Amnesia

1. Amnesia By: Caitlyn Teel

2. What is Amnesiaand its causes? • It’s the inability to recall information that is stored in memory. In more simple terms its memory loss. • The causes of amnesia may be Organic or Functional. • Some causes include: • Brain damage through injury. • The use of certain drugs. (usually sedative.)

3. Types of amnesia • Anterograde amnesia – When the patient cannot remember new information. Things that happen very recently and information that should be stored into short-term memory disappear. • Retrograde - Opposite of anterograde, the patient cannot remember events that occurred before the trauma he/she faced, but remember everything after it normally. • Transient global amnesia – A temporary loss of all memory. It is also hard to form new memories. Patient’s are usually older and usually have a vascular disease.

4. Historical overviews • French psychologist named Theodule-Armand Ribot first observed that patients tend to lose recent memories because of retrograde amnesia. Because of this, medical experts started to call the gradients of memory loss as Ribot gradients.

5. Signs & Symptoms • Confusion. • Problems with short-term memory. • Partial loss of memory. • Total loss of memory. • Failure to recognize faces. • Inability to recognize places. • False memory.

6. Treatments • Psychotherapy sometimes has an effect. • Some don’t need treatment at all. • Hypnosis. • Family support is crucial, it helps with jogging there memory with pictures, familiar smells, music, and sounds, etc. • Learning various strategies for organizing information so that its easier to store. • DOWN SIDE: • Complications depend on the severity and scope of the amnesia . However, even for people with mild symptoms, can have difficulty dealing with daily life and it can take their toll. • They can experience employment, school, and social problems. • Some people never recover lost memories.

7. Sources • http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/9673.php • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amnesia