Primary Causes and Symptoms of Amnesia - Coursework Example

Amnesia Submitted to Carole Toney Psy 9012 By Katina Harrison-Williams School: Polk Community College AMNESIA Human brain has got very complex functions along with many others, the ability of not only learning from its experiences but also storing that information in nervous system and retrieving that when ever it is required. Due to limited space for storing information, brain has got other very important characteristics, to loose what may not be as important as other important information which is still present. With the help of this feature brain gets rid of so many pieces of junk information which are not required at all. This forgetfulness is normal. If the loss of memory is a result of some problem; it could be organic or psychiatric problem. In the case of amnesia, the primary cause could be infection, trauma or surgery, or midline cancer. So the presentation of the individual with amnesia could be due to that specific Pathology as well as an evidence of amnesia. The reasons could be malnutrition, long term alcohol use, short term but extensive intake of alcohol, surgery or any infection of nervous system. Magnitude of injury could guide towards prognosis of the disease. Depending upon the level of insult to brain, memory loss could be for past event called retrospective or events which occur after this period is called anterograde. These individuals are at risk of developing some short term and long term problems. These could be physical symptoms like, pain or some behavioural and psychiatric issues. They are at risk of getting some problematic situations as they do not have track record of events. Some physical symptoms like head- ache or depression may also develop. AMNESIA One of the features of species with well developed nervous systems is the storage of information what members of these species receive from their surroundings and through their experiences. Human also have got this ability. This ability denotes possession of highly complex brain functions by human. In fact, learning and memory go side by side. Whenever a piece of new information is acquired by the nervous system it is described as learning. So based on this statement, human brain finds quite innumerable opportunities to learn. At the same time brain also stores this new information and learning experience. An important characteristic and function of brain is to bring out this stored information at an appropriate time in future, after its storage, when this information is required. This ability of storing information and then retrieving the same stored information when required is called memory. As human brain learns and thus stores information received through various stimuli and special senses so its learning experience and eventually memorizing that information could be varied depending upon the mode and senses involved (Wikipedia; Dale, 2001). Likewise, brain can loose this learnt and stored information. This loosening of information or inability to reproduce a learnt experience is called forgetfulness. This ability of forgetting is not only a normal phenomenon to an extent but also important. Brain receives a lot of information on a continuous basis and this information is not necessarily always an important piece of information which needed to be stored. This is why to lessen the burden of brain and to avoid brain being bombarded with a mix of necessary and unnecessary information, it is useful that brain should forget and remove some of the information. Forgetting some information as a normal process is quite different from someone forgetting due to some disease process. This pathological forgetfulness has been named as amnesia. In other words, amnesia is the inability of nervous system either to learn new information or retrieve already stored information (Wikipedia; Dale, 2001). A variety of circumstances or pathological processes can lead to amnesia. These causes could be organic or functional. Organic causes are those which are related to pathological processes involving directly or indirectly nervous system. These could be anatomical disturbances, as space occupying lesions; any other inflammatory process, as meningitis or cerebral ischemia; overdose of some pharmacological substance and imbalance of the normal fluid level and its constituents, as acid-base imbalance or electrolyte imbalance (Paul). There are situations when an organic cause cannot be determined but still there is amnesia, this type of amnesia is termed as functional amnesia. Out of the major causes of organic amnesia, head injury or trauma is an important cause. This is unique in a sense that it is not related to some specific age, a disease, or other predictable factor. But there are some other specific characteristics which may place some one at an increased risk of being victim of a trauma which may lead to head injury and eventually amnesia. All those who are more frequently encountered with road traffic activity, like drivers especially motor bike drivers, are prone to get this type of amnesia as a result of head injury. Usually, this type of amnesia is not long term or permanent rather it comes as a transient experience. At times, this may exist as a permanent loss. In fact, the duration for which amnesia persists depends on the severity of the diseases or damage to the brain. This magnitude of damage and in turn duration of amnesia is important as for as the prognosis of the loss of memory is concerned (Dale, 21). Duration of memory loss especially has got a relationship with the outcome. Duration of memory loss upto one day, 24 hours, has got very good chances of recovery. As time passes since the accident and no intervention is implemented after which recovery becomes very difficulty (Cuccurullo; 2004). Among the metabolic causes Korsakoff’s syndrome is a condition which attributes toward amnesia. Main reason is the deficiency of some vitamins due to malnutrition or reasons which lead to reduced intake, like long term alcoholism. If alcohol intake is not reduced and nutrition is not improved then vitamin B1 deficiency may lead to amnesia. Correction of malnutrition can improve the situation. Alcohol intake has got a predilection for memory problems, either long term intake or short term. In short term intake of alcoholism excessive quantities lead to situation when a person end up in amnesia which has been given a specific name, black out phenomenon ( Wikipedia; Purvez, Dale 21). In contrast to organic cause, functional or psychological causes actually reflect some event in the life which has left such a strong impact that it cannot be ignored but the response of the individual may be distorted about that specific event or the individual may not to want to share so this information is remained as forgotten one. Thus there is not a loss of memory rather it is stored in long term memory but as a defence mechanism it is disturbed or impaired. It is also possible that memory may be restored either as a partial phenomenon or on permanent basis. This has also been called as psychogenic amnesia in the past. Dissociative fugue is another conditions in which an individual’s altered conscious level may affect the memory. Usually this situation is a result of some psychological problem and stays as a temporary loss of memory. This situation is most of the time related to an individual’s identity or previous life of the individual. One situation is the memory loss about the events of childhood. Different explanations have been given for its development. Some says it is because of language development issues while Freud suggested relationship with sexual repression. There could be some events which put some traumatic impact on the child psychology. Some other conditions which are comparatively uncommon like, posthypnotic amnesia and lacunar amnesia also belong to functional type of amnesia. Amnesia has got a temporal relationship with the pathology resulting in amnesia. Amnesia could present in the shape of loss of memory for the event which occurred before the pathology affected an individual, before drug use or extensive alcohol use. Retrograde amnesia is the name given to this type as it is the loss of memory for the past events. In other situations, loss of memory is for those events and which occurred after any pathological lesion or damage to brain. This type of amnesia has been sub-classified as anterograde. These types could present themselves as a separate problem or both conditions could be present simultaneously in one individual (Wikipedia 2007). Amnesia due to organic causes is a result of lesion in the brain. Anatomical position of these lesions could be changed based on the cause of lesion. In some cases, for example: blockage of a vessel supplying to brain will affect bilateral medial temporal lobe along with hippocampus; a similar lesiosn is found when there is some trauma or surgery or any midline tumors. Infections, especially due to herpes simplex virus also involve bilateral medial lobe. While in vitamin B1 deficiency may lead to lesions in medial thalamus and mammillary bodies. So based on the location of the lesions the presentation of an individual may be changed. Individuals with amnesia have problems at personal, family and community level. These problems are because of pathology or due to behavioural change which occurs secondary to psychiatric issues. Personally, the person affected with amnesia feels, at times headache which may become severe. Forgetfulness related to personal belongings, even doing some routine tasks without any impression of accomplishment of those tasks become very troublesome. Individuals forgets where did place some belongings like, glasses, hand bag or wallet or any other belongings. Some behavioural changes are also observed by the family members. One of these could be inability to control urine till an appropriate time or place comes unless there is real emergency situation. At times individuals are unable to identify themselves and their close mate. This results in loosening of peer group and eventually absolute lack of social interaction. The individuals with functional or psychology entity of amnesia, experience specific features of that psychiatric problems. These individuals may also go to develop depression which requires close monitoring and at times strict supervision in the field as well as office. When ever there is improvement in the real psychiatric issue or organic pathology, the level of depression may be improved. References Amnesbia. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved on December ....from Purves D, Fitzpatrick D, Williams SM, McNamara JO, Augustine GJ, Katz LC. Complex Brain Functions. Neuroscience second edition. Retrieved on December 02, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi? Amnesia: organic and psychogenic. Gerstein PS. Delirium, dementia and manesia. Retrieved on December 02 from http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/topic345.htm#top Cuccurullo SJ. Traumatic Brain Injury. ‘Physial Medicine and Rehabilitation Board Review.’ Retrieved on December 01, from http://www. ncbi.nlm. nih. gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=physmedrehab.table. Read More