If you’re concerned about a loved one and believe they may need residential care, we can help. Having family and friends to provide support during the journey to recovered memories is so important for overall wellness and healing from trauma. My sister still struggles, but with the treatment she got, and I think with my help too, she is now much happier.”ĭissociative amnesia is a serious mental health issue. It was a rough road, but a year later we were in a completely different place. I took her to therapy sessions, and we took up running together. When Kate came home, I got all the alcohol out of the house. I came to therapy a few times and we worked on our communication skills and learned how to fight less and more productively. I learned more about trauma and how it impacts people.įor a while, having her memories back made Kate feel worse. Her therapist convinced me to come participate one day, and that made a big difference. This felt like such a huge issue, and I just didn’t know how to help her. I guess she blocked out the memories because they were so painful. She remembered that her boyfriend of a couple years ago had been abusive. What Kate found out in therapy was so shocking and upsetting. I was tempted to just move out, but I decided to help her get treatment instead. She started drinking more and missing work. But the holes in her memory started to trigger some big issues. She got the diagnosis of amnesia, which made a lot of sense.Īt first we just tried to cope with it, because it wasn’t like she didn’t know who she was. It was pretty disturbing for me at first, until I convinced her to see her doctor. We were roommates at the time and she lost all memories from a few years previously and didn’t remember a boyfriend she had at the time. “My sister Kate developed amnesia when we were in our twenties. Generalized amnesia occurs when someone forgets everything about their past and identity. Selective amnesia is when a person forgets something specific, like one person or their own identity. Localized amnesia is the loss of memories associated with a specific period of time or event. There are different types of amnesia based on the type of forgetting. Not everyone who experiences trauma will go through this, and why some people do is not well understood. The brain reacts to trauma by erasing certain memories for a period of time. Amnesia is an involuntary coping mechanism. The underlying cause of dissociative amnesia is a very stressful event or traumatic experience. It can persist for months or years, or memories may be recovered within hours or days. We all forget some details of our past, but amnesia is more serious. In the case of amnesia, you lose touch by forgetting events, people, or identity and personal history.ĭissociative amnesia is any significant loss of identity or memories that is not consistent with normal forgetting. It is one of a few conditions categorized as dissociative disorders, mental illnesses that cause you to lose touch with reality in some way. The common term amnesia, a loss of memories, specific events, or aspects of one’s identity, is more correctly called dissociative amnesia. Encourage treatment, be understanding and compassionate, and provide your loved one with a safe environment in which to heal from trauma. Memories can come back spontaneously, but treatment can also help bring them back sooner. If you have a loved one with dissociative amnesia, it can be very upsetting and disorienting. It is in response to trauma or significant stress, but why some people react this way and most do not is unknown. Dissociative amnesia is uncontrolled, involuntary forgetting of aspects of your past or your identity.
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