycle riding and climbing mountains, without proper gear and training reduces the risk of brain trauma. Additionally, you want to stay away from physical fights to avoid head injury.
In some cases, people who have been diagnosed with mental disorders are advised to take certain medication to prevent the onset of amnesia. Prevention of amnesia is useful in cases where the cause is not known or when there are no treatment options available.
Keeping yourself safe can prevent head injury, which causes about 50% of all amnesia cases. Eliminating these risks will reduce your chances of suffering memory loss due to brain damage. If you have a loved one suffering from amnesia, a mental health professional can be of help. A natural health practitioner can also recommend adjunct therapies to reduce if not eliminate the adverse effects of conventional amnesia treatments.
