With this condition, your mind rejects thoughts, feelings, or information that you’re too overwhelmed to handle.Ī specific type of dissociative amnesia called dissociative fugue can lead to unexpected traveling or wandering. Severe trauma or stress can also cause dissociative amnesia. If you develop this condition, you’ll have difficulty forming new memories but may not be aware of it. Long-term alcohol use disorder can cause Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, a brain disorder that leads to progressive memory loss due to insufficient vitamin B1 (thiamine). This is a temporary form of anterograde amnesia. Short-term alcohol use can cause blackout. This damage can include permanent memory problems.Ĭoncussions commonly disrupt memories of the hours, days, or weeks before and after you were injured. Traumatic head injuries, as well as stroke, tumors, and infections, can also cause damage to your brain. If your hippocampus is damaged in both halves of your brain, you can develop complete anterograde amnesia. When your hippocampus is impaired, you’ll have difficulty forming new memories. They’re most easily disrupted by anoxia and other threats such as toxins. The cells of the hippocampus are some of your brain’s most energy-hungry and fragile. Its activities include forming memories, organizing memories, and retrieving them when needed. The hippocampus is the part of the brain and limbic system responsible for memory. If the anoxia isn’t severe enough to cause brain damage, the memory loss can be temporary. AnoxiaĪ depletion of oxygen levels can also affect your entire brain and lead to memory loss. People with dementia usually lose more recent memories first and keep older memories longer.įind out more about the symptoms of dementia. This can be caused by Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia. To lose old memories, you must have widespread brain deterioration. DementiaĪ memory’s location in your brain is thought to depend on its age. It’s especially evident in older adults who may be taking various medications.Īmnesia has a variety of causes. date rape drugs such as flunitrazepam (Rohypnol) and ketamineĭrug-induced amnesia is usually temporary.general anesthesia medications such as pentobarbital sodium (Nembutal Sodium) and phenobarbital.sedatives such as zolpidem (Ambien) and zopiclone (Imovane).benzodiazepines such as alprazolam (Xanax) and chlordiazepoxide (Librium).The following are some of the drugs that may cause amnesia: This type of memory loss may occur when you take certain drugs. PTA may last for less than 1 hour for mild trauma or over 24 hours for a severe brain injury, according to Headway, a charity dedicated to survivors of brain injury. The length of time that PTA lasts may indicate the severity of the brain injury. You may not be able to remember events from minutes or hours ago. You’re awake, but you may behave and speak in a bizarre manner that’s not like yourself. PTA may occur after a period of unconsciousness. Most people hospitalized for a traumatic brain injury experience post-traumatic amnesia (PTA), according to research. In rare cases, it may last for months or years. It usually occurs suddenly and may last for minutes, hours, or days. When you have dissociative amnesia, you have difficulty remembering important information about yourself, such as your name, personal history, or family and friends.ĭissociative amnesia may be caused by a traumatic or stressful event, such as being in combat or being the victim of a crime. This common phenomenon is called infantile or childhood amnesia. Most people can’t remember the first 3 to 5 years of life. It occurs more frequently in middle-aged and older adults. Scientists think that TGA occurs as the result of seizure-like activity or a brief blockage of the blood vessels supplying your brain. You may experience memory loss in the hours before the attack, and you’ll probably have no lasting memory of the experience.

If you develop it, you’ll experience confusion or agitation that comes and goes repeatedly over the course of several hours.

Transient global amnesia (TGA) is a poorly understood condition. Your hippocampus plays an important role in forming memories. You can experience it if the area of your brain known as the hippocampus is damaged. For example, you can experience it during a blackout caused by too much alcohol. When you have anterograde amnesia, you can’t form new memories. Older memories, such as memories from childhood, are usually affected more slowly.Ĭonditions such as dementia cause gradual retrograde amnesia. This type of amnesia tends to affect recently formed memories first. When you have retrograde amnesia, you lose existing, previously made memories. There are multiple types of amnesia, including the following: Retrograde amnesia

Example of social amnesia