Sometimes it is human nature to forget some things. Thus, our brain protects itself from an excess of information. This situation is a variant of the norm. However, in some cases, loss of memory is the main symptom of a disease such as amnesia. What is memory loss, what are the main causes of this condition?
Memory. General information
The human brain has great potential. Thanks to its functionality, we are able to make meaningful actions, build logical chains, analyze a large amount of information. Man is characterized by such complex mental processes as thinking, memory. Memory is the ability to store, restore, under certain conditions, the data that was received previously. Thus, a person gains life experience, assimilates knowledge, improves his skills. There are several types of memory: sensory, emotional, motor, verbal and semantic. Due to certain life circumstances, a person may lose the ability to remember and restore events that happened before.
Amnesia - what is it?
This disease can occur in older people (brain degradation over time), and in fairly young patients. With a partial loss of memory, only certain images, fragments remain, it is rather difficult to recreate the full picture of events. It is worth noting that such a process can develop slowly or occur abruptly. In some cases, the memory is fully returned - this is the so-called short-term amnesia. The remaining patients lose the ability to restore events from the past forever. Loss of memory significantly affects the emotional state of the patient; he constantly needs support and care.
Types of Amnesia Symptoms of the disease
Depending on the symptoms, there are several types of disease. The retrograde form is characterized by the fact that the patient is not able to remember what happened before the illness. Antegrade amnesia is the inability to recover from recent events. At the same time, a person remembers everything that was before the disease well. With this diagnosis, the patient has difficulty absorbing new information. There is also post-traumatic amnesia. What does this diagnosis mean? As a rule, short-term memory is disturbed. This condition is associated with all kinds of head injuries. With this type of amnesia, the patient does not remember the events that occurred immediately before the injury. However, proper treatment completely restores the functionality of the brain. There is also post-hypnotic amnesia, in which everything that happened under hypnosis is erased from memory.
Other types of amnesia and their symptoms
Specialists also identify other types of memory loss . Pediatric amnesia is common to every person. Few can recall events from early childhood. The cause of this phenomenon is called the immaturity of some parts of the brain in babies. With fixative amnesia, the patient is poorly oriented in space, of his own personality. This type of disease is characteristic of patients with Korsakov's syndrome. Initial memory loss is a condition in which a person owns certain information, but cannot remember its source, the conditions for receiving data.
There is also dissociative amnesia. What happens to a person in this case? The patient forgets moments from the past period, ceases to recognize familiar things, to understand familiar words. With a dissociative variety, a person can completely forget all the information about himself. This condition lasts for several minutes or a couple of days. Often with this diagnosis, patients associate themselves with other personalities. Allocate and alcoholic amnesia. It arises as a result of excessive drinking. This is often the first sign of alcoholism.
Transient Global Amnesia
Rarely enough, there are cases when the patient suddenly loses short-term memory. At the same time, the ability to assess the situation is impaired, the person is completely at a loss. Transient amnesia is most common in older people. The causes of this condition are little known. Specialists note that cerebrovascular accident, dysfunction of the thalamus, orbitofrontal cortex, and cingulate gyrus can lead to such attacks of loss of memory. Such an attack can last from a few minutes to a couple of hours. Then, memory also abruptly returns. A more complex form of the disease is characterized by prolonged memory lapses - up to several days.
Classification of the disease according to the rate of progression
Depending on how quickly the memories are erased, these types of amnesia are distinguished:
- The progressive form is characterized by a gradual loss of memory, and memories from childhood or adolescence are fresher than recent events. As a rule, a person remembers his skills and knowledge well enough. Gradually, all the memories are mixed up, their emotional color goes out.
- Stationary amnesia symptoms have the following: there is a persistent memory loss for a number of events, with time changes do not occur. Regressive amnesia is temporary, memories almost always return.
The main causes of memory loss
Any head injury (especially the temporal part) can lead to amnesia. Great emotional upheavals, psychological trauma are sometimes the reason for the loss of memories. Factors that increase the risk of amnesia include severe overwork, persistent migraines, a number of infectious diseases, and advanced age. Experts note that intoxication, poisoning (including medication) can extremely negatively affect the state of memory. Amnesia can also be caused by schizophrenia, epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease. Malignant formations in the brain often lead to memory loss. Also, any circulatory disorders in the head area can provoke amnesia.
Alcoholic amnesia is caused by excessive drinking. Under the influence of alcohol, the transmission of nerve impulses is disrupted. A mild form of memory loss is called alcohol palimpsest. At the same time, the person remembers the main events, but he is not able to restore memories of small details, episodes. However, if alcohol abuse continues, then partial amnesia can develop into total, in which memory is completely lost.
Diagnostic and treatment methods for memory loss
First of all, the diagnosis is based on a thorough examination and examination of the patient. Next, it is necessary to conduct a study of the state of the vessels of the head, neck. A computer or magnetic resonance imaging of the brain is prescribed. The treatment is usually complex. If the underlying cause is the emotional component, then psychotherapy sessions are indicated. They are aimed at overcoming all kinds of psychological injuries. Medicines are also prescribed: antidepressants, biostimulants, B vitamins, etc. In some cases, hypnosis helps to restore memory. With alcohol amnesia, the use of alcohol must be completely excluded.