It's normal for many memories to fade over time. You may not have a clue. As time goes on, we not only forget specific details of past events, but the vividness of those memories fades as well, like a poster losing color from years of sunlight.
However, some people can't remember anything or only remember limited events from their childhood before age 12. In this case, memory loss may be due to traumatic events. Childhood trauma can lead to dissociative amnesia, where a child dissociates during a traumatic event to protect themselves from its impact.
As the brain continues to grow throughout adolescence, this development will affect functionality in different parts of the brain, including the prefrontal cortex. Focus, planning, memory, and the control of social behaviors can become hit or miss due to the growth happening in the brain.
Losing the Source of a Memory. One reason we think we forget most of what we learned in school is that we underestimate what we actually remember. Other times, we know we remember something, but we don't recognize that we learned it in school.
There are a number of things that can cause you to lose memory, from psychological trauma to a physical injury or underlying health issue. The best thing to do is seek advice from a professional.
Forgetfulness is often normal—but still a difficulty
It is not uncommon for teenagers, who are naturally young and inexperienced, to still be working on some of these skills. They may not fully develop until around age 25.
No matter what your age, several underlying causes can bring about memory problems. Forgetfulness can arise from stress, depression, lack of sleep or thyroid problems. Other causes include side effects from certain medicines, an unhealthy diet or not having enough fluids in your body (dehydration).
Being stressed out makes you more emotional and less able to recall facts. Even moderate sleep loss can significantly affect mental performance. It should come as no surprise that the abuse of recreational drugs or alcohol can contribute to memory loss.
If you are fatigued or distracted, then it is very difficult for your mind to commit information into memory. Set up a peaceful space without distraction when you are going through your learning process, and you will be more likely to recall the details you've learned.
Memory and other thinking problems have many possible causes, including depression, an infection, or medication side effects. Sometimes, the problem can be treated, and cognition improves. Other times, the problem is a brain disorder, such as Alzheimer's disease, which cannot be reversed.
Many children with ADHD have trouble with their working memory — the ability to keep information in mind so it's available for use. Some also have a hard time with retrieval, the process of reclaiming information that has been stored away.
Long-term memory:
One study in the Journal of Attention Disorders found that adults with ADD/ADHD performed worse on long-term memory tests compared with those who don't have the condition. The researchers suggest that long-term memory impairment is related to problems encoding information.
You might have difficulties trusting, low self-esteem, fears of being judged, constant attempts to please, outbursts of frustration, or social anxiety symptoms that won't let up. Can childhood trauma be healed?
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.
The good news is that it's completely normal not to remember much of your early years. It's known as infantile amnesia. This means that even though kids' brains are like little sponges, soaking in all that info and experience, you might take relatively few memories of it into adulthood.
Common causes
Lyndsay shared some: Depression, anxiety and stress – “These are common causes of forgetfulness,” Lyndsay said. “Stress and mood disturbances can act as a distraction and make it difficult to focus, which can lead to memory problems.”
This can be caused by overworking, lack of sleep, stress, and spending too much time on the computer. On a cellular level, brain fog is believed to be caused by high levels inflammation and changes to hormones that determine your mood, energy and focus.
Almost 40% of us will experience some form of memory loss after we turn 65 years old. But even if we experience memory loss, chances are still unlikely that we have dementia.
Introduction: The five-word test (5WT) is a serial verbal memory test with semantic cuing. It is proposed to rapidly evaluate memory of aging people and has previously shown its sensitivity and its specificity in identifying patients with AD.
It can have three different causes: a low level of attention ("blanking" or "zoning out") intense attention to a single object of focus (hyperfocus) that makes a person oblivious to events around them; unwarranted distraction of attention from the object of focus by irrelevant thoughts or environmental events.
Health care providers often use a brief test such as the Short Test of Mental Status, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) or the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). More detailed testing may help determine the degree memory is impaired.