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What is amnesia?
Amnesia or amnestic syndrome is a condition characterized by loss of memory for past or current events. Memory loss is not an independent disease, but a manifestation of many neurological and mental diseases. Amnesia refers to quantitative violations memory, as well as hypermnesia (increased ability to remember information) and hypomnesia (weakened memory). Memory and attention are part of the human cognitive sphere, so the term “cognitive disorders” is often used to refer to memory problems.
According to medical statistics, about 25 percent of the total population suffers from various memory problems. The relationship between the frequency of the disease, gender and age of a person is largely determined by the form of amnesia. Thus, the loss of past memories due to traumatic circumstances is more typical of middle-aged people. Amnesia, in which a person gradually loses all skills and abilities (progressive), is typical for the elderly and old age, while the gender of the person does not matter. Short-term memory loss for recent events affects middle-aged and mature women more. There are also categories of memory disorders that develop in childhood and adolescence (infantile amnesia).
It should be noted that many forms of amnesia remain not fully understood for a long time. The difficulty in studying this pathology is that any experiment involves intervention in the structure of the brain, which can lead to various irreversible negative changes.
People tried to understand what memory is and what factors influence it back in ancient times. Distant ancestors believed that any data enters the brain in the form of fragments and leaves imprints on it. Although modern knowledge of memory has improved compared to that of ancient times, the key definition of this function has remained unchanged. Memory defines a person as a person and plays an important role in his conscious life. Thus, in the mythology of many cultures, the most terrible punishment was the deprivation of memory of a person or other creature.
Causes of Memory Loss
There are many causes of memory loss. Most often, amnesia is accompanied by neurological and mental illness as well as injuries, strokes, surgical interventions using general anesthesia. In order to understand the causes of amnesia, it is necessary to understand what memory is and what its main functions are. Memory and its main functions
Memory is a function of the brain that ensures the recording, storage and reproduction of information. Memory disorders can be limited to one particular parameter, for example, a violation of fixation, or they can cover memory in a global aspect. In the first case, fixation amnesia will develop with difficulty remembering current events, and in the second case, memory loss will occur for both current and past events.Memory, as a mental function, affects emotional sphere, sphere of perception, motor and intellectual processes. Therefore, they distinguish between figurative (or visual), motor and emotional memory.
Types of memory and their characteristics
Type of memory | Characteristic |
Short term memory | Memorizing a large amount of information for a short time. |
Long term memory | Selective memorization of information that is significant to a person for a long period. |
RAM | Consists of currently relevant information. |
Mechanical memory | Memorizing information without forming logical connections ( without associations). |
Associative memory | Memorizing information with the formation of logical connections. |
Eidetic or figurative memory | Memorizing images. |
The memory capacity of each person is very individual and is calculated by the amount of information that can be recorded. An important role in the memorization process is played by the concentration of attention, the number of repetitions and the degree of clarity of a person’s consciousness. For some individuals, the time of day also becomes important. In the process of forgetting, information repression, that is, motivated forgetting, plays a significant role. Thus, information that is not used in everyday life is quickly forgotten. The process of remembering and forgetting is formed according to Ribot's law. According to it, information that does not carry important semantic content and information that was formed recently is quickly forgotten.
The components of Ribot's law are as follows:
- memory loss occurs from the earliest and least automated events to the most recent and memorized events;
- emotionally charged events are more difficult to erase from memory than events of little significance for a person;
- Memory loss occurs from the specific to the general.
Amnesia can be a symptom of many diseases. Most often, this symptom occurs with traumatic brain injuries, strokes, anesthesia, alcoholism, and severe stress. All causes of amnesia can be divided into two large groups - organic and psychogenic.
Organic causes of amnesia
Organic causes are those that are based on structural changes in the brain. For example, during an epileptic attack, swelling and hypoxia develop in the cells of the nervous tissue, which lead to dystrophy nerve cells. The more often an attack develops, the larger the area of edema and, as a result, the more extensive the damage to neurons. The death of neurons in the brain structures responsible for memory leads to a gradual weakening of memory until it is lost. Structural damage to the brain is observed in vascular atherosclerosis, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus.Diseases accompanied by structural changes in nervous tissue
Pathology | What's happening? |
Atherosclerosis of cerebral vessels | Reduced blood flow due to atherosclerotic vascular damage leads to poor blood supply to nervous tissue. Because of this, it develops oxygen starvation brain - hypoxia. Lack of oxygen leads to the death of nerve cells. |
Diabetes | In diabetes mellitus, the main target is the small vessels of the body, namely the vessels of the brain. This leads to a decrease in cerebral blood flow, the development of ischemic zones and local infarctions. |
Injuries, concussions, brain hematomas | Amnesia often develops as a result of traumatic brain injury. Short-term amnesia can be observed both with a mild concussion and with the formation of hematomas. Amnesia is caused by damage to the brain structures responsible for memory. |
Epilepsy | During an epileptic attack, edema develops in the brain tissue, and hypoxia is observed. Damage to neurons during seizures causes further memory loss to develop. |
Psychogenic causes of amnesia
Memory loss can also occur in the absence of organic reasons. Most often, this type of amnesia is observed under severe stress, shock, or adaptation disorder. This type of amnesia is also called dissociative. It is characterized by the fact that memory is lost only for events at the time of a given stressful situation. All other events from the patient’s life are preserved. A variant of dissociative amnesia is dissociative fugue. This is psychogenic amnesia, which is accompanied by sudden flight in extreme situations. Thus, patients can suddenly leave, leaving their native places, while completely forgetting their biography. This condition can last from several hours to several days.Dissociative (psychogenic) amnesia develops due to strong experiences and is the body’s protective reaction to stress. Having experienced shock, a person tries to forget events, memories of which can harm him. The brain “helps” to forget about stressful circumstances and “crosses out” them from memory. Situations that can trigger this type of amnesia are natural disaster, accident, death loved one. This type of memory impairment is found in approximately 10 percent of military participants. Often the disorder occurs after rape or other types of physical or mental abuse. Bankruptcy and other circumstances leading to a sharp deterioration in financial condition can also be the cause of psychogenic amnesia.
What diseases are accompanied by memory loss?
A wide range of neurological and mental diseases are accompanied by memory loss. Amnesia can occur directly during the illness itself or after it (for example, after a traumatic brain injury or stroke). Amnesia is also a common complication of anesthesia. As a rule, amnesia is not the only sign of the disease; it is accompanied by other symptoms. Pathologies accompanied by memory loss include:
- anesthesia;
- stress;
- stroke;
- migraine and other types of headaches;
- alcoholism;
- concussions, traumatic brain injuries, blows;
Memory loss after anesthesia
Patients who have undergone anesthesia often experience a variety of memory disorders. This condition falls under the category of postoperative cognitive dysfunction. The first data on the occurrence of memory problems after anesthesia date back to 1950.Manifestations of memory impairment after anesthesia can be different. Some patients, after recovering from anesthesia, forget about the events that preceded the operation. As a rule, after a short period of time, memories return to such patients. There are also patients who, after anesthesia, begin to suffer from forgetfulness and do not remember events that happened a short time ago. Memory lapses can be of varying intensity - from minor to severe, which cause difficulties in a person’s professional and everyday activities.
According to studies, amnesia after anesthesia most often occurs in cardiac surgery patients. After brain surgery, patients also often experience memory impairment. But to a greater extent these problems are caused by the doctor’s manipulations than by anesthesia drugs.
What type of anesthesia is the least dangerous?
Most cognitive complications of this kind occur after general anesthesia. According to statistics, about 37 percent of middle-aged patients and 41 percent of elderly patients suffer from memory impairment after general anesthesia. About 10 percent of these people have difficulty recalling certain past events or difficulty remembering new information for 3 months. Some patients have memory problems that last a year or more.
There is no specific data on which drug for general anesthesia is most dangerous for memory. Some experts believe that the type of medication used does not affect the likelihood of amnesia. The argument behind this opinion is the assumption that the cause of memory problems is prolonged oxygen deprivation of the brain, which occurs during general anesthesia.
Risk factors
Specific reasons that provoke memory impairment after anesthesia have not been established. But there are factors that increase the likelihood of developing such complications. The first thing experts note is age. Older patients are more likely to experience memory problems after general anesthesia. The second accompanying circumstance is repeated anesthesia. Many patients notice memory impairment not after the first, but the second or third intervention under general anesthesia. The duration of exposure to anesthetics also has an effect; the longer the operation lasts, the higher the risk of developing amnesia. One of the reasons for this cognitive impairment is surgical complications such as infectious diseases.
Memory loss due to stress
Memory loss due to stress can be of various types. There are two states of a person in which he can lose memories under the influence of stress factors. Experts explain this phenomenon by the fact that stress adversely affects the activity of the brain, as a result of which some of its functions, in particular memory, suffer. The cause of short-term amnesia can be conflicts at work or at home, any unpleasant news, or feelings of guilt. In addition to emotional factors, short-term amnesia can be triggered by stress caused by physical circumstances. A sharp dive into cold water, sexual intercourse, some diagnostic procedures (endoscopy, colonoscopy). Most often, this disorder occurs in people over 50 years of age. The risk group includes people who often suffer from migraines (types of headaches).Short-term memory loss
Spicy emotional stress due to conflict, fatigue or negative circumstances can provoke short-term memory loss. Loss of memories occurs suddenly rather than gradually. The person cannot remember what happened to him an hour, a day or a year before the episode. The most frequently asked questions of patients with short-term amnesia are “what am I doing here”, “why did I come here”. In most cases, the patient identifies his personality and recognizes those around him. Violations of this nature are quite rare, without relapse. The duration of this state does not exceed 24 hours, which explains its name.
Short-term amnesia goes away on its own, without treatment. Memories return completely, but gradually.
Upon external examination, patients with temporary memory loss do not show any signs of brain damage (head injuries, confusion, seizures). The patient's thinking remains clear, he does not lose his skills, and does not forget the names of objects previously known to him.
Dissociative amnesia
This type of amnesia is a mental illness and is main feature is the loss of memories of recently occurring events. The disorder manifests itself due to severe stress suffered by the patient. Unlike short-term memory loss, dissociative amnesia is provoked by more global problems.
Memorizing new information occurs without difficulty, but at the same time a person can forget his personal data, events that happened to him, his loved ones and other important information. In some cases, it is possible to lose some skills or forget the meanings of words or expressions. This type of disorder can occur immediately after stress or after some time. Sometimes the patient forgets not the event itself, but the fact that he took part in it. Most patients understand that they do not understand a certain period of their life. As a rule, lost memories in dissociative amnesia do not return at all or are restored incompletely.
Types of dissociative amnesia
Depending on the nature of the lost memories, several subtypes of stress amnesia are distinguished.
Varieties of dissociative amnesia are:
- Localized. Characterized by a complete absence of memories of events that occurred in a certain time period.
- Selective. Not all, but only some details related to the stressful situation disappear from the patient’s memory. For example, in the case of the death of a loved one, the patient may remember the fact of death, preparations for the funeral, but at the same time forget the funeral process itself.
- Generalized. The person loses all memories associated with the tragedy. In addition, he does not remember some of the events that occurred before the tragic incident. In severe forms, the patient is not aware of the time in which he is, does not recognize his loved ones, and does not identify his own personality.
- Continuous. A particularly severe and rare case. Patients with continuous dissociative amnesia forget not only events of the past, but also do not remember what happens to them in the present.
The main feature of this disorder is the absence of memories of specific events or life periods. The duration of forgotten episodes can vary from a few minutes to weeks. In rare cases, periods of several months or years “fall out” from the patient’s memory.
The disorder is accompanied by confusion, embarrassment, and anxiety. The more important the lost memories, the more severe these symptoms tend to be. In some cases, dissociative amnesia can provoke depression. Some patients need increased attention and participation from loved ones. It may also happen that after memory loss the patient begins to wander without a goal or commit other acts of this type. This behavior can continue for 1 to 2 days.
Risk group
This disease is more often diagnosed in women than in men. Experts attribute this to the tendency of women to react more emotionally to stressful situations. It cannot be ruled out that psychogenic amnesia can be transmitted at the genetic level, since patients often have relatives with a history of a similar disorder. Among people with such memory impairment, there are a large number of those who are highly hypnotizable (easily amenable to hypnotic influence).
Experts believe that the ability to get rid of stressful memories by “erasing” them from memory begins to develop in childhood. Children fight trauma in this way because, unlike adults, it is easier for them to distance themselves from reality and immerse themselves in the world of their fantasies. If a young child is systematically exposed to stress factors, this way of dealing with traumatic circumstances is reinforced and can manifest itself in adulthood. According to statistics, psychogenic amnesia more often develops in patients who lived in unfavorable conditions in childhood and were exposed to violence.
Complications
In some cases, in the absence of properly selected therapy or due to the characteristics of the patient’s psyche, dissociative amnesia entails severe consequences. The absence of memories of a traumatic event forces a person to suffer from remorse or to think out the details of what happened. For this reason, the patient may develop severe depression, thoughts of suicide, and addiction to alcohol or drugs. Sexual disorders, digestive disorders, sleep problems are also possible complications dissociative amnesia.
Memory loss due to stroke
Memory loss is a common problem experienced by stroke patients. Amnesia can develop either immediately after a stroke or several days later.Causes of memory loss during stroke
A stroke represents a failure cerebral circulation, due to which the blockage occurs ( ischemic stroke) or damage (hemorrhagic stroke) to a blood vessel in the brain. As a result, one of the areas of the brain begins to experience a deficiency of oxygen and nutrients that are delivered by arterial blood. As a result of insufficient supply, nerve cells begin to die. If this process affects the part that controls memory, the patient develops amnesia. The nature of the problems depends on the area of the brain affected by the stroke. Some patients lose memories of past events, while others have difficulty remembering new information. Along with memory impairment, the consequences of a stroke include paralysis, speech impairment, and loss of orientation in space.
Post-stroke memory problems
From the point of view of information that is not remembered, several types of post-stroke memory impairment are distinguished. All information that comes into human brain, can be conditionally divided into 2 categories - verbal and non-verbal. The first group includes words and proper names, and to the second - images, music, aromas. The left hemisphere of the brain is responsible for processing and storing verbal data, and the left hemisphere of the brain is responsible for working with non-verbal information. right hemisphere. Therefore, human memory is also divided into verbal and non-verbal. The nature of memory impairment after a stroke depends on which hemisphere of the brain was damaged.
The consequences of a stroke are:
- Problems with verbal memory. The patient forgets the names of objects, cities, addresses, telephone numbers. He cannot remember the names of people close to him, forgets the name of the attending physician, despite daily communication, does not remember the simplest data related to his environment. This disorder is one of the most common memory problems among stroke patients.
- Nonverbal memory impairments. The patient does not remember new faces or does not remember the appearance of people known to him before the stroke. It is difficult for the patient to remember the route from the doctor’s office to his room or remember the route from the bus stop public transport to your own home.
- Vascular dementia. With this disorder, a person loses all types of memory against the background of a general decline in all his cognitive abilities.
Depending on whether the patient forgets new information or does not remember what already exists in his memory, several types of post-stroke memory disorders are distinguished. The most common forms include retrograde (loss of memories before the illness) and antegrade (forgetting events after a stroke) amnesia.
Other types of amnestic disorders after a stroke are:
- Hypomnesia. Quite common among patients who have had a stroke. This disorder is characterized by a general weakening of memory, in which the patient first forgets current events, and as the disease progresses, memory for impressions from the past weakens. A characteristic feature of this disorder is the patient’s need for prompts from others.
- Paramnesia. Manifested by mixing events of the past and present. Thus, the patient may attribute a recent stroke to ancient events or mistake his childhood memories for the present. Also, the patient can interpret fictitious facts as events that actually happened in his life. For example, a patient can retell a story read in a book as his personal life. In some cases, on the contrary, the patient accepts reality as information heard or read somewhere.
- Hypermnesia. It is quite rare and is characterized by a pathological increase in all memory processes. The patient begins to remember all the events that happen to him, including the smallest and most insignificant details.
Memory recovery after a stroke depends on factors such as the nature of brain damage, the patient’s age, and the presence of other diseases. Rehabilitation activities play an important role.
After a stroke, a zone of dead nerve cells forms in the brain and their further restoration is impossible. Near this area there are “inhibited” cells, that is, those that have not completely lost their activity. During rehabilitation, “inhibited” areas of the brain are activated and memory can begin to be restored. There are also cells in the brain that can “rebuild” and begin to perform the functions of those structures that were destroyed. Various exercises included in the complex of rehabilitation measures help initiate this process.
Sudden memory loss due to headaches
Headaches in some cases are accompanied by memory loss. The cause of these phenomena can be various disorders, which are based on impaired cerebral circulation. Migraine is one of the most common diseases that causes headaches and memory disorders. There are also other diseases.Migraine
Migraine is a disease known to many people, characterized by prolonged attacks of headache. The first manifestations of migraine usually occur before the age of 20, with the peak of the disease occurring between 30 and 35 years. The number of attacks per month can vary from 2 to 8. According to statistics, females are most often affected by this disease. Migraines are also more severe in women than in men. Thus, on average, a female patient develops about 7 attacks per month, each lasting up to 8 hours. Men experience an average of 6 attacks per month, lasting 6 hours each. This disease is inherited and in 70 percent of cases, children of parents suffering from migraines also experience this pathology.
Causes
A wide range of experts agree that the main cause of migraines is emotional stress. When exposed to stressful circumstances, the brain focuses on the threat and is constantly in a state of “flight or attack.” Because of this, the blood vessels in the brain expand, which begin to put pressure on the nerve cells. This process is accompanied by severe headaches. Then the blood vessels sharply narrow, which disrupts the blood supply to the brain tissue. This is also accompanied by pain and other problems.
This reaction to stress, according to most experts, is caused by vascular pathologies of the brain. It should be noted that at the moment the mechanism of migraine pain and the causes of its occurrence remain not fully understood. According to one assumption, patients with migraines have a hypersensitive autonomic nervous system, which is why the cerebral cortex reacts sharply not only to emotional stress, but also to weather changes, physical stress (more often in men) and other factors.
Memory impairment in migraine
Due to impaired cerebral circulation during attacks, many patients notice a sudden deterioration in memory. A person may forget what he was doing before the onset of pain, what plans he had for the near future and other important information. Memory disorder is accompanied by other cognitive impairments. The speed of thinking decreases, a person loses the ability to concentrate and becomes distracted.
People who often suffer from migraines report memory loss after attacks. In this case, short-term memory most often weakens, and a person cannot remember after a few minutes where he put the keys, whether he turned off the light, or whether he closed the door to the apartment.
Symptoms
The main symptom of migraine is headache, which is characterized by a pulsating nature and localization in only one part of the head (right or left). Pain begins in temporal region, then goes to the forehead, eyes and then covers the right or left side heads. Sometimes the pain may start in the back of the head, but then it still moves to one side or the other. It is these characteristics that distinguish migraine from tension-type headache (TTH). For tension-type headache painful sensations are squeezing and compressive in nature and spread throughout the head.
The area of localization of migraine pain periodically changes - once on the right side, the next time on the left side of the head. Mandatory symptoms of migraine, in addition to headache, include nausea, which may be accompanied by vomiting (not necessarily). Also, in most cases, the patient is concerned about increased sensitivity to light or sounds.
Manifestations of migraine also include:
- change in complexion (pallor or redness);
- change in emotional state (depression, irritability);
- increased pain with any movement;
- weakness in the limbs (left or right side body);
- “pins and needles” sensation, numbness, tingling (on one side).
Memory problems with migraine aura
Symptoms of a migraine aura begin to bother the patient some time (from several hours to a day) before the main stage of the attack. These may be “midges” in front of the eyes, flashes of light, flickering zigzags or lines. It is with migraines with aura that memory impairment most often occurs. A person may have difficulty remembering what he did a few minutes ago, while there are no memory problems outside of the attack. Sometimes patients forget the names of frequently used objects, the meaning of famous words, and the names of loved ones. In some cases, these signs are accompanied by speech disorders and articulation problems.
Risk group
The typical migraine patient is a mentally busy person with great professional ambitions. Memory problems and other symptoms intensify during periods when the patient is busy with complex and large-scale objects, preparing for exams or recertification. Residents of megalopolises and big cities are much more likely to suffer from migraines than those living in rural areas.
Other diseases
There are a large number of diseases in which blood circulation to the brain is disrupted. Due to improper blood supply to the brain, oxygen deficiency develops and cell nutrition suffers, as a result of which they die. At the same time, patients are worried about headaches, memory loss and other symptoms.
Causes
One of the most common reasons impaired blood supply to the brain is atherosclerosis (formation of cholesterol plaques on the inner walls of blood vessels).
Other causes of headaches and memory loss include:
- congenital vascular anomalies;
- vertebrobasilar insufficiency (weak blood flow in the basilar and vertebral arteries);
- osteochondrosis (damage to spinal tissue);
- inflammatory vascular diseases;
- diabetes.
Headaches due to poor circulation are accompanied by a feeling of a heavy, full head. The pain syndrome intensifies at the end of the working day, with increased physical or mental stress. Memory deterioration most often occurs gradually. A characteristic sign of atherosclerosis is poor memorization of recent events and good memory for circumstances of long ago. Irreversible changes in the brain affect the character and behavior of the patient. Such patients become irritable, emotionally sensitive, and lose their ability to work and many skills.
Memory loss due to alcohol intoxication
Alcohol amnesia is characterized by partial or complete loss of memory for events of intoxication. You need to know that memory loss characterizes both chronic alcoholism and pathological intoxication. Pathological intoxication is a form of alcoholism that is accompanied by psychotic symptoms when taking small doses of alcohol. As a rule, people are not aware of this peculiar reaction of the body to alcohol. After drinking a small amount of alcohol, they develop pronounced motor agitation, accompanied by hallucinations, fears and delusions of persecution. Often in this state illegal acts are committed. This state ends suddenly (as it began) deep sleep, after which the patients do not remember anything. Amnesia during pathological intoxication is total, that is, all events are lost, from drinking alcohol to sleep.Amnesia in chronic alcoholism is characterized by its fragmentation. This means that not all events are erased from memory, but only certain fragments. The main course of events is maintained or quickly restored upon sobering up. This happens because the main target for alcohol is short-term memory (events within 20 - 30 minutes). Immediate memorization and long-term memory are not initially impaired in alcoholism.
It was previously thought that the cause of memory loss due to alcoholism was damage to brain cells. It was assumed that alcohol has a detrimental effect on neurons, leading to their destruction. It has now become known that alcohol does not act on the neurons themselves, but on interneuron connections. It turns out that alcohol stimulates the synthesis of steroids, which prevent the formation of interneuron connections. This is the reason for periodic memory loss in people suffering from alcoholism. The same mechanism explains the reasons for similar failures in people who do not suffer from alcoholism, but “had too much” at the previous event. So, after a stormy celebration, a person wakes up the next morning not only with a headache, but also with the question “what happened and how.” At the same time, he retains in his memory the main course of events (for example, where the corporate party took place), but stubbornly does not remember his “non-standard” behavior during the celebration.
Memory loss is also seen in alcoholic encephalopathy and alcoholic psychosis. Alcoholic encephalopathy is a manifestation of alcoholism at stages 2–3. It is characterized by anxiety and depression, verbal hallucinosis, and decreased cognitive function. In such patients, absent-minded attention and the ability to fix information are completely lost, and amnesia for current events develops.
Memory loss due to epilepsy
Epilepsy – common neurological disease, which is characterized by the occurrence of convulsive seizures. These seizures are based on pathologically high activity (excitability) of nerve cells. Increased excitability of neurons leads to changes in the concentration of neurotransmitters and a decrease in intracellular calcium. This, in turn, leads to sharp contractions of skeletal muscles, which are called cramps (synonyms - fits, convulsions, paroxysms). In addition to convulsions, epilepsy is characterized by memory disorders of varying intensity.Memory disorders in epilepsy include:
- amnesia (complete memory loss)– accompanies attacks, twilight disorder;
- weakening of memory up to dementia– characterizes epilepsy in its later stages.
Generalized seizures include absences (sudden loss of consciousness), tonic, clonic and myoclonic seizures. These attacks occur with loss of consciousness. A classic example of an epileptic seizure with complete memory loss is a grand mal seizure. It can begin with the appearance of “harbingers of an attack” or the so-called aura. The aura is expressed in the appearance of headaches, decreased mood, and changes in appetite. It may last several minutes or hours. Next, the tonic phase develops, during which all the person’s muscles tense. At this moment the patient loses consciousness and falls. When falling, he can hit himself, injure himself, or receive traumatic brain injuries. The tonic phase gives way to the clonic phase, during which the muscles begin to sharply contract (“twitch”). It lasts from 30 seconds to 2 minutes. This is followed by the exit stage, which lasts another 10 to 30 minutes. It is accompanied by pronounced weakness, lethargy and confusion. After the final awakening, the patient does not remember anything. He cannot describe what happened to him, what he felt, how he hit himself, and so on. Complete loss of memory during an attack is hallmark epileptic attack from hysterical.
Focal epileptic convulsions include motor and somatosensory seizures. For example, an attack occurs in the form of olfactory hallucinations, illusory flashes, and attacks of abdominal pain. As a rule, such variants of epileptic seizures are not accompanied by memory loss.
Regardless of the type of seizures in epilepsy, there is a gradual weakening of all cognitive functions (memory, attention). This happens because epileptic seizure accompanied by the development of edema in the nervous tissue. The more often attacks develop, the more pronounced the swelling in the nervous tissue, and the faster hypoxia develops and the death of neurons occurs. Daily attacks can lead to complete loss of cognitive function in just a few years. In this case, acquired dementia or epileptic dementia develops. An indispensable sign of epileptic dementia is weakening of memory and personality changes. Memory is impaired from all sides. First, concentration is disrupted, which leads to deterioration of voluntary reproduction (memories). Then the function of retaining information and memorizing, that is, the fixation function, is disrupted.
Memory loss in epilepsy can also occur during twilight stupefaction. This type of consciousness disorder is often found in epilepsy. It occurs suddenly and is accompanied by aggression, fear, delusions of persecution and hallucinations. Patients are impulsive, aggressive, and exhibit destructive behavior. The duration of twilight darkness can be from several hours to several days. The exit from this state is accompanied by total amnesia.
Memory loss after concussions, blows and traumatic brain injuries
Amnesia is a common consequence of traumatic brain injuries, bruises and concussions. The reason for this is damage to those brain structures that are responsible for memory.The brain structures that are responsible for memory include:
- cortex;
- temporal and frontal lobes of the brain;
- mediobasal system, including the thalamic nuclei and amygdala.
Damage to the structures responsible for memory can occur both directly during the injury and after it. In the first case, immediately after the injury, loss of consciousness is noted, which can last from several minutes to several hours. After the patient regains consciousness, he experiences amnesia. More often this is retrograde amnesia, in which memory is lost for all events preceding the injury. The patient cannot answer the questions “what happened” and “how did he get to the hospital”. In extremely severe cases, anterograde amnesia develops, when memory is lost for both the events preceding the injury and the events after it.
However, amnesia can develop later. This happens when an intracranial hematoma (accumulation of a certain amount of blood) forms. When struck, damage occurs to the blood vessels of the brain, which gradually begin to bleed. Gradually pouring out, the blood accumulates in the brain tissue, leading to the formation of a hematoma. In turn, the hematoma compresses with its volume anatomical structures brain, which are responsible for storing and reproducing information. In this case, the type of amnesia is determined by the location and size of the hematoma.
The gradual formation of a hematoma (as blood is shed) explains the presence of a period of light or a “window” in the concussion clinic. During this period, the patient feels well, the headache and other initial symptoms disappear. It seems that the patient is already healthy. However, after 2 days he becomes worse, sudden memory loss and other focal symptoms. This type of amnesia is called retarded amnesia.
Memory loss during hypertensive crisis
A hypertensive crisis is a sudden and sharp increase in blood pressure to 220 - 250 millimeters of mercury. It leads to serious structural changes in the central nervous system and brain. Amnesia is not a permanent manifestation of a hypertensive crisis. It occurs only in some of its forms. There is an edematous (or saline) version of a hypertensive crisis and a convulsive version. With the edematous variant, the patient is sleepy, constrained, and disoriented in space. The convulsive form of hypertensive crisis is the most severe. It is accompanied by loss of consciousness and the development of seizures. Due to a sharp increase in blood pressure, edema develops in the brain tissue, which leads to the development of encephalopathy (with a prolonged hypertensive crisis). At the end of the attack, which can last several hours, amnesia develops.Frequent hypertensive crises lead to irreversible disorders at the level of the central nervous system. Since the crisis is accompanied by the development of edema, frequent hypertensive crises lead to dystrophic changes at the cellular and subcellular level. This explains the fact that long-term hypertension with frequent crises is accompanied by a decrease in cognitive functions. Initially, attention begins to suffer. It becomes difficult for the patient to concentrate and, as a result, to assimilate information. Further, the reproduction of information is disrupted - the patient has difficulty remembering recently occurring events. The most ancient events are the last to be erased from memory.
Types of amnesia
Amnesia can be classified according to various criteria. Thus, depending on the lost period of memory, amnesia can be retrograde, antegrade, retarded and fixation. At the same time, depending on the nature of development, regressive and progressive amnesia are distinguished. Types of amnesia are:
- retrograde amnesia;
- antegrade amnesia;
- fixation amnesia;
- progressive amnesia;
- regressive amnesia.
Retrograde amnesia
This type of amnesia is characterized by loss of memory for events that preceded brain damage. Most often found in traumatic brain injuries, open and closed fractures. In this case, amnesia can cover time periods of varying duration. So, this can be memory loss for several hours, days or even years. The memory gap with retrograde amnesia can be very persistent, but most often the memories partially return. If memory begins to recover, it occurs from events more distant in time. Initially, the most distant events emerge in the patient’s memory, and then the events that preceded the injury. This sequence of memory return reflects Ribot's law of memory conservation. According to it, recent and recent events are erased from memory first, and events of long ago are the last.Antegrade amnesia
Antegrade amnesia is characterized by loss of memory for events following trauma. The events that preceded the injury are stored in the patient's memory. This type of amnesia is quite rare and is associated with a violation of the movement of information from short-term memory to long-term memory. Antegrade amnesia can also result from taking certain medications. Most often it is caused by drugs from the group of benzodiazepines. For example, bromazepam, alprazolam, nitrazepam.Fixation amnesia
This type of amnesia is characterized by loss of memory for current and recent events. At the same time, memory of past events is preserved. For example, a patient may ask the doctor “what is his name,” and after 5 minutes repeat his question. At the same time, he remembers well the events of the past - where he lives, who his friends are, where he spent his previous vacation. Thus, this type amnesia is characterized by a violation of the fixation function and preservation of other memory functions. Fixation amnesia may be accompanied by other symptoms, for example, disorientation in time and space, retrograde amnesia.Most often, fixation amnesia is a manifestation of Korsakov's psychosis, traumatic brain injury, and intoxication. In Korsakov's psychosis, the patient experiences not only quantitative memory impairments in the form of fixation amnesia, but also qualitative ones in the form of confabulations and pseudoreminiscences. With confabulations, the patient expresses fictitious events (that is, invents) that never occurred in the patient's life. With pseudoreminiscences, the patient states events that happened in the patient’s life, but in the distant past. For example, while in the clinic, the patient says that yesterday he went to see his brother in another city. Narrating the trip, he describes the station and other facts in detail. Moreover, such a trip happened in the patient’s life, but it took place 20 years ago. Korsakoff psychosis is a manifestation of alcoholism and is accompanied by polyneuropathy, muscle atrophy, sensory disturbances, and absence of tendon reflexes.
Also, fixation amnesia can be observed with vitamin B1 deficiency and Alzheimer's disease.
Progressive (increasing) amnesia
Progressive amnesia is an ever-increasing loss of memory. Characterized by an impaired ability to remember new events, temporary confusion of previous memories. It is observed in severe dementia (senile dementia), brain tumors, and extensive injuries. Progressive amnesia, like other types of amnesia, obeys Ribot's law - memory decay occurs from the loss of new knowledge to the loss of skills accumulated in the past. Memories acquired in early childhood are the last to be erased from memory.Regressive amnesia
This type of amnesia is characterized by the gradual restoration of previously lost events in memory. It occurs after recovery from anesthesia (memory gradually returns), traumatic brain injuries, and concussions. Regressive amnesia is also observed in stressful situations. Before use, you should consult a specialist.Memory is one of the most important functions In human life. Memory is the ability to store and reproduce memories or abstract information at the right time. Memory plays a crucial role in learning and work skills, and in childhood is involved in the formation of personality.
Memory impairment is pathological condition, which can be a symptom of many diseases. As a result, the patient experiences a disturbance in the perception of reality, expressed to one degree or another.
This symptom can be permanent and persist for long period time (or even throughout life), and episodic. Every fourth person encountered the last option - in varying degrees and at different periods of life.
Main reasons
The reasons can be very diverse. The most common, according to statistical studies, is asthenic syndrome. This is what the complex of symptoms is called: psycho-emotional stress, emotional lability, increased anxiety, signs of depression. The second most common reason is the consequences of any disease.
But there are a number of other factors that can lead to memory impairment:
- Other asthenic conditions: stressful situations, overwork.
- Excessive alcohol consumption. Leads to somatic disorders and structural changes in the brain.
- Diseases associated with circulatory pathologies in the brain.
- Head injuries.
- Tumors localized in brain tissue.
- Psychiatric pathologies.
- Congenital intellectual disabilities - both genetic and associated with birth injuries.
- Metabolic disease.
- Chronic intoxication (for example, salts of heavy metals)
Accordingly, treatment in each case is specific, and careful diagnosis is required, since there are many reasons.
Signs of development of memory disorders
They can appear overnight, or they can develop almost unnoticed. How the disease progresses is important for diagnosis.
The following symptoms are distinguished by number:
- Amnesia. This is the name for complete forgetting of the events of any time period. The same term is used to refer to the complete loss of memories.
- Hypermnesia. This is the reverse process - patients note a phenomenal increase in memory, remember all the little things, and can reproduce a large amount of information.
- Hypomnesia. This is a partial loss of memories or partial memory loss.
There are symptoms associated with damage to various memory components:
- Inability to remember events occurring at the present moment in time.
- Difficulties in reproducing events from the past, difficulties in reproducing previously remembered information.
It is interesting that in case of memory disorders, quite often some specific memory objects are deleted:
- Memory of traumatic events, negative situations and events.
- Removing events that compromise a person.
Forgetting that is not associated with specific objects, but is fragmented, can also be observed. In this case, random parts of memories fall out of memory, and it is not possible to find any system.
As for qualitative memory impairment, the symptoms may be as follows:
- Replacing one's own memories with someone else's or one's own, but from a different time period.
- Replacing one's own memories with fictitious ones that never existed in reality and are objectively impossible.
- Replacing one's own memories with situations and facts gleaned from the media, heard somewhere - that is, real, but not belonging to specific people or the patient.
Another unusual disorder involves the perception of real time as something that happened in the past. Since it is extremely important to understand exactly what disorders a patient has, he has to work with a psychiatrist for a long time even in the absence of a mental illness - this is necessary for objective recognition of symptoms and making a correct diagnosis.
Memory impairment in children
In children, diagnosis is even more difficult. This is due to the fact that memory impairments can manifest themselves as a result of congenital diseases or can be acquired during life. There are two main forms of memory loss in children: hypomnesia (problems with remembering and subsequently reproducing information) and amnesia (complete loss of any part of memory). In addition to diseases of the intellectual sphere, mental illness, poisoning, and comatose states can lead to memory impairment in children.
Most often, children are diagnosed with memory impairment due to asthenia or an unfavorable psychological climate. Signs of pathology in this case are a lack of perseverance, problems with fixation of attention, and changes in behavior.
As a rule, children with memory impairments do not cope well with school curriculum. Social adaptation is often difficult for them.
Problems with memory in childhood can be associated with visual impairments - after all, a person receives most of the information through vision, and visual perception is very developed in childhood. In this case, the child develops the following symptoms: decreased memory capacity, low speed memorization, rapid forgetting. This happens due to the fact that images obtained non-visually are practically not emotionally colored. Therefore, such a child will show lower results compared to a sighted child. Adaptation consists of an emphasis on the development of the verbal-logical component, increasing the volume of short-term memory, and developing motor skills.
Memory impairment in old age
Many older people have memory impairment to one degree or another. First of all, this should be associated with age-related changes in the circulatory system and brain function. The slowdown in metabolism also affects the nervous tissue.
An important cause of disorders is Alzheimer's disease, which manifests itself and actively progresses in adulthood and old age.
According to statistics, at least half (and according to some studies, up to 75%) of older people themselves report some forgetfulness or other memory impairments. Short-term memory is the first to suffer. This leads to a number of unpleasant psychological symptoms, which, unfortunately, are observed in many older people. Among these manifestations: increased anxiety, depression.
Normally, memory function decreases gradually, so even in old age it does not interfere with everyday activities and does not reduce the quality of life. Recent studies show a relationship between a healthy lifestyle in youth, intellectual work (or other mental activity) and the state in old age.
If pathology is noted, memory loss may occur more quickly. In the absence of a correct diagnosis and adequate treatment, the risk of developing dementia is high. This condition is characterized by the loss of everyday skills due to the loss of the ability to remember.
Our doctors
Diagnostics
Diagnosis begins with a careful history taking - this is due to the fact that the most important information about his condition can be provided by the patient himself or his relatives. First, the doctor determines which component of memory is most affected, and then outlines a plan for further examination.
Many specialized tests have been developed and used to differentiate various disorders.
The most commonly used tests are:
- Repeating words immediately after they have been heard allows you to evaluate the functioning of short-term memory. It is clear that a healthy person will be able to repeat all the words.
- Repetition of ten words. The essence of the test is that the doctor voices ten unrelated words. The patient repeats them. This cycle is then repeated with the same words 5 times. Healthy people name at least 4 words the first time, and at the last repetition they can say all of them.
- Pictogram method. The patient is told a few words (usually about 10), and then given time to draw a supporting drawing on paper. Based on the drawing, the patient names the words, and then he is asked to look at the paper and name them after an hour. The norm is to remember at least 90% of words.
- Simple but effective method- retelling a simple plot text of several sentences. The test has variations - the text is read out by the doctor or the patient himself (this way visual and auditory memory is tested).
No less important are instrumental studies that allow one to assess the functional state of the brain and the state of the circulatory system. Electroencephalography is actively used, resonance tomography and computed tomography.
If there are suggestions that memory impairment appeared as a result of a somatic illness, then use diagnostic methods, aimed at identifying the underlying diagnosis, and the state of memory is monitored during recovery.
Treatment
Treatment tactics depend 100% on the cause. Adequate therapy is selected individually, taking into account the course of the disease and the patient’s condition. Some diseases require lifelong correction.
It is important to seek medical help in time. Many diseases associated with memory loss (as well as others) respond better to therapy with early stages development.
As a rule, treatment is aimed at both eliminating the immediate cause of the disease and eliminating symptoms to improve the patient’s quality of life.
Undergo full diagnostics and use the most modern methods and you can get an effective treatment regimen in the multifunctional CELT clinic. Advanced technologies and qualified doctors will help restore lost memory.
Memory impairments are one of the most common disorders that significantly impair a person’s quality of life. There are two main types of them - quantitative disorders, which manifest themselves in the loss, weakening or strengthening of memory traces, and qualitative disorders (paramnesia), expressed in the appearance of false memories, in the confusion of reality, past, present and imaginary.
Kinds
This symptom manifests itself in the form of the following diseases:
- Amnesia, which can have various forms, but is generally characterized by loss of memory for various periods of time, loss of various information or skills.
- Hypomnesia is characterized primarily by a weakening of the ability to reproduce and remember various reference data - names, numbers, terms and titles, i.e. Memory functions are affected unevenly.
- Hypermnesia is, on the contrary, a pathological exacerbation of memory. Often occurs in manic states and the initial stages of alcohol and drug intoxication.
- Paramnesias are qualitative disorders; they are quite difficult to clearly classify, since the symptoms are quite complex. With these diseases, what is seen, experienced or told for the first time is perceived by the person as something familiar that has happened to him before. The illusion of recognition also applies to these disorders.
Causes
There are actually a lot of reasons for memory loss. This is an asthenic syndrome - anxiety and depression, alcoholism, dementia, chronic diseases, intoxication, lack of microelements, as well as age-related changes. Below we will consider the reasons why such disorders may occur in different age groups of patients.
In children
The main causes of disorders in children are congenital mental retardation and acquired conditions, expressed in hypomnesia - deterioration in the process of remembering and reproducing information, or amnesia - loss of individual episodes from memory.
Amnesia in children can be a consequence of trauma, mental illness, comatose state or poisoning, for example, alcohol. However, partial memory impairment in children most often occurs due to the complex influence of several factors, such as an unfavorable psychological climate in the children's group or in the family, asthenic conditions (including due to frequent acute respiratory viral infections), as well as hypovitaminosis.
In adults
There are perhaps more reasons why memory impairment can occur in adults. This includes exposure to stressful situations at work and at home, and the presence of various diseases of the nervous system, such as Parkinson's disease or encephalitis. Of course, such disorders are caused by alcoholism and drug addiction, mental illnesses - depression, schizophrenia, neuroses.
An important factor, can greatly affect the ability to remember and somatic diseases, during which damage to the blood vessels of the brain occurs and, as a result, impaired cerebral circulation.
As a rule, when natural process With aging, memory decline occurs quite slowly. At first, it becomes more difficult to remember the events that just happened. During this period, patients may experience fear, depression, and self-doubt.
One way or another, 50-75% of older people complain of memory impairment. However, as already noted, in most cases this process proceeds slowly and does not lead to serious problems or a significant deterioration in the quality of life. However, the process can also take severe forms when memory begins to rapidly deteriorate. If treatment is not resorted to in this case, then, as a rule, the patient develops senile dementia.
To determine whether a person has problems, various techniques diagnostics Although it is necessary to understand that all methods are averages, since people differ greatly individual characteristics, and what “normal” memory is is quite difficult to define. However, below are several methods for checking the memory status.
Diagnostics of visual and auditory memory
To carry out diagnostics, cards are used that depict various objects. A total of 60 cards will be required, which will be used in two series - 30 in each.
Each card from the stack is shown sequentially to the patient at 2-second intervals. After showing all 30 cards, it is necessary to take a break of 10 seconds, after which the patient will repeat the images that he managed to remember. Moreover, the latter can be named in a chaotic order, that is, the sequence is not important. After checking the result, the percentage of correct answers is determined.
Under the same conditions, the patient is shown a second stack of 30 cards. If the results vary greatly, this will indicate unsatisfactory concentration of attention and unstable mnestic function. If during the test an adult correctly names 18-20 pictures, then he is considered one hundred percent healthy.
The patient’s auditory memory is tested in a similar way, only the images on the cards are not shown to him, but spoken out loud. A repeat series of words is spoken on another day. One hundred percent result is the correct indication of 20-22 words.
Memorization method
The subject is read a dozen two-syllable words, the semantic connection between which cannot be established. The doctor repeats this sequence two to four times, after which the subject himself names the words that he can remember. The patient is asked to name the same words again after half an hour. Correct and incorrect responses are recorded and a conclusion is drawn about the patient's level of attention.
There is also a method of memorizing artificial words (for example, roland, whitefish, etc.) that do not carry any semantic load. The patient is read 10 of these simple sound combinations, after which the subject repeats the words that he managed to remember. A healthy patient will be able to reproduce all words without exception after 5-7 repetitions by the doctor.
Prevention
The best prevention for a decline in memory ability is healthy image life. It is also necessary to treat somatic diseases - diabetes, hypertension, etc. - in a timely manner and in strict accordance with medical recommendations. It is important for prevention and adherence to a normal work and rest schedule, sufficient sleep duration - at least 7 hours.
There is no need to get too carried away with all kinds of diets. You need to understand that about 20% of the energy the body receives from food goes precisely to meeting the needs of the brain. Therefore, you need to choose a balanced diet.
Priority should be given to products made from whole grains, vegetables, fatty fish, etc.
It must also be remembered that it is extremely Negative influence The body's water balance also affects the nervous system and, accordingly, the risk of memory impairment. Dehydration should not be allowed; to do this, you need to drink 2 liters of fluid per day.
The main thing is to remember that normal positive communication with friends and relatives, work activity, albeit minimal, and maintaining social activity are the key to maintaining a healthy brain into old age.
The doctor’s story about the problem under consideration in the following video:
Memory disorders are one of the complex neuropsychiatric disorders that complicate life. In older people, memory loss is a natural process of aging. Some disorders can be corrected, while others are a symptom of a more severe underlying condition.
Memory impairment in psychology
Mental memory disorders are a group of qualitative and quantitative disorders in which a person either stops remembering, recognizing and reproducing information, or there is a noticeable decrease in these functions. In order to understand how certain disorders affect a person’s memory of information, it is important to understand what memory is. So, memory is the highest mental function, which includes a complex of cognitive abilities: memorization, storage, reproduction.
The most common memory disorders are:
- hypomnesia– reduction or weakening;
- paramnesia– errors in memory;
- – loss of events (before or after).
Causes of memory disorders
Why are memory disorders observed? There are many reasons for this, both psychological and pathological, as well as traumatic effects on a person. Memory impairment – psychological causes:
- psycho-emotional stress;
- overwork due to mental or heavy physical work;
- a psychotrauma that once occurred, causing a defensive reaction - repression;
Disorders of memory functions – organic causes:
- long-term toxic effects on the brain of alcohol and drugs;
- unfavorable environment;
- various circulatory disorders (stroke, atherosclerosis, hypertension);
- brain oncology;
- viral infections;
- Alzheimer's disease;
- congenital mental illnesses and genetic mutations.
External influences:
- traumatic brain injuries;
- difficult birth with forceps applied to the baby's head.
Types of memory impairment
Many people are familiar with the concept of amnesia, because the word itself very often appears in various films or TV series, where one of the characters loses his memory or pretends not to remember anything, and meanwhile, amnesia is just one type of memory impairment. All types of memory disorders are usually divided into two large groups:
- Quantitative– hypermnesia, amnesia, hypomnesia.
- Quality– confabulation, contamination, cryptomnesia, pseudoreminiscence.
Cognitive memory disorder
Memory refers to cognitive functions human brain. Any memory disorders will be cognitive and leave an imprint on all human thought processes. Cognitive memory disorders are usually divided into 3 types:
- lungs– amenable to drug correction;
- average– occur earlier than in old age, but are not critical, often associated with other diseases;
- heavy– these disorders occur with general damage to the brain, for example as a result of progressive dementia.
Quantitative memory disorders
Memory impairment - dysmnesia (quantitative disorders) is divided by psychiatrists into several types. The largest group consists of various types of amnesia, in which memory loss occurs for a certain period of time. Types of amnesia:
- retrograde– occurs on events preceding a traumatic, painful situation (for example, the period before the onset of an epileptic seizure);
- anterograde(temporal) – a loss of events occurs after the traumatic situation has occurred; the patient does not remember the period of how he got to the hospital;
- fixative- memory impairment, in which current impressions are not remembered; a person at this moment can be completely disoriented in space and after a few seconds all actions in the current moment are forgotten by the patient forever;
- congrade – loss of state memory during delirium, oneiroid, amnesia in this case can be total or fragmentary;
- episodic - it also happens to healthy people when they are tired, for example, drivers who have been on the road for a long time; when remembering, they can vividly remember the beginning and end of the journey, forgetting what happened in the intervals;
- children's– inability to remember events that occurred before 3–4 years of age (normal);
- intoxication– with alcohol and drug intoxication;
- hysterical(katathym) – turning off traumatic events from memory;
- affective– loss of events occurring during the affect.
Quantitative memory disorders include the following disorders:
- hypomnesia(“perforated memory”) – the patient only remembers important events, in healthy people this can be expressed in weakness of memory for dates, names, terms;
- hypermnesia– increased ability to remember past events that are irrelevant at the moment.
Impaired short-term memory
Psychiatry associates short-term memory disorders with many factors and causes, most often with concomitant diseases and stress factors. Short-term or primary, active memory is an important component of memory in general, its volume is 7 ± 2 units, and the retention of incoming information is 20 seconds; if there is no repetition, the trace of information becomes very fragile after 30 seconds. Short-term memory is very vulnerable, and with amnesia, events that happened 15 seconds to 15 minutes ago are lost from memory.
Memory and speech impairment
Auditory-speech memory is based on images imprinted by the auditory analyzer and memorization of various sounds: music, noise, speech of another person, severe memory and speech disorders are characteristic of mentally retarded children and due to damage to the left temporal lobe of the brain due to injury or stroke, which leads to acoustic syndrome - mnestic aphasia. Oral speech is poorly perceived by patients and out of 4 words spoken aloud, only the first and last are reproduced (edge effect).
Thinking and memory disorders
All cognitive functions of the brain are interconnected, and if one function is impaired, over time, others begin to suffer along the chain. Memory and intelligence disorders are observed in Alzheimer's disease and senile dementia. If we consider how a violation occurs, we can cite as an example that a person performs many operations in his mind, which are stored in the form of experience with the help of short-term and long-term memory. With memory impairment, there is a loss of this experience synthesized by memory and thinking.
Memory and attention disorder
All attention and memory disorders negatively affect the memory of events, situations and information. Types of memory and attention disorders:
- functional– occur when it is impossible to focus on a specific action, which is manifested by a deterioration in memory, typical for ADHD in children, stress;
- organic- for mental retardation, Down syndrome, and the development of dementia in older people.
Memory disorders due to brain damage
In case of defeat different departments brain, memory disorders have different clinical manifestations:
- damage to the hippocampus and the “Peipets circle” - severe amnesia occurs for current everyday events, disorientation in space and time, patients complain that everything falls out of memory, and they are forced to write everything down in order to remember;
- damage to the medial and basal sections frontal lobes– characterized by confabulations and memory errors, patients are uncritical of their amnesia;
- local lesions of the convexital sections - a violation of mnestic function in any specific area;
- Memory impairment after a stroke can be verbal (the patient cannot remember the names of objects, names of loved ones), visual - there is no memory of faces and shapes.
Memory impairment in a child
Basically, memory development disorders in children are associated with asthenic syndrome, which together represents high psycho-emotional stress, anxiety and depression. An unfavorable psychological climate, early deprivation, and hypovitaminosis also provoke amnesia in children. Often, children exhibit hypomnesia, expressed in poor assimilation of educational material or other information, while, along with memory impairment, all cognitive functions suffer.
Memory disorder in older people
Senile dementia or senile memory disorder, popularly called senile marasmus, is one of the most common memory disorders in the elderly. Dementia is also accompanied by diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Pick's diseases. In addition to amnesia, there is a decline in all thought processes, dementia sets in with personality degradation. Unfavorable factors in the development of dementia are cardiovascular diseases and atherosclerosis.
Symptoms of memory impairment
The symptoms of disorders are varied and depend on the forms in which memory disorders manifest themselves; in general, the symptoms can be as follows:
- loss of information and skills, both ordinary (brushing teeth) and related to the profession;
- disorientation in time and space;
- persistent gaps for events that occurred “before” and “after”;
- palimpsest – loss of individual events during alcohol intoxication;
- Confabulation is the replacement of memory gaps with fantastic information that the patient believes.
Diagnosis of memory disorders
The main memory impairments should be diagnosed by a doctor so as not to miss a serious concomitant disease (tumors, dementia, diabetes). Standard diagnostics includes a comprehensive examination:
- blood tests (general, biochemistry, hormones);
- magnetic resonance imaging (MRI);
- computed tomography (CT);
- positron emission tomography (PET).
Psychodiagnosis of memory disorders is based on the methods of A.R. Luria:
- Learning 10 words. Diagnostics of mechanical memory. A psychologist or psychiatrist slowly names 10 words in order and asks the patient to repeat in any order. The procedure is repeated 5 times, and when repeated, the doctor notes how many of the 10 words were correctly named. Normally, after the 3rd repetition, all words are remembered. After an hour, the patient is asked to repeat 10 words (normally 8–10 words should be reproduced).
- Associative series “words + pictures”. Impaired logical memory. The therapist names the words and asks the patient to choose a picture for each word, for example: cow - milk, tree - forest. An hour later, the patient is presented with pictures and asked to name the words corresponding to the image. The number of words and complexity-primitiveness in compiling an associative series are assessed.
Memory– reproduction of past experience, one of the main properties of the nervous system, expressed in the ability to long-term store information about events in the external world, reactions of the body and repeatedly apply it in practice.
By providing a connection between the past, present and future, memory gives stability to life experience. Memory is the most important structure ensuring the formation of individuality.
Currently, science does not have a unified and complete theory of memory. To the two previously known - psychological and physiological - a biochemical one was added. The psychological doctrine of memory is “older” than the physiological and biochemical.
One of the first psychological theories that arose in the 17th century was associative. This theory is based on the concept of association - the connection between individual mental phenomena, as well as between them and phenomena of the external world. Memory in line with this theory is understood as a complex system short-term and long-term associations of contiguity, similarity and contrast.
The essence of the theory boils down to the following: if certain mental formations arose in consciousness simultaneously or immediately after each other, then an associative connection arises between them and the reappearance of any of the elements of this connection necessarily causes a representation of all elements in consciousness. Thanks to this theory, many patterns of functioning and mechanisms of memory were discovered and described.
But over time, a number of problems arose, one of which was the problem of explaining the selectivity of memory, which could not be understood based on the associative theory of memory.
Memory disorders
Memory disorders very diverse. The causes of certain memory disorders have been identified through numerous clinical observations of patients with various brain damage and an in-depth analysis of the characteristics of their memory impairment. Patients' memory is assessed using various psychophysiological tests. In subsequent works by domestic and foreign clinicians, a large amount of clinical and psychological research material was systematized, making it possible to draw certain conclusions about the causes of certain forms of memory disorders. Based on the study of the characteristics of memory disorders in patients with various brain damage, a distinction is made between partial and general amnesia.
Amnesia
One of the most common memory disorders is amnesia - partial or complete loss of memory. Memory gaps can be for certain periods of time, for individual events. Such partial amnesia is most pronounced in a person who has lost consciousness (for example, during an epileptic seizure), as well as in stupor or coma.
Progressive amnesia
In patients with severe cerebral atherosclerosis, organic damage to the central nervous system can result in gradually increasing memory loss. This is the so-called progressive amnesia. With it, current events disappear from memory first; long-past phenomena are relatively preserved (Ribot's law), which is typical primarily for older people. In case of traumatic brain injury or other cerebral pathology of organic origin, events preceding the disease often disappear from memory. This characteristic feature retrograde amnesia.
Anterograde amnesia
Lack of memory for events that immediately followed the onset of the disease, for example, a traumatic brain injury, is called anterograde amnesia. In psychiatry clinics, fixation amnesia is often observed. It manifests itself in the inability to remember current events and newly received information. This disorder most often occurs in Korsakov's amnestic syndrome.
Hypermnesia
Exacerbation of memories - hypermnesia - a simultaneous slight change in the memory function is observed in severe infectious diseases, as well as in a manic state. It should be noted that as recovery occurs, hypermnesia disappears and memory fixation returns to its previous level.
Hypomnesia
For severe depressive states, accompanied by severe melancholy and depression, patients complain of increased memory for unpleasant events and misfortunes of the distant past. At the same time, the process of memorization generally decreases and hypomnesia develops: at first, the reproduction of terms, names, and main dates becomes difficult, and subsequently the fixation properties of memory are weakened. Hyponesia affects elderly people with atherosclerotic lesions of the cerebral vessels. It also occurs in traumatic diseases.
Paramnesia
Qualitative memory disorders - paramnesia - are erroneous, false memories. These include pseudo-reminiscences, characterized by the fact that the patient fills in memory gaps with events that happened earlier, but not at the time he points to. For example, a patient, while in a hospital for treatment, claims for several days that he supposedly went to Polotsk yesterday. He really was in Polotsk, but at a different time.
Confabulation
Qualitative memory disorders also include confabulations. This is a state when memory gaps are filled with fictitious, often fantastic events that did not take place. The content of confabulations is very diverse, which is determined by the patient’s personality, his mood, the degree of intellectual development and the ability to imagine and fantasy. Pseudo-reminiscences and confabulations are symptoms of the development of senile dementia.
Cryptomnesia
Sometimes there is such a weakening of memory in which the patient cannot distinguish facts and events that actually took place from those he has ever heard, read or seen in a dream. This is cryptomnesia.
Causes of memory disorders
For a long time, the causes of various memory disorders were interpreted from the point of view of narrowly localized ideas about this complex mental function. In particular, it was believed that the mammillary bodies were the center of memory. Developing this point of view, scientists came to the conclusion that the pathological mechanisms of memory impairment are the result of damage to the higher parts of the brain (cerebral cortex).
A significant argument in favor of this thesis was the complete cessation of the transfer of information from one hemisphere to the other after transection corpus callosum. The responsibility of individual brain regions for memory function was confirmed by surgical interventions, during which electrical stimulation of individual areas of the cortex awakened in a person the memory of long-past events.
So, one woman during the operation heard the voice of her little son, coming from the yard along with the street noise. It seemed to another patient that she was giving birth, and, moreover, in exactly the same environment that actually existed many years ago.
When scientists tried to identify specific areas of the cortex responsible for memory function, it was discovered that traces of it are activated when the temporal lobe is irritated by current. At the same time, it was found that when the pathological focus is localized in the occipital part, visual memory is impaired, and in the temporal part, auditory memory is impaired.
Damage to the frontal lobe leads to impairment of semantic memory. However, these hypotheses should not be considered absolutely proven, since some patients exhibit memory impairment in the absence of any organic changes in the central nervous system.
Even the most thorough clinical examination does not reveal its organic changes, for example, in patients with memory disorders during strong emotional experiences, reactive psychoses(affectogenic, psychogenic amnesia).
Despite the fact that irritation of certain zones of the cortex causes the revival of traces of past events, they differ qualitatively from ordinary memories in their excessive clarity and brightness. Patients, as a rule, relive these events and never regard them as memories.
Solving the problem of the memory mechanism, Sechenov and Pavlov, based on data from numerous studies, established that it is based on traces conditioned reflexes. In this case physiological basis memory comes down to the association of trace signals with signals coming from the environment.
This is confirmed by the fact that people suffering from mental disorders in old age, with a developing decline in the reactive nervous system, there is a deterioration or complete absence of the revival of old and the formation of new conditioned connections. In recent years, the biochemical theory of memory has become increasingly established.
It boils down to the fact that various types of metabolism in the brain, and primarily ribonucleic acid (RNA), under the influence of bioelectric potentials emanating from analyzers, determine the formation of a protein that carries encoded information. When information similar to the previous one enters the brain again, the same neurons in which the trace was preserved begin to resonate. Disruption of nucleic acid metabolism, and especially RNA, leads to memory disorders.
Treatment and correction of memory disorders
Today there are many drugs that stimulate the activity of nerve cells and improve memory. The fact is that human memory is a very subtle and well-functioning system that has developed over hundreds of millions of years and in a healthy person it works perfectly. optimal mode. Do not forget that nature already has various mechanisms for regulating the activity of nerve cells. In the meantime, doctors recommend using only mild medications, taking them along with a daily dose of vitamins.
There are other ways to correct memory. The simplest and most accessible is proper sleep and balanced diet. It is known that in most cases, food poor in proteins and vitamins reduces the ability to remember.
Including foods rich in magnesium, calcium and glutamic acid in your daily diet helps improve memory:
- dried apricots;
- beet;
- dates;
- nuts;
- beans;
- greenery;
- wheat sprouts.
And they usually resort to tea and coffee during intense mental work, in particular, when they need to quickly remember something - and they do exactly the right thing.
Experiments have proven that alkaloids, caffeine and theophylline, which are found in tea and coffee, inhibit the action of phosphodiesterase and thereby prevent the destruction of the natural source of cellular energy - cyclic adenosine monophosphate.
At the same time, not only its level increases in the brain, but also the level of all mediator substances that are directly related to the memorization of information: adrenocorticotropic hormone, vasopressin, a number of hypothalamic hormones that promote the creation of positive emotions.
Thus, a favorable background arises for the perception, processing, storage and reproduction of information (retrieving it from the “memory storerooms”). And all this can be done with one cup of coffee or tea! For science and practice, it is important in what ways and means one can increase brain capacity and activate memory processes.
Questions and answers on the topic "Memory disorders"
Question:A 20-year-old girl had a ruptured brain aneurysm and was operated on. Three years have passed and my memory has not fully recovered. She forgets the events of the past day; if she remembers an event, she does not remember when it was. She can tell you something that has never happened to her. She is prescribed medications to improve blood circulation. Are there any other methods for improving memory? Will the memory be fully restored?
Answer: Memory impairment is a common occurrence after neurosurgical operations, but most often memory is gradually restored. To improve memory, you can use nootropics, for example, Piracetam, vitamin B - they will speed up general rehabilitation after surgery.
Question:My mother is 75 years old. 4 years ago we (her relatives) began to notice a deterioration in my mother’s memory. She asks the same thing several times at intervals of 2-3 minutes, in the evening she does not remember what she did in the morning, she remembers her childhood years very well - the war years, she is oriented in time, she takes only piracetam and memorial. It's very hard to leave her, she's like Small child- He's about to cry. There are no other diseases, we consulted a neurologist, she said that medications for memory restoration have not yet been invented. What can and should we do for mom, how can we cure her, or at least make sure that the disease does not progress? Thanks in advance for your answer.
Answer: Unfortunately, there is every reason to believe that your mother is sick with a neurodegenerative disease - Alzheimer's disease. There is really no truly effective treatment for this disease. Usually in such cases nootropic substances are prescribed - your mother is already taking them. Most likely you will have to come to terms with the fading of her memory. We also recommend doing an MRI of the brain to rule out other causes of amnesia (memory loss).
Question:Hello, I'm 28 years old, but I don't have a good memory. At one time I even just read and memorized it, taught it to train my memory, but it remained that way. It’s hard for me to remember something, I can forget right away, then of course I’ll remember, but it’s too late. Tell me, maybe there are some pills that help improve memory? Thank you.
Answer: You need to consult with a neurologist and undergo an MRI examination of the brain and Doppler examination of the vessels of the neck, and only after that undergo a course of treatment.
Question:Hello! My father is 65 years old and has short-term memory loss. Why?
Answer: There is a high probability that this phenomenon was caused by multiple sclerosis or cerebral circulatory disorders. In any case, only a neurologist can identify the cause of this phenomenon after a personal consultation and a comprehensive examination.
