Dissociative amnesia is a condition in which a person cannot remember important information about his or her life. This forgetting may be limited to certain specific areas (thematic) or may include much of the person’s life history and/or identity (general). The lost memory usually involves information that is normally part of routine conscious awareness or autobiographical memory such as who one is, where one went, to whom one spoke, and what one did, said, thought, and felt.
Dissociative amnesia is rare; it affects about 1% of men and 2.6% of women in the general population. Dissociative amnesia has been linked to overwhelming stress, which may be caused by traumatic events such as war, abuse, accidents, or disasters.
It may also result from concern about serious financial troubles or tremendous internal conflict (such as feelings of guilt about certain impulses or actions, apparently unresolvable interpersonal difficulties, or crimes committed). There also seems to be a genetic connection in dissociative amnesia. Dissociative amnesia is also more common among women than men.
Dissociative amnesia is different from amnesia caused by medical problems. In medically caused amnesia, recovering memories is rare and generally a slow and gradual process. Most cases of dissociative amnesia are relatively short. When memories do return, they do so suddenly and completely.
Memory loss may involve a specific event or events or a specific period, such as the months or years of being abused as a child or the days spent in intense combat (localized amnesia). It can include only certain aspects of an event or only certain events during a period (selective amnesia). Personal identity and entire life story can also be forgotten, sometimes including well-learned skills and information about the world (generalized amnesia) Information in a specific category alone can be lost, such as all information about a particular person or their family (systematized amnesia) Each new event as it occurs (continuous amnesia)
Gaps usually span a few minutes to a few hours or days but may span years, decades, or even an entire life. Most people are unaware or only partly aware that they have gaps in their memory. They become aware only later when memories reappear or they are confronted with evidence of things that they have done but do not recall.
Affected people have difficulty forming and maintaining relationships. Some people with dissociative amnesia develop PTSD later. People may also have vague symptoms, such as fatigue, weakness, or problems sleeping. Depression and suicidal and other self-destructive behaviors (such as substance abuse and reckless sexual behavior) are common. The risk of suicidal behaviors may be increased.
In a dissociative fugue, people lose some or all memories of their past, and they usually disappear from their usual environments, leaving their family and job. ”Fugue” comes from the Latin words for “flight” and “to flee.” It’s most often a very intense form of Amnesia. Dissociative fugue often manifests as a sudden, unexpected, purposeful travel away from home or even as bewildered wandering. Many fugues appear to represent disguised wish fulfilment or the only permissible way to escape from severe distress or embarrassment.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computed tomography (CT) is used in diagnosis to rule out brain tumors and other structural brain disorders. Electroencephalography is also (EEG) to rule out a seizure disorder. Most patients recover their missing memories, and amnesia resolves. However, some are never able to reconstruct their missing past. The prognosis is determined mainly by the patient’s life circumstances, particularly stresses and conflicts associated with the amnesia as well as the patient’s overall mental adjustment.
