Two routes to losing one's past life: a brain trauma, an emotional trauma

Organic and psychogenic retrograde amnesia have long been considered as distinct entities and as such, studied separately. However, patterns of neuropsychological impairments in organic and psychogenic amnesia can bear interesting resemblances despite different aetiologies. In this paper, two cases...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Behavioural neurology 2008, Vol.20 (1-2), p.27-38
Main Authors: Ouellet, Julie, Rouleau, Isabelle, Labrecque, Raymonde, Bernier, Gilles, Scherzer, Peter B
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Amnesia, Retrograde - etiology
Amnesia, Retrograde - pathology
Amnesia, Retrograde - psychology
Brain Injuries - complications
Brain Injuries - pathology
Dissociative Disorders - complications
Dissociative Disorders - psychology
Female
Humans
Interpersonal Relations
Male
Recognition (Psychology)
Self Concept
Stress, Psychological - complications
Stress, Psychological - pathology
Temporal Lobe - pathology
Thalamus - pathology
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Organic and psychogenic retrograde amnesia have long been considered as distinct entities and as such, studied separately. However, patterns of neuropsychological impairments in organic and psychogenic amnesia can bear interesting resemblances despite different aetiologies. In this paper, two cases with profound, selective and permanent retrograde amnesia are presented, one of an apparent organic origin and the other with an apparent psychogenic cause. The first case, DD, lost his memory after focal brain injury from a nail gun to the right temporal lobe. The second case, AC, lost her memory in the context of intense psychological suffering. In both cases, pre-morbid autobiographical memory for people, places and events was lost, and no feeling of familiarity was experienced during relearning. In addition, they both lost some semantic knowledge acquired prior to the onset of the amnesia. This contrasts with the preservation of complex motor skills without any awareness of having learned them. Both DD and AC showed mild deficits on memory tests but neither presented any anterograde amnesia. The paradox of these cases--opposite causes yet similar clinical profile--exemplifies the hypothesis that organic and psychogenic amnesia may be two expressions of the same faulty mechanism in the neural circuitry.
ISSN:0953-4180
1875-8584
DOI:10.1155/2008/520328