Generality
Dissociative amnesia is a disorder characterized by retrospective memory loss, linked to shocking events from the physical and emotional point of view. This manifestation represents a defense mechanism implemented in an unconscious way to protect one's mental balance.
Triggering events may include traumatic or highly stressful experiences directly suffered or witnessed (sexual abuse, homicides, natural disasters, abandonment, financial problems, etc.) and serious internal conflicts (e.g. sense of guilt for having committed criminal acts ).
In practice, "dissociative amnesia is a reaction that allows the" disconnection "of some elements (ie negative experiences lived) from the mental processes (which are usually integrated), avoiding their conscious memory recovery. In this way, although forgotten information may be inaccessible to consciousness, memory or perception, it continues to influence behavior, causing flashbacks and "inexplicable" states of physiological hyperactivation.
Dissociative amnesia is not attributable to normal forgetfulness.
The diagnosis is based on the medical history and is made after excluding other causes of amnesia (head trauma, neurological disorders, etc.).
The treatment is represented by psychotherapy, sometimes in association with hypnosis or some drugs that facilitate the interaction with the patient and stimulate him to face the problem.
What's this
Dissociative amnesia is the inability to remember important autobiographical information, often associated with traumatic or highly stressful events.
Memory loss can relate to selected memories or entire periods of the person's life. Less often, the patient may present with ongoing "amnesia, which prevents him from remembering events that follow one another from a certain point in time. In any case, this memory loss is too extensive to be explained as normal forgetfulness.
Dissociative amnesia is common among both men and women. "Dissociation" occurs when a set of mental processes separates from the others in progress, with which they are normally integrated. The affective contents of such experiences are acted out or they emerge, however, at the level of consciousness, procuring "inexplicable" states of physiological hyperactivation and intrusive images (flashbacks). Thus, it may happen that you do not remember the episode unleashed, but get agitated if you approach the place where you have suffered trauma, as some visual or olfactory perceptions associated with the previously lived experience are activated.
Causes
The most frequent cause of dissociative amnesia is represented by emotional trauma. The disorder can be interpreted, in fact, as a complex defense reaction, implemented by the person's psyche, to protect one's mental balance. This mechanism can be induced by experiences experienced firsthand or witnessed, which were highly stressful and upsetting.
Triggering events can be represented by:
- Physical or sexual abuse;
- Rape;
- Aggression;
- Migration experiences;
- War situations;
- Abandonment during a natural disaster;
- Death of a person you were very fond of;
- Financial problems.
Dissociative amnesia can also result from significant internal conflicts, as in the case of:
- Impulses driven by a sense of guilt;
- Apparently unsolvable interpersonal difficulties;
- Sense of horror for committing criminal acts.
Dissociative amnesia can be part of a more relevant and structured psychopathological picture (eg avoidant or borderline personality disorder).
