#CAUSES OF AMNESIA MANUAL#
#CAUSES OF AMNESIA FULL#

being sexually, physically, or emotionally abused.

experiencing violent crime or a terrorist attack.

This usually refers to anterograde or retrograde amnesia caused by psychological trauma or stress without the presence of any physical cause.Įxamples of dissociative conditions that can present with amnesia include:Ĭontributing traumatic causes or triggers can include:

#CAUSES OF AMNESIA MANUAL#

Psychological amnesiaĭiagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition ( DSM–5) lists amnesia as a type of dissociative disorder. It can also lead to neurological problems, such as poor coordination and loss of feeling in the toes and fingers. Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, a condition caused by extended alcohol misuse or thiamin (vitamin B1) deficiency, can lead to progressive memory loss that worsens over time. surgery and anesthesia, which may cause a person to have trouble remembering what happened right before or after the procedure.head injuries, which can lead to loss of memory that is usually temporary.a brain tumor that affects a part of the brain involved in memory.subarachnoid hemorrhage, or bleeding in the area between the skull and the brain.some medications, such as the insomnia drug Ambien.oxygen deprivation, which may result from a heart attack, respiratory distress, or carbon monoxide poisoning.illnesses that cause encephalitis, or brain inflammation, which typically include bacterial or viral infection or autoimmune reaction.Medical causesĪmnesia may result from brain injury or damage. The limbic system controls a person’s emotions and memories. Memory function engages many different parts of the brain simultaneously.ĭamage to brain structures that form the limbic system, such as the hippocampus and thalamus, can lead to amnesia. As a result, most adults cannot recall events from early childhood.Īny disease or injury that affects the brain can interfere with memory. A young child’s language and memory are still developing. People can either acquire it or be born with it.Īnother type of amnesia is childhood amnesia, or infantile amnesia. Prosopamnesia: The person cannot remember faces.Alcohol-induced amnesia: Also called a blackout, this is when a bout of heavy drinking leaves a person with memory gaps.Source amnesia: A person can remember certain information but not how or where they got it.Posthypnotic amnesia: A person cannot recall what occurred while they experienced hypnosis.The ability to remember commonly returns within minutes, hours, or days, but the memory of the triggering event may never come back completely. The trigger is usually a traumatic event. They may wake up and suddenly have no sense of who they are. Fugue or dissociative amnesia: Rarely, a person can forget both their past and their identity.Amnesia can be an important indicator of concussion. This type of amnesia is usually temporary, but its duration often depends on the severity of the injury. The person may experience a brief loss of consciousness or coma. Traumatic amnesia: This refers to memory loss resulting from a hard blow to the head, for instance, in a car accident.This is very rare and more likely in older adults with vascular (blood vessel) disease. Transient global amnesia: This is a temporary loss of all memory and, in severe cases, difficulty forming new memories.In rare cases, both retrograde and anterograde amnesia can occur together. Retrograde amnesia: In some ways the opposite of anterograde amnesia, retrograde amnesia is when a person cannot remember events that occurred before their trauma, but they can remember what happened after it.

#CAUSES OF AMNESIA FULL#

The person will have their full memory from the time before the injury. This usually results from brain trauma, such as a blow to the head that causes brain damage. Anterograde amnesia: A person with anterograde amnesia cannot remember new information.Amnesia can be temporary or long lasting.

Some features of different types of amnesia can overlap, and a person can have more than one type. Several different conditions involve amnesia, and there are many types of amnesia.

Causes of amnesia