She remembers very little of events prior to the stroke and has quite a poor memory for events post. My older sister suffered a stroke nine months ago which hardly affected her physical condition (good for a woman in her mid seventies) but affected her memory badly. Now old age is kicking in but at least I have the strategies in place which makes it easier to keep going. It is so much easier to cope when a proper diagnosis is made. This continued for 15 frightening years until I had a brain scan,which showed a mini stroke in the area of the brain that deals with memory! From then on I found ways of coping despite living on my own. I suffered severe memory loss after a prolonged course of ECT in 1965.Doctors kept saying I was suppressing my own memory. We encounter practical problems every single day despite many stategies, but his life is very full, busy and, I hope, has been very rewarding. However, we have gone on to bring up three children for whom my husband has been the main carer. Accepting his loss of memory was very traumatic for several years despite much medical and pyschological help. My husband has been an amnesic since the age of 24 after surgery for a subdural haemorrhage in 1980. Usually, the memory slowly or suddenly comes back a few days later, although memory of the trauma may remain incomplete. It is usually temporary and can be triggered by a traumatic event with which the mind finds it difficult to deal. This covers episodes of amnesia linked to psychological trauma. There's also the issue of what's called hysterical amnesia which again harks back to Freud's controversial theories. Yet childhood amnesia remains somewhat of a paradox: infants' and young children's minds handle a lot of new impressions and are adept at learning, but it seems that before they can lay down long term memories, their brains need to undergo some sort of developmental change. Today, that view is seen as highly contentious by most scientists. The great psychoanalyst, Sigmund Freud, theorized that childhood amnesia occurs when a young mind blocks out unsuitable impressions or emotional trauma, something universal to all of us. There's a separate page on childhood amnesia on this site. Childhood amnesia is a controversial topics and touches on areas in psychology that are the subject of heated debate. Many of us have sketchy memories of our childhood whilst other claim to have distinct memories of being a baby. Infantile/childhood amnesia: This refers to a person's inability to recall events from early childhood. It can lead to anything from a loss of consciousness for a few seconds to coma. Traumatic amnesia: This follows brain damage caused by a severe non-penetrative blow to the head, such as in a road accident. Sometimes people never remember the seconds leading up to the incident. Retrograde amnesia: People who find it hard to retrieve memories prior to an incident in which they suffer damage to the head. They do not tend to forget their childhood or who they are, but have trouble remembering day-to-day events. There are several definitions of amnesia depending on the type experienced.Īnterograde amnesia: People who find it hard to remember ongoing events after suffering damage to the head. Memory loss can also be experienced by those suffering the effects of chronic alcohol abuse. Amnesia can also be caused by specific medical conditions such as a brain tumour, a stroke or a swelling of the brain. It is usually a temporary condition and tends to affect only a certain part of a person's experience. It's usually associated with either physical trauma such as a blow to the head or some sort of psychological trauma. What is amnesia? Childhood amnesia, was Freud right?Īmnesia is a term used to cover the partial or complete loss of memory.
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