Reasons for the appearance and main types and variations of amnesia

Diseases

Memory loss occurs in one form or another in almost every person. Typically, when under extreme stress, people act on autopilot and then cannot remember certain events. This condition also occurs after drinking large quantities of alcohol. Partial or complete memory loss is classified as a separate group of ailments. Amnesia may develop due to neurological or psychiatric factors. However, many experts believe that this phenomenon should still be classified exclusively as symptoms, for example, of traumatic brain injury.

Symptoms of amnesia

Memory loss is fairly easy to diagnose, even on your own. This is due to the fact that signs of illness are usually obvious. If a person has already begun to have amnesia, it can be identified by the following symptoms:

• False memories appear. A person who cannot reproduce any events in his memory is forced to replace them. Instead of real actions, words, deeds, he will invent others, often completely opposite ones.
• Memory loss covers a certain period of time. It can occur after an injury or during a sharp deterioration in health due to some illness.
• The patient has difficulty remembering certain events. For example, a person may forget the name of the doctor or the medications prescribed to him.

Sometimes not only the main signs of amnesia appear, the symptoms can signal an underlying illness. For example, with a head injury, in addition to memory loss, dizziness and confusion begin. With psychogenic factors in the development of amnesia, a person may be bothered by convulsions, arrhythmia, and fluctuations in blood pressure.

The development of amnesia occurs due to disturbances in the functioning of certain areas of the brain. For example, the hippocampus or temporal lobe, as well as other mediobasal areas. Both external and internal factors lead to anomalies. The main causes of amnesia include:

• circulatory disorders in the brain area;
• severe mental shocks, such as the death of a loved one,

car accident, problems in personal life, etc.;

• traumatic brain injuries;
• poisoning with various dangerous substances, as well as large quantities of alcohol;
• vitamin B1 deficiency;
• inflammatory processes in the brain area;
• Korsakoff's syndrome, characteristic of those who abuse alcohol;
• accumulation of amyloid (a special protein) in the brain.

Amnesia can also be caused by reasons related to tumor processes in the body. Especially if tumors form in the brain. The risk of memory loss is high with epilepsy, atherosclerosis, and oxygen starvation.

If the main signs of illness appear, you should not hesitate and make an appointment with doctors of the following specialties:

These specialists will make a diagnosis and prescribe treatment that will achieve maximum effect. To determine the causes of the illness, the following questions will be asked at the appointment:

To confirm the diagnosis, referrals for EEG and CT are often given. The first method is needed to assess the activity of different parts of the brain. For example, if the hippocampus is damaged, the EEG will show this.

Computed tomography, as well as MRI, help to study the brain layer by layer.

Such examinations clearly demonstrate areas with foci of circulatory disorders, as well as thinning of the cerebral cortex.

Treatment options depend on many factors, especially what caused the condition. To prevent memory loss from happening again, you should:

• Avoid medications that affect the activity of certain areas of the brain. In particular, replace antidepressants or antipsychotics with other drugs.
• Take vitamin B1 if your doctor determines that your body is deficient in this element.
• Follow your doctor's advice regarding drug therapy. Usually nootropics, vasoactive drugs, neutrotrophics, etc. are prescribed.

Experts also recommend that if you have amnesia, regardless of what caused it, you should follow these recommendations:

• solve crosswords;
• control blood pressure;
• quit smoking and alcohol;
• Healthy food;
• do mental calculations;
• walk at least two hours a day;
• regularly attend classes with a psychologist.

Memory loss is especially common in young children. Scientists have found that preschoolers aged 5 to 7 years retain about 70% of their memories from their early years of life. By the age of 9, this figure is already 35%.

Thus, experts identified the term “childhood amnesia”. It is typical only for a certain age and does not occur in adults.

As for other types of amnesia, they should be divided into categories, depending on the time of memory loss, the timing of the development of the disease, and psychogenic factors.

According to the duration of memory loss there are:

• Acute form of the disease. It usually develops due to injury or poisoning with toxic substances. Doesn't last long.
• Chronic. This condition develops slowly, usually due to serious brain diseases. Dementia and circulatory disorders also lead to problems.

According to time intervals, types of amnesia are divided into:

• Congrade type. Memory loss is typical only during the peak state of any disease. For example, due to a head injury. Amnesia can also be caused by a sharp jump in body temperature, problems with the gastrointestinal tract, and other health-threatening conditions.
• Anterograde type. After recovery or injury, a person may temporarily lose memory.
• Retrograde type. The patient does not remember what happened before he became ill or suffered a head injury.

According to the psychogenic type of cause, there are three types of amnesia:

• Post-hypnotic. The patient does not remember what happened during the hypnosis session. This is a fairly common occurrence.
• Fugovaya. It is interesting because a person completely changes his lifestyle. He forgets about his past and even his present, takes a new first and last name, and moves to another city. Sometimes a split personality occurs.
• Hysterical. Appears only as a result of severe stress. Cases have been recorded where the patient unknowingly blocked certain memories because they caused him too much suffering.

Remedies created by nature for certain diseases should only be recommended by a specialist. Self-medication can lead to deterioration of health. Among the common methods of traditional medicine, doctors usually approve of the following:

• Infusion of eleutherococcus You need to take about 3 tablespoons of the roots of the plant and pour 500 ml of boiling water over them. After 10-15 minutes, the infusion can be filtered. You need to drink it in the morning, at lunch and in the evening, half a glass.
• Ginseng decoction. A piece of plant root is poured with two glasses of water. Boil for about 7-8 minutes and then strain. You need to add some walnuts to the decoction and drink it three times a day.
• Thyme infusion. Three tablespoons of thyme are poured into 1 liter of boiling water. Then leave it like that for half an hour. The infusion is filtered and poured into a glass container. You need to drink it several times a day, about a cup.

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Source: https://bolezni.zdorov.online/psihiatrija/amneziya/

Fixation amnesia: causes, features of the course and symptoms

In general medical and popular understanding, amnesia is memory loss. There are several varieties of this disease. It is one of the most severe - fixation amnesia, which is characterized by the inability to remember events that occur.

All information from ten to twenty years ago is perfectly preserved. A person can retell it with all the smallest details. Sometimes the patient is not able to understand when this or that event happened to him.

A completely healthy and common reaction to one’s own condition is confusion, an innocent smile, and surprise. Fixation amnesia is the extreme and most severe form of Korsakoff's syndrome.

Typical patient

This type of amnesia has a paroxysmal course. After a certain period of time, the patient forgets everything that recently happened to him. In addition to events, feelings, experiences, and any other sensations are not recorded in memory.

There are so-called false memories. A person fills in the gaps in memory with his own inventions or events from a long time ago. In a person suffering from fixation amnesia, consciousness and motivation are not impaired. He can carry on a conversation, express his attitude to some things or events, but immediately after the conversation he forgets about everything.

Performance and all skills are also preserved. However, due to the constant lack of connection between what is happening and consciousness, memory, in most cases it becomes impossible to do anything.

The development of this type of amnesia occurs gradually. At the very initial stage, names disappear from memory, sick people become confused in space and time, recent events are erased from the mind.

The peculiarity of this type of memory loss is its slow pace of development. For several decades, fixation amnesia may not make itself felt and manifest itself unnoticed. Most often, the syndrome reaches its peak of development by the age of 40. By this time, seizures, convulsions and seizures characteristic of this disorder begin.

Patients with this form of amnesia are susceptible to:

Due to seizures, the patient is unable to correctly perceive events and reality. Disorientation in time and space occurs.

Constant headache does not give rest. Behavior and mood changes. The person becomes irritable and impulsive.

All information from the recent past disappears from memory. Old memories are vividly preserved and are often perceived as recently occurring events.

The word “confabulation” itself, translated from Latin, means to tell, to chat. This phenomenon often occurs in patients. They are so confused in their memories, events of the past and present that they begin to invent and imagine unprecedented facts and present them as real.

The disease affects the entire body. The rhythm of the heartbeat changes, coordination of movements and sensitivity of the body are disrupted, and excitability increases.

Provoking reasons

The reason for the appearance of fixation and any other type of amnesia is the destruction of brain cells. This can happen due to various reasons:

1. Vitamin B1 deficiency. It is called thiamine. This substance ensures normal development and activity of the brain.
2. Inflammation of brain tissue. Diseases such as encephalitis and meningitis can cause memory loss.
3. Concussion and head injuries. The temporary manifestation of the syndrome is often a consequence of disasters.
4. Tumors, cysts, fibrous and cancerous formations in the brain area.
5. Chronic alcoholism. Chronic consumption of alcoholic beverages over many years almost always provokes memory loss.
6. Oxygen starvation. Various factors can cause oxygen starvation, which causes a one-time manifestation of fixation amnesia. Atherosclerosis, VSD, osteochondrosis of the neck area can cause memory loss.
7. All types of epilepsy.
8. Drugs that cause intoxication of the body. These are heroin, opium, spice.
9. Toxic shock caused by long-term use of certain medications.
10. Emotional or psychological trauma, constant stress, overwork.
11. Degenerative brain diseases - Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, dementia.
12. Lack of foods rich in vitamins and minerals.
13. Schizophrenia, mania, depression.
14. Overdose of medications.

All of these disorders cause the destruction of brain cells, which becomes the cause for the manifestation of fixation amnesia.

What can be done

Treatment of amnesia requires an integrated approach. The body is replenished with vitamin B1, medications are used to improve blood circulation and nutrition of the brain area with useful substances, and antidepressants are prescribed.

Regular meetings with a psychiatrist and psychologist are mandatory. Special games and exercises are conducted to improve memory.

Read more

Source: http://NeuroDoc.ru/bolezni/narushenie-pamyati/fiksacionnaya-amneziya.html

What is amnesia and what types of it exist?

Amnesia is an independent disease or an accompanying symptom in which there is complete or partial loss of memory, the inability to remember new things or reproduce previously received information.

It can be spontaneous and short-term, caused by physical, organic or psychological factors. Memories during a symptom are returned in chronological order - from oldest to newest.

Some of them may not return to the patient at all.

Symptoms and causes

Any disorder or disease of the brain can cause amnesia: depending on the severity of the damage, it lasts from several minutes to several years, in some cases until the end of life.

Short-term memory loss can be caused by alcohol or drug intoxication. There is also childhood amnesia - a condition in which the patient is unable to remember situations that happened to him in his youth.

As a result of mental trauma and the action of defense mechanisms, psychogenic amnesia occurs, which has no organic causes.

Symptoms of amnesia include complete or partial loss of memory, depending on the type of disease.

The patient may not remember specific moments in life; lose the ability to remember what happened after receiving damage; experience difficulty remembering current events; lose motor skills or forget words; completely forget your own biography and replace knowledge with other, fictitious ones.

Classification of the disease

The following types of disorder are distinguished:

• Retrograde is a symptom in which there is a violation of memories of situations that preceded the disease. Caused by neurological disorders, brain damage, traumatic shock.
• Anterograde is a type in which the memory of events occurring after the disorder is impaired, but memories of what happened before the injury are preserved. Memories do not return completely; gaps remain for a long time after the injury. The cause is brain damage, which can occur due to the use of benzodiazepines.
• Fixational amnesia is the inability to remember current events. As a rule, the disease develops in parallel with anterograde amnesia, which leads to a single pathology of the patient when he is unable to remember new information.
• Korsakoff's syndrome is a disorder caused by a lack of thiamine (vitamin B1) in the body. Characterized by the inability to remember current events and disorientation. There may be a shift in the consciousness of the sick time of the situations that happened to him; attention disorder. The causes of amnesia include brain damage, alcohol abuse, and serious eating disorders.
• Dissociative is a mental disorder that involves a sudden loss of memory for personal circumstances. Caused by traumatic situations or stress.
• Dissociative fugue is a disease in which the patient suddenly moves to an unfamiliar place, forgetting absolutely everything about himself, including his name. Universal information remains in the consciousness; the patient’s behavior is almost no different from the behavior of a healthy person. Can last up to several months, as a rule (with the exception of variants with split personality) does not recur. Caused by unbearable incidents and mental trauma. Treatment through hypnotic sessions is possible.
• Childhood amnesia is a feature in which a child over 7 years of age is no longer able to remember most of what happened to him before. Childhood amnesia is caused by the formation of new neurons, impairing memory.

The disease also varies in development:

1. progressive - the patient’s memories are left gradually, from the present to the past, the skill of remembering and processing new information is impaired;
2. stationary - partial amnesia, in which some episodes from a person’s life disappear;
3. regressive - short-term, with the restoration of missing memories.

How to treat the syndrome?

Treatment of amnesia caused by physical damage, tumors or poisoning involves treating the underlying disease.

Treatment of the syndrome begins at its first manifestations - the mechanisms of the brain are extremely complex and such a disorder cannot be triggered under any circumstances.

The patient requires neuropsychological rehabilitation and drug treatment depending on the diagnosis.

Each type of amnesia presents an individual clinical picture, which is why examination by a psychiatrist and narcologist is mandatory. If necessary, additional tests and analyzes will be performed, and the patient will be referred to other specialists for diagnosis. This is important, since depending on the type of amnesia it will depend on what methods need to be treated.

The most likely scenario when establishing a diagnosis will be the implementation of therapeutic measures, including the use of drugs containing ginkgo biloba, the use of neuroprotectors and antioxidants, as well as memory enhancing agents such as glycine.

In the case of retrograde amnesia, a cycle of B vitamins will be prescribed. When a diagnosis of alcoholic amnesia is made, means are used to cleanse the body of alcohol, a complete abstinence from alcohol-containing drinks and a course of addiction recovery are recommended.

Hypnosuggestion therapy is a possible treatment option that involves using hypnosis to regain some of the memory lost due to amnesia. In addition, there are psychotherapeutic techniques that, together with basic medications, give good results.

It is important to approach the treatment of the disease comprehensively and carry it out only under the supervision of a doctor! Do not forget about maintaining a healthy lifestyle and giving up bad habits such as smoking and alcohol.

A nutritious healthy diet and constant moderate physical activity will also help in the fight against the disease and will be good preventive measures.

Don’t forget to exercise not only your body, but also your mind: develop thinking, memory and attention, constantly learn and train!

Author of the article: Anna Kugusheva (no ratings)

Source: https://pamyatplus.ru/bolezni/amneziya.html

Amnesia - types, causes, treatment, symptoms, prognosis

One of the functions of the brain is to remember information and knowledge that a person receives from the outside world, and then the ability to reproduce it. It is natural to forget some information or memories because the brain provides access to information that is remembered or frequently used by a person. However, phenomena arise when a person is unable to remember yesterday or even his own name. Here we are talking about a serious illness - amnesia. The article will consider the types of amnesia, the causes and symptoms of its manifestation, as well as treatment methods.

What is amnesia?

What is amnesia? This is a disease that manifests itself in impaired cognitive activity, when a person does not remember events or knowledge or is not able to reproduce them. Ordinary people know this disease as memory loss.

Memory refers to a person’s cognitive ability to perceive, remember, store and reproduce certain information. With amnesia, it is partially or completely lost. Certain events are forgotten. A person may not remember anything that happened to him in the past.

Events leading up to the traumatic event are often forgotten.

Amnesia in the full sense of the word implies partial or complete loss of memory. It is considered quite normal for people to forget their early childhood, as well as some events that happened to them throughout their lives.

Cases of forgetting events during alcohol intoxication become frequent. Another form of amnesia is forgetting due to stress. The psyche is protected by blocking memories.

All these forms are not considered painful, but are perceived by doctors as natural phenomena.

The brain must forget certain events and information to optimize cognitive performance. This is why much of the knowledge gained in school is not remembered in adulthood. If a person does not use knowledge, it is forgotten.

However, the distinctive function of the brain is that knowledge is stored in it, it is simply not directly and consciously accessed. If in a healthy state a person is able to restore this access to forgotten knowledge, then with amnesia most of the information is lost forever. A person has to acquire new knowledge against the background of the fact that he has already received it before.

Types of amnesia

Scientists distinguish several types of amnesia, depending on which memories become inaccessible or due to what factors it arose. Let's look at them:

1. Anterograde – loss of the ability to remember events or faces. A person loses the ability to remember events that recently happened to him. They are stored in short-term memory, but are not stored in long-term memory, so a person may not remember what he did the day before.
2. Retrograde – absence of memories that preceded the onset of the disease.
3. Antegrade - loss of memories after emerging from an unconscious state.
4. Anterograde - a combination of retrograde and antegrade amnesia.
5. Retarded – gradual, long-term forgetting of memories after loss of consciousness.
6. Traumatic - the result of loss of memories after a fall or blow.
7. Dissociative – the result of mental trauma. It is characterized by complete loss of memory, where a person cannot remember his past and his own biography. Self-identification is lost, but general knowledge is preserved. It is predominantly a consequence of a traumatic situation in which the brain blocks certain memories and distorts personal information about a person. It can be total, localized and selective.
8. Total amnesia of a psychogenic nature is determined by the complete loss of memory of what happened to a person before.
9. Localized amnesia of a psychogenic nature is determined by the forgetting of those events that traumatized the person.
10. Selective amnesia of a psychogenic nature is determined by the forgetting of some information about a specific event. Systematized – loss of a specific category of knowledge about an event.
11. Fixation – lack of memories of ongoing/current events. Is progressive.
12. Korsakoff syndrome (Wernicke-Korsakoff psychosis) is the inability to remember situations that are happening now, while the memory of the past is retained. Often occurs against the background of poor nutrition (vitamin B1 deficiency), after drinking alcohol, or hitting the head.
13. Localized - loss of the ability to reproduce certain modalities. Most often, with such amnesia, the patient does not remember words, loses motor skills, and does not recognize objects.
14. Selective – forgetting certain events, which are often stressful or psychological in nature.
15. Confabulation (false memories) is a loss of memory for close events. Here a person begins to replace reality with fictitious or real events, but which occurred under different circumstances. In other words, a person invents his past, combining it with the memories that he has. With dementia, the disease may not manifest itself at all.
16. Transient – ​​sudden confusion caused by memory loss. At the same time, a person retains memories of his personality. Accompanied by retrograde amnesia, which extends to the events of the last year. Gradually she regresses.
17. Global – complete loss of memory of the past.
18. Psychogenic – lack of memories of the immediate or distant past, which worsens during stressful crises. Sometimes self-identification is disrupted.
19. Childhood amnesia is the loss of memory of what happened in childhood. Scientists explain it by the fact that children's brains are not yet fully developed.
20. Motor.
21. Regressive – memories are gradually restored.
22. Labile.
23. Stationary – stable loss of memories of specific events.
24. Progressive - a gradual loss of memories of the past, in which the ability to remember present events is lost. Memories begin to get confused, emotional coloring is lost. Professional knowledge and skills, as well as youth and childhood memories, are stored the longest.
25. Paramnesia is a distortion of memories.

Retrograde amnesia

Retrograde amnesia is a common phenomenon. It is characterized by the loss of memories of events that happened to the person before the onset of the injury. So, it may fall out several hours, one day or even a week before the traumatic situation. At the same time, all other memories are preserved, especially vivid ones: wedding, prom, etc.

The brain itself remembers the events that happen to a person; the main difficulty arises with reproducing memories.

Immediately after the onset of retrograde amnesia, a person feels disoriented. He does not understand how he ended up in this or that place, what he did until now, with whom he spent time, etc.

However, there is no guarantee that those memories that were forgotten will be restored.

Treatment for retrograde amnesia is the same as for other types. Drugs are prescribed that stimulate blood circulation in the brain and improve heart function, nootropics and neuroprotectors, vitamins and microelements, as well as physical therapy in the form of electrical stimulation of the cerebral cortex, color therapy, acupuncture, etc.

When the cause of retrograde amnesia is identified in the form of a specific disease, the disease is treated. Sometimes hypnotherapy is used, which aims to restore memory by re-creating memories that are stored in the subconscious. The results of such methods are sometimes amazing, since the person’s memory is completely restored.

Causes of amnesia

Memory is a fine structure. Any damage to parts of the brain can lead to partial memory loss. However, there are other causes of amnesia.

For example, in older people, amnesia can be caused by natural degeneration of nerve cells. Amnesia becomes a consequence of aging.

It also appears in various diseases associated with brain dysfunction, for example, Alzheimer's disease.

Younger people may suffer from amnesia due to a traumatic event. Constant stress or unpleasant events can lead to partial memory loss.

Let's look at the common causes of amnesia:

1. Excessive alcohol consumption.
2. Head injuries, especially temporal areas.
3. Diseases of an inflammatory or infectious nature.
4. Constant stress.
5. Psychological trauma.
6. Intoxication with medications or toxins.
7. Epilepsy.
8. Migraine.
9. Schizophrenia.
10. Excessive emotional stress.
11. Overwork.
12. Alzheimer's disease.
13. Senile dementia.
14. Malnutrition.
15. Cerebrovascular accident.
16. Tumor in the brain.
17. Brain surgery.

Temporary memory loss is characterized by the presence of diseases in the body, as well as depressive disorders that cause depression of the cognitive functions of the brain. Short-term memory loss is caused by intoxication of the body with various substances: drugs, alcohol, toxins, medications.

A common cause of amnesia is a malfunction of the heart or brain. If there are circulatory disorders, the brain does not receive microelements, which causes its functionality to be lost. Various diseases that lead to the degeneration of nerve cells in the brain also lead to both temporary and permanent memory loss.

Dissociated amnesia is characterized by loss of memory of certain events from the past. This is often associated with psychological stress that the person has suffered. For example, the death of a loved one may result in the loss of some memories with them. Memory is lost while awake, but can be restored under hypnosis.

Symptoms of amnesia

The main symptom of amnesia is the loss of certain memories that the person is unable to recall. Gradual memory loss is normal as the body ages. Old people may not remember much from the past. However, spontaneous amnesia is characterized by a sudden loss of memories.

With memory loss, physiological skills and social functions are not impaired. A person either partially does not remember something, or completely forgets about everything that happened to him previously. There is also the replacement of memories with false guesses or distortions of what could have happened.

The main symptoms of amnesia are also:

1. Disorientation in time and space.
2. Severe headaches.
3. Confusion.
4. Inability to recognize familiar faces or remember things.
5. Depression and anxiety.

With memory loss, a person’s normal course of life is disrupted. He becomes temporarily disabled and reacts inadequately to the world around him. Possible development of sexual dysfunction, sleep disturbances, alcoholism, suicidal thoughts, depression, sleepwalking.

In many ways, the symptoms of amnesia depend on its type:

• With retrograde amnesia, memories of recently occurring events are lost.
• With antegrade amnesia, recent memories are lost, present events are not retained, but memories of the distant past are present.

If a person has suffered a blow to the head, then he may also experience symptoms of retrograde amnesia, that is, loss of memories shortly preceding the blow. In addition, headaches, blurred vision, and increased light and sound sensitivity are observed. Memories are gradually returning.

Fixation amnesia is characterized by the following symptoms:

1. Gaps in memories.
2. Spatial disorientation.
3. Loss of information about yourself.
4. Cardiac arrhythmia.
5. Impaired motor coordination.
6. Headache.
7. Impaired sensitivity.

Treatment of amnesia

The patient is not able to cope with his own illness on his own. You should contact a neurologist or psychotherapist on the psychological help website psymedcare.ru to undergo professional treatment for amnesia.

The primary goal is to restore the functions that were impaired, causing amnesia. Treatment proceeds in two directions: eliminating the cause (the disease that led to amnesia) and restoring brain functions (taking drugs that improve blood circulation, heart function, etc.).

Psychotherapeutic work is carried out if amnesia is the result of a traumatic situation. Hypnotic practices are used to help pull forgotten memories out of the subconscious.

Physiotherapy helps in improving brain function. Blood circulation and impulse conduction improves. It is important to try to restore forgotten memories, as well as memory training.

Since age-related amnesia is normal, measures to improve brain circulation and function are undertaken to slow down the degeneration process. It is necessary to do memory training, read, and get a lot of new impressions.

Nutrition, which should be complete and fortified, becomes important. If the cause of amnesia is a strict diet, then it stops immediately. If intoxication of the body has occurred, then it is necessary to remove harmful substances.

The main medications in the treatment of amnesia are:

• Vascular drugs (Trental).
• Nootropics (Cerebrolysin, Piracetam).
• Neuroprotectors.
• Medicines that promote memory and reproduction (Glycine, Memantine).

If memory loss is partial, for example, some dates or events are not remembered, then they can be recorded using photographs or diary entries.

Forecast

Unfortunately, there are no effective methods for treating amnesia that would help everyone without exception in restoring cognitive functions. The forecast for ongoing activities is ambiguous. They may help some, but will not affect others at all. Much depends on the type of amnesia, as well as on the nature of its development and causes.

The result of memory loss is social isolation, loss of ability to work, and disorientation in life, which can lead to alcoholism, depression, and loss of meaning in life. A person lives richly thanks to the memories that he retains. When there is no past, then the future becomes unknown.

If we are talking about memory loss as a result of aging, then it is necessary to train it. Solve puzzles, read books, study new knowledge, travel, etc. Any saturation of the brain with new impressions and knowledge allows the formation of new connections.

What is always remembered is what is emotionally impressive. Whether it's good or bad emotions doesn't matter. Everything emotionally positive and negative is etched into memory. Of course, a person is not able to influence his natural emotional manifestations. However, knowing that anything that is emotionally reinforced is remembered can help with memory.

Memory is a complex system that is not yet amenable to physical influence. Until doctors have developed methods for its restoration, each person is obliged to take care of his own health in order to preserve all his memories.

Source: https://psymedcare.ru/amneziya

Retrograde amnesia: types, causes, diagnosis, treatment

Corinne O'Keefe Osborne

Per. from English N.D. Firsova

What is retrograde amnesia?

Amnesia is a type of memory loss that affects the ability to create, store, and retrieve memories. Retrograde amnesia affects memories that were formed before its onset. A person who develops retrograde amnesia after a traumatic brain injury is unable to remember what happened years, and sometimes decades, before the injury.

Retrograde amnesia is caused by damage to memory storage areas in various areas of the brain. This type of damage can result from injury, severe illness, seizure, stroke, or degenerative brain disease. Depending on the cause, retrograde amnesia can be temporary, permanent or progressive, that is, increasing over time.

Memory loss in retrograde amnesia is usually related to facts rather than skills. For example, a person may forget whether he has a car and, if so, what kind, when he bought it, but will still remember how to drive it.

There are two main types of amnesia: anterograde and retrograde. People with anterograde amnesia have trouble making new memories acquired after the amnesia begins. People with retrograde amnesia have trouble accessing memories formed before the onset of amnesia.

• The two types of amnesia can coexist in the same person, and this happens often.
• What are the types and symptoms of amnesia?
• Temporally graded retrograde amnesia

Retrograde amnesia is usually graded in time, meaning that your most recent memories are affected first, while your oldest memories are usually retained. This phenomenon is known as Ribot's law.

The degree of retrograde amnesia can vary significantly. Some people may only lose memories a year or two before the injury or illness. Other people may lose decades of memories. But even when people lose decades, they tend to hold on to the memories of childhood and youth.

Symptoms:

• the patient does not remember events that occurred before the onset of amnesia;
• the patient forgets names, people, faces, places, facts and general knowledge before the onset of amnesia, while at the same time remembering skills such as riding a bicycle, playing the piano and driving a car;
• old memories are preserved, especially those of childhood and youth.

Under these conditions, some may or may not be able to create new memories and learn new skills.

Focal retrograde amnesia

Focal retrograde amnesia, also known as isolated or pure retrograde amnesia, is where the patient has retrograde amnesia with little or no symptoms of anterograde amnesia. This means that the ability to create new memories remains intact. This isolated memory loss does not affect a person's intelligence or ability to learn new skills, such as playing the piano.

Dissociative (psychogenic) amnesia

This is a rare type of retrograde amnesia caused by emotional shock rather than brain damage like other types of retrograde amnesia. This is a purely psychological response to trauma. Often dissociative amnesia is caused by a violent crime or other violent trauma and is usually temporary.

Symptoms:

• the patient is unable to remember things that happened before the traumatic event;
• the patient may be unable to recall autobiographical information.

What conditions cause retrograde amnesia?

Retrograde amnesia may result from damage to parts of the brain responsible for controlling emotions and memories. These include the thalamus, which is located deep in the center of the brain, and the hippocampus, located in the temporal lobe.

There are several factors that can cause retrograde amnesia. These include:

Traumatic brain injury

Most traumatic brain injuries are mild and result in a concussion. But serious trauma, such as a severe blow to the head, can damage memory storage areas of the brain and lead to retrograde amnesia. Depending on the level of damage, amnesia may be temporary or permanent.

Thiamine deficiency

Encephalitis

Encephalitis is an inflammation of the brain caused by a viral infection, such as the herpes simplex virus. The disease can also be caused by an autoimmune reaction, related or not related to cancer. Inflammation can damage the part of the brain that stores memory.

Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease and other degenerative dementias can lead to gradual progression of retrograde amnesia. There is currently no treatment for this disease.

Stroke

Both large impacts and repeated small impacts can cause damage to the brain. Depending on where the damage occurred, various problems appear, including memory problems. Usually, with a stroke, memory problems and sometimes even dementia occur. Two types of memory that can be affected by a stroke are verbal memory and visual memory.

Seizures

Any type of seizure can damage the brain and cause memory problems. Some affect the entire brain, while others damage only a small area. Seizures affecting certain parts of the brain, especially the temporal and frontal lobes, are a common cause of memory problems in people with epilepsy.

Heart failure

Cardiac arrest causes a person to stop breathing, which means their brain is deprived of oxygen for several minutes. This can cause severe brain damage, resulting in retrograde amnesia or other cognitive deficits.

How is amnesia diagnosed?

To diagnose retrograde amnesia, it is necessary to undergo a complete medical examination, which will look for all possible causes of memory loss.

It is best to have a loved one help communicate with the doctor, especially if the patient forgets or confuses details of their medical history.

Your doctor may order a number of diagnostic tests:

• CT or MRI – to look for brain damage or other abnormalities;
• blood tests – to check for nutritional deficiencies and infections;
• neurological examination;
• cognitive tests - to assess short-term and long-term memory;
• electroencephalogram – to check for seizure activity.

 

How is amnesia treated?

There are no specific medications to treat retrograde amnesia. Typically, treatment focuses on the underlying cause of the amnesia. For example, if a patient has epilepsy, therapy is aimed at reducing the number of seizures.

There is currently no cure for Alzheimer's disease or other degenerative dementias. However, there are some medications that can slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease. Treatment for other types of dementia usually focuses on support and care for the patient.

Occupational therapy

Some people with amnesia work with a therapist to gain information and try to replace what has been lost.

They use their old, intact memories as a basis for storing new memories. Therapists can help people develop organizational strategies that make it easier to remember new information.

Conversational techniques are also used and can help people improve social functioning.

Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy can help restore memories lost due to traumatic events. It may also help people with other forms of amnesia cope with memory loss.

Technologies

Many people with amnesia learn to use new technologies such as smartphones and tablets. After training, people with severe amnesia can use technology to organize and store information. Smartphones, etc.

Photos, videos and documents can be good reference material.

What's next?

Depending on the cause, retrograde amnesia may recede, worsen, or remain fixed throughout life. This is a serious factor that can cause problems, so the help and support of loved ones is important. Depending on the severity of the amnesia, a person may regain full independence or require additional assistance.

Medically Reviewed by Timothy J. Legg, PhD, PsyD, CRNP, ACRN, CPH; October 16, 2017  

Source: https://renaissance-clinics.com/encyclopedia/retrograde-amnesia