Amnesia is a form of memory loss. Some people with amnesia have difficulty forming new memories. Others can’t recall facts or past experiences. People with amnesia usually retain knowledge of their own identity, as well as motor skills. Mild memory loss is a normal part of aging. Significant memory loss, or the inability to form new memories, may indicate the presence of an amnestic disorder.

1. Amnesia
By Must4care

2. Description of Amnesia by Must4care
• Amnesia is when a person can no longer memorize or
recall information that is stored in memory. It is very
rare, despite being a popular theme for movies and
books.
• Being a little forgetful is completely different to having
amnesia. Amnesia refers to a large-scale loss of
memories that should not have been forgotten.
• These may include important milestones in life,
memorable events, key people in our lives, and vital facts
we have been told or taught.

3. Fast Facts on Amnesia
• Amnesia is an inability to lay down new
memories, recall old memories, or both.
• Other symptoms of amnesia can include
confusion and uncoordinated movements.
• Alcohol abuse can lead to a type of amnesia
known as Wernicke-Korsakoff's psychosis.
• Amnesia can be caused by many things
including traumatic experiences and brain
injury.
• Amnesia usually resolves without treatment.

4. What is Amnesia?
• People with amnesia also find it hard to remember the past, memorize
new information, and imagine the future. This is because we construct
future scenarios on the basis of our recollections of past experiences.
• Our ability to recollect events and experiences involves a variety of
complex brain processes. We still don't understand exactly what
happens when we commit something to memory, or when we try to
retrieve data stored in our brain.
• Most people with amnesia are usually lucid and have a sense of self.
However, they may experience severe difficulties in learning new
information, struggle to recall memories of past experiences, or both.

5. Types of Amnesia
• Anterograde Amnesia
• The person cannot remember new information. Things that
happened recently and information that should be stored into short-
term memory disappear. This usually results from a brain trauma,
when a blow to the head causes brain damage, for example. The
person will remember data and events that happened before the
injury.
• Retrograde Amnesia
• In some ways the opposite of anterograde amnesia, the person
cannot remember events that occurred before their trauma, but they
remember what happened after it. Rarely, both retrograde and
anterograde amnesia can occur together.
• Transient Global Amnesia
• A temporary loss of all memory and, in severe cases, difficulty
forming new memories. This is very rare and more likely in older
adults with vascular (blood vessel) disease.

6. Types of Amnesia
• Wernicke-Korsakoff's psychosis
• Extended alcohol abuse can lead to progressive memory loss that
worsens over time. The person may also have neurological problems,
such as poor coordination and a loss of feeling in the toes and
fingers. It can also be caused by malnutrition, specifically a thiamin
(vitamin B1) deficiency.
• Hysterical (fugue or dissociative) amnesia
• Rarely, a person can forget not only their past but also their identity.
They may wake up and suddenly have no sense of who they are.
Even if they look in the mirror, they do not recognize their own
reflection. A driving license, credit cards, or ID card will be
meaningless. It is usually triggered by an event that the person's
mind is unable to cope with properly. The ability to
remember usually returns either slowly or suddenly within a few
days, but the memory of the shocking event may never come back
completely.
• Childhood amnesia (infantile amnesia)
• The person cannot recall events from early childhood, possible
because of a language development problem or some memory areas
of the brain not fully maturing during childhood.

7. Types of Amnesia
• Posthypnotic Amnesia
• Mustforcare says that in this Amnesia Events during hypnosis
cannot be recalled.
• Source Amnesia
• The person can remember certain information but not how or where
they got that information.
• Blackout Phenomenon
• A bout of heavy drinking can leave a person with memory gaps,
where they cannot remember chunks of time during the binge.
• Prosopamnesia
• The person cannot remember faces. People can either acquire it or
be born with it.

8. Symptoms of Amnesia
• The ability to learn new information is impaired in anterograde
amnesia.
• The ability to remember past events and previously familiar
information is impaired in retrograde amnesia
• False memories may be either completely invented or consist of
real memories misplaced in time, in a phenomenon known
as confabulation.
• Uncoordinated movements and tremors indicate neurological
problems.
• Confusion or disorientation may occur.
• There may be problems with short-term memory, partial or total
loss of memory
• The person may be unable to recognize faces or locations.

9. Causes of Amnesia
Any disease or injury that affects the brain can interfere with memory. Memory
function engages many different parts of the brain simultaneously.
• Medical Amnesia:- Amnesia resulting from brain injury or damage. Possible causes
are
• Stroke
• Encephalitis, or brain inflammation, due to a bacterial or viral infection or an autoimmune
reaction
• Celiac disease may be linked to amnesia, confusion, and personality changes
• Oxygen deprivation, resulting, for example, from a heart attack, respiratory distress,
or carbon monoxide poisoning
• Some medications, such as the sleeping drug, Ambien
• Subarachnoid hemorrhage, or bleeding in the area between the skull and the brain
• A brain tumor that affects a part of the brain involved in memory
• Some seizure disorders
• Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT)), or electroshock therapy, a psychiatric treatment where
seizures are induced for therapeutic effect, may lead to temporary memory loss
• Head injuries, which can lead to loss of memory that is usually temporary

10. Causes of Amnesia
• Psychological amnesia:- Also known as dissociative amnesia,
this is caused by an emotional shock, such as:
• A Violent Crime
• Sexual Or Other Abuse
• Military Combat
• A Natural Disaster
• A Terrorist Act

11. Treatment of Amnesia
• In most cases, amnesia resolves itself without treatment. However, if an underlying physical or
mental disorder is present, treatment may be necessary.
• Psychotherapy can help some patients. Hypnosis can be an effective way of recalling memories
that have been forgotten.
• Family support is crucial. Photographs, smells, and music may help.
• Treatment often involves techniques and strategies to help compensate for the memory
problem.
• This may involve:
• Working with an occupational therapist to acquire new information to replace lost memories,
or to use existing memories as a basis for acquiring new information.
• Learning strategies for organizing information, to make it easier to store.
• Using digital aids, such as smartphones, to help with daily tasks and remind patients about
important events, when to take medications, and so on. A contact list with photographs of faces
may be helpful.
• There are currently no drugs for restoring memory lost due to amnesia.
• Malnutrition or wernicke-korsakoff syndrome can involve memory loss due to a thiamin
(vitamin b1) deficiency, so targeted nutrition can help.