Dissociative amnesia is a disorder characterized by retrospectively reported memory gaps. These gaps involve an inability to recall personal information, usually of a traumatic or stressful nature.
Dissociative amnesia occurs when a person blocks out certain events, often associated with stress or trauma, leaving the person unable to remember important personal information.
Violence, sexual abuse and other emotionally traumatic events can lead to dissociative amnesia, which helps a person cope by allowing them to temporarily forget details of the event.
Psychological or emotional trauma can result in memory loss. A person's brain may suppress memories as a protective mechanism to prevent the retrieval of painful emotions associated with a traumatic event. Memory loss can occur as a byproduct of repeated situations such as child abuse or domestic violence.
Why memories may become repressed. Peck says that those who disclose their experiences and are met with negative responses are more likely to develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This may increase the chances of repressed memory.
Not remembering trauma can be a coping mechanism, which is when the brain protects someone from experiencing the intense feelings associated with memory. So instead of a clear, detailed memory, someone may have gaps or only remember vague sensory aspects, like a color or smell.
Missing Time or Lost Memories
Most children over the age of three start to develop memories that they can later recall in adulthood. However, trauma survivors may not be able to access these childhood memories. Some survivors have unconsciously blocked out weeks, months, or even years of their childhoods.
Dissociative amnesia is associated with traumatic events because you may forget or block out a memory from the trauma. For example, if you were sexually assaulted, you may not remember specific details of the assault.
People with hyperthymesia can recall almost every day of their lives in near perfect detail, as well as public events that are personally significant. Those affected describe their memories as uncontrollable associations, so when they come across a date, they "see" a vivid depiction of that day in their heads.
Trauma Blocking: Driven to Distract After a painful experience, some people may choose to face their feelings head-on while others would rather forget. The latter can manifest as trauma blocking, where someone chooses to block and drown out painful feelings that hang around after an ordeal.
Some stressful experiences -- such as chronic childhood abuse -- are so traumatic, the memories hide like a shadow in the brain and can't be consciously accessed. Eventually, suppressed memories can cause debilitating psychological problems.
Many people think that ADHD is a result of trauma, but is it true? The answer is yes, but more for some people than others. The truth is that 90% of the time ADHD is not caused by trauma, but if the trauma is extreme enough, it can cause severe ADHD-like symptoms.
The Trauma Test is a brief self-administered rating scale. It is useful in determining the degree to which you struggle with the aftermath of trauma, anxiety or depression, nervous system overarousal, and difficulty with healing and recovery.
Symptoms of dissociative disorders
sudden and unexpected shifts in mood – for example, feeling very sad for no reason. depression or anxiety problems, or both. feeling as though the world is distorted or not real (called 'derealisation') memory problems that aren't linked to physical injury or medical conditions.
There are five main ways in which the dissociation of psychological processes changes the way a person experiences living: depersonalization, derealization, amnesia, identity confusion, and identity alteration.
Hyperthymesia is the rare ability to recall nearly all past experiences in great detail. The causes of HSAM are currently unknown, but some theories suggest that it may have biological, genetic, or psychological origins. There is currently no way to diagnose hyperthymesia formally.
Didactic memory may simply be another term for eidetic memory. When a person has this type of memory, they can vividly recall memories as if they were a visual image or mental image that is burned into their minds.
Eidetic Imagery Generally Isn't Found in Adults
It goes on to say that eidetic images are generally only found in children. According to Haber (1979), eidetic ability is found almost exclusively amongst young children, and is fairly rare even amongst them, occurring only in about 2% to 15% of American under-twelves.
Trauma and stress can interfere with your ability to form and recall memories. This is true for adults, teenagers, and children alike. Certain physical and mental health conditions can impact your memory, as can certain medications and treatments.
There is now widespread agreement on the existence of false memories of sexual abuse and on the immense harm they can cause.
Unpredictable emotions, flashbacks, relationship problems and physical symptoms like headaches or nausea are some of the ways that unresolved trauma can manifest, according to the American Psychological Association.
If you can recall times when you've overreacted, and perhaps have even been surprised at your own reactions, this may be a sign of trauma. It's not uncommon for people suffering from emotional trauma to have feelings of shame and self-blame.
Signs of PTSD
To determine whether you or a loved one may have PTSD that stems from childhood trauma, the following are some of the more common symptoms: Reliving the event over in your mind or nightmares. Becoming upset when there's a reminder of the event. Intense and ongoing fear, sadness, and helplessness.
Adults can generally recall events from 3–4 years old, with those that have primarily experiential memories beginning around 4.7 years old. Adults who experienced traumatic or abusive early childhoods report a longer period of childhood amnesia, ending around 5–7 years old.