Hoai Bui Extension Assignment #3 Dissociative amnesia is a dissociative disorder characterized by sudden, selective memory loss. It will affect 2% of the population some time in their life. When dealing with this disorder it is very important to be aware of the symptoms, long term and short term effects, treatment options, and current research of it. WebMD tells us that there are several symptoms that may occur from dissociative amnesia. They include; confusion, depression, and anxiety. The main symptom, however, is the sudden inability to recall memories regarding autobiographical information. These symptoms should be looked at carefully as they can be vague. Dissociative amnesia can affect people in many ways, short term and long term. …show more content…
A popular method is through therapy. Therapy will help patients overcome their distressing memories and help family members deal with the disorder. Another method is clinical hypnosis where patients are hypnotized into a different state of consciousness. Allowing them express and process memories, thoughts, and feelings that may have been suppressed. This method, on the other hand, is highly controversial as it may create false memories. Patients suffering from this disorder can also be prescribed medications, which don’t treat the disorder itself, but will help with depression and anxiety caused by the disorder. According to the Leadership Council, a collection of studies have displayed a correlation between traumatic events and dissociative amnesia. They found that dissociative amnesia rates increased as the traumatic events became more severe. 23% of rape victims suffered from the disorder while 8% of car accident victims suffered. Thanks to these studies, we now have a better understanding of dissociative amnesia and more capable of treating people who have …show more content…
National Alliance on Mental Illness reminds us that it affects 2% of all people. In summary, dissociative amnesia is a sudden loss of selective memories. People develop dissociative amnesia to with painful memories. An important point is that the memories are not completely lost. They come back for most people, but never do for some. Another important point is dissociative amnesia is often an alternative to suicide. Memories repressed through this disorder can be so traumatizing that they can cause people to commit suicide. Dissociative amnesia is a sign of psychological turmoil and those suffering from it should seek help
Dissociation can occur any time in our life and there is two kinds of dissociation, childhood and adulthood. Child dissociation is different from adult dissociation. Child dissociation occurs when the child is actually experiencing some sort of trauma, like abuse. Adult dissociation happens in situations like stress or family related issues. Another difference is that child dissociation does not last very long (usually a hour), but adult dissociation lasts for a longer period of time. Dissociation occurs when something so painful is happening that the mind leaves the body to go elsewhere. In Martha Stout’s essay “When I Woke up On Tuesday, It Was Friday,” she defines dissociation as the mind leaving the body and transporting our awareness to a place so far away, it feels like the person is watching from outside their body. In her essay, she tells her audience about the dangers of dissociation, such as blackout, unable to relate to others, a sense of not knowing who one is, and the sense of lost time. She also includes some of her patient’s stories and experiences with dissociation, how they struggle for sanity and how she helps them see a new meaning of life. She tells her audience that often when patients or people dissociate they have lack of self-control and self-awareness. Dissociation can happen to anybody in a dire situation, for instance a child getting abused or some other traumatic event. Martha Stout has her audience/reader rethink about dissociation particularly the harmful side of it. She has help me see that although dissociation is helpful, it could lead to suicide thought, accidents, loss of identity and sanity.
According to DSM-5 and class notes, Dissociative Amnesia is confusion and failure to recall information or events related to a person’s own identity. Steven Kazmierczak always seemed to know who he was and what he was doing, depressed and anxious as he may be. He did not seem confused about his personal identity, and he did not struggle to recall any information at any time. He was a disturbed man, but he did not show any signs of Dissociative
Tate, R. L., & Pfaff, A., Jurjevic, L. (2000)Resolution of disorientation and amnesia during post-traumatic amnesia. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, 68, 178-185
It is also known as dissociative amnesia. It is a disorder that happens after a traumatic event. The person going through this type of amnesia is blocking the painful event out of their heads. The person with this disorder goes through severe depression and has a sudden loss of whom they are or where they are, lasting for a few hours to a few days. They are able to form new memories.
Dissociative Identity Disorder, also known as Multiple Personality Disorder, is a psychological disorder that can be caused by many things, but the most common cause is severe childhood trauma which is usually extreme, repetitive physical, sexual, or emotional abuse. A lot of people experience mild dissociation, which includes daydreaming or getting momentarily distracted while completing everyday tasks. Dissociative identity disorder is a severe form of dissociation. Severe Dissociation causes a lack of connection in a person's thoughts, memories, feelings, actions, or sense of identity. Dissociative identity disorder is thought to stem from a combination of factors that may include trauma experienced by the person with the disorder.
The main Character is Lenard; he is an average looking male in his mid to early thirties. At first look one would never think that there is anything wrong with him, he speaks clearly and intelligently, id s polite individual and well-mannered when interacting with others. Lenard does the typical things and daily activities that a normal person does. On sight one can’t tell that, but Lenard has a condition where he cannot recall anything that happens to him within a matter of minutes, things such as people he meets, the conversations he had and places he’s been become distant after a few minutes. The only thing that Lenard is able to remember is those things that happened before the incident that caused his diagnosis. The things that Lenard is able to recall are those things such as his name, who he is, and the way his life was before the traumatic experience. Lenard is incapable of making new memories as well as short term memories.
Amnesia, a severe long-term memory loss disease, is caused by damaged brain tissue. There are two different types of amnesia. Retrograde amnesia is also known as backward moving. This is when you have a hard time remembering the past, especially episodic memories. This occurs because of memory consolidation. Memory consolidation is the process of a new memory setting until it becomes permanently in the brain. If this process is disrupted, the memory may be lost (Hockenberry and Hockenberry page 265). Anterograde amnesia is also known as forward moving. This is when you are unable to form new
Dissociative disorders can affect someone’s memory and make someone forget some of the important things in his or her life suck as their own identity. “When a dissociative identity disorder comes in to a person life it normally can make that person seem very distant and never aware of the other people in their lives.” (Diseases; 1) Which means that this person has absolutely no socials life. This person, when having a traumatic childhood, he or she can establish two or more different sets of personality. As an adult, this person may see an object that triggers the other personalities to come out; meanwhile, attempt to take control over the body.1a. SV; conj. adv, SV.) This other personality can be a different gender and he or she will most likely go by a different name. When this personality is in play the person’s original personality will have no memory of what the other being inside of him or her may have done.
Retrograde and Anterograde Amnesia Darling, what did you say was Sue's number? " I don't remember stripping at Dan's birthday party last year!" No officer, I don't know what happened after the accident. I can't even remember my name. " Amnesia is the partial or complete loss of memory, most commonly temporary and for only a short period of time.
Further biological research on the effect of psychological trauma on the neurochemistry of memory may help clinicians distinguish between true repressed memories and false memories in clients who report abuse. However, to date there is no method to determine the accuracy of these memories. Therefore clinicians and the courts must rely on corroborative evidence, and behavioral and physiologic clues to distinguish veracity.
There are many types of amnesia, but the specific found in dissociative identity disorder is unique. The individual usually is in control, until a change take its place (Wood et al 411). This was shown when Norman Bates was unable to recall what occurred during these dissociative blackouts. Amnesia in individuals with dissociative identity disorder is not limited to stressful or traumatic events; these individuals often cannot recall everyday events as well. In one of the episodes, Norman is in his kitchen cooking breakfast in his mother’s aprons. His brother, Dylan, then walks in to ask Norman what he doing. Norman continues to persist that he was Norma and not Norman. The next day, Norman had no memory of this occurring. Many people with DID have early histories of severe physical and/or sexual abuse. As a result, researchers and clinicians have long assumed that early trauma plays a critical role in the development of DID, an approach that is consistent with the psychoanalytic perspective (Wood et al 412). Individuals who have dissociative identity disorder, usually present a combined diagnosis, such as depression, anxiety, substance abuse, self-injury, non-epileptic seizures, or other common symptoms. Norman Bates suffered from depression, anxiety, and non-epileptic seizures. These symptoms were an effect from the underlying cause of dissociative identity disorder. Norman
“The Vow” is a movie that encases the turmoil and hardship associated with retrograde amnesia and the classic symptoms and steps associated with recovering and potentially regaining lost memory. Taking into account the information gained through multiple sources; such as, lecture of Mental Health, medical databases, and the personal experiences of Krickett Carpenter, the Vow provides both an accurate and inaccurate depiction of retrograde amnesia.
“is a form of amnesia where someone is unable to recall events that occurred before the development of amnesia, even though [he or she] may be able to encode and memorize new things that occur after the onset,” (Mastin).
What is Dissociative Identity Disorder? A proper explanation of DID necessitates a dissection of the name itself. Dissociation is “a mental process, which produces a lack of connection in a person's thoughts, memories, feelings, actions, or sense of identity.”1 In other words, there is a disruption in the way in which these usually integrated functions communicate. Daydreaming, highway hypnosis, or “getting lost” in a book or movie are all examples of very mild dissociation.
(2016) conducted a study on individuals with BPD and PD. They took individuals with BPD and divided them according to high and low PD. They investigated the history of trauma, clinical status, and measurements of emotional and psychological responses to the recall of avoided experiences. What they found was, participants with BPD and those in the high PD category demonstrated the highest degree of trauma exposure and clinical symptoms. Participants also had several emotional responses to imagery that reinforced the idea that peritraumatic dissociation may play a role in processing memories of traumatic events. They found that there was a different reaction pattern displayed by patents with BPD and PD. This may point to the altered memory representations. It could contribute to the development and preservation of severe psychopathology in BPD. Again, Dissociation is a symptom of BPD. If they symptoms are severe enough, it can become DID (Gillig, 2009). Although we can see that trauma seems to be linked to DID some who do not see DID as a real disorder claim that these individuals fantasize or create false memories to make the trauma more