Talk:Psychogenic amnesia

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[edit] August 2006

03:29, 26 August 2006 (UTC)03:29, 26 August 2006 (UTC)~~I believe its real however limited in its scope. Sort of like how the ripple effect disperses. I have had some profoud experiences where this description makes sense in the way which I can Identify. I would like to explore this more. whereas Not only have I been through what I once could only describe to myself as the threshold of a nervous breakdown ( in that I felt as though i could not absorb anymore input as in addition to process something out in some circumstances which was more profound at a point, peaked then gradually subsided. Greatly requiring proactive involvement like an athlete to overcome) associated with profound cas\tastrophical circumstances. I also observed this with many addicts and alcoholics and other traumaus as being something that I could observe but not b\put my finger on. This description very w/ emphasis makes some sense. I truly believe ther is something substai\]antial here and would like to come back to it.

[edit] psychological vs phisical cause

the article reads that it is caused by psychological effects, but the examples of movies in which this occurs given in the article are about cases of phisiological amnesia. one or the other should be changed· Lygophile has spoken 23:28, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Fair use rationale for Image:DavidFitzpatrick.jpg

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BetacommandBot 11:03, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Case studies

I've moved the following section to the talk page for now at least - I don't see much merit in including case studies as they are single-incidents, making it difficult to draw any conclusions without being a synthesis. They've got a 'gee-whiz' factor, but nothing else, and I don't believe they're appropriate for the page as is. If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to make 'em. WLU (talk) 17:19, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

Case studies
  • Patient J.G.[1]- A 43-year-old woman was accused of defrauding Medicare by charging unsterilized materials as sterilized. When she realized that she may face lengthy time in prison, she lost all memories related to her past including her identity, important events, and technological developments during her life. She excelled in learning new words and had normal brain MRI and cognitive functions, only showing abnormal test results on the mental status exam. Upon investigating, they found that her psychogenic amnesia was triggered by the threat of confinement. She was terrified of being confined because her mother had locked her up in a closet as punishment during her childhood.
  • Patient G.E.[2] - A 20-year-old college student developed profound retrograde amnesia after sustaining a mild head trauma in a car accident. She was able to perform daily functions but was unable to recognize anyone other than her parents and grandmother with whom she was very close to. Neurological evaluations and computed tomography scans were normal while semantic knowledge such as identifying famous individuals were poor. There was no evidence of willful deception after performing several tests for malingering. After carefully reviewing her history, normal neurological examination and brain imaging, and pattern of cognitive test results as well as MMPI-2 profile and her demeanor during testing, she was diagnosed with psychogenic amnesia.
  • Patient B.C.[3] - A 34-year-old woman with 8 years of formal education sustained a mild head injury in the left fronto-parietal region after a car accident. She woke up after being unconscious for 15 minutes, but she seemed confused and was unable to move her limbs and showed signs of global amnesia. She could not remember her personal information as well as those of her family. In addition to losing her personal identity, she lost her ability to read or write as well. Neuroradiological exams were negative for focal or diffuse brain damage. She had no history of psychiatric illnesses or depressions in her past. No emotionally stressful event existed in her life right before the accident. Within 6 months, she had recovered her motor abilities but continued to have retrograde amnesia. Further testing revealed that she had severe impairment in short- and long-term memory both verbally and visually. Her emotional state was very flat and had very low affective participation in her state.
  • 22-Year-Old Woman[4] - An unmarried 22-year-old woman was admitted into the psychiatric unit for her selective retrograde amnesia after being kidnapped and being violated by a masked robber. She had lost her identity and continued to see hallucinatory vision of the parking lot in which she was kidnapped. She could not remember her university life period but was able to recall events from childhood up to her high school years. Electroencephalography (EEG) showed no signs of head trauma or epileptic discharge. Her brain MRI was normal.
  • 33-Year-Old Woman[5] = A 33-year-old woman came to the hospital after attempting to commit suicide by overdosing on hypnotic drugs. She had apparently had financial and possibly legal troubles before this incident. When she woke up in the hospital, she had lost her long-term memory and her identity. Brain CT, MRI, and physical exam results were normal; the only abnormality was the disturbances in her memory. This problem with long-term memory continued even after she had recovered some of her autobiographical information and famous events and facts. She was soon diagnosed with psychogenic amnesia after meeting the DSM-IV criteria.
  • David Fitzpatrick – David Fitzpatrick, a 25-year-old British man, suffered Dissociative Amnesia on 4 December 2005 which wiped his entire memory clean, leaving him with no identity. The television documentary Extraordinary People: The Man with No Past[6] followed Fitzpatrick as he tried to recover the life he had before, and discovered he had a dark past – heavy drinking, unemployment, sponging off family and friends, and failed relationships (one of which resulted in the birth of a daughter, now aged six years) – as well as a unique opportunity to start all over again.
  • The documentary Unknown White Male (2005)[7] deals with subject Doug Bruce's Dissociative Amnesia; retrograde amnesia was ruled out as doctors were unable to find any physical basis for the amnesia[8].
  • Joe Bieger – On 5 October 2006 Joe Bieger wandered the streets of Dallas, Texas, for 25 days.[9]
  • Jeff Ingram – Jeff Ingram, a 40-year-old Olympia, Washington resident suffered a Dissociative Amnesia on 6 September 2006. He somehow made his way to Denver, Colorado, and wandered the streets before 'waking up' and asking doctors and police there for help in learning his own identity.[10]
  • Kevin Mura found out who he was after searching the internet for missing persons. [11]

[edit] References

I removed the following two references from the page - the first just seems like some guy's opinion (though referenced) and wasn't attached to any text. The second is a book, and also not attached to any section. If someone can replace the second as an in-line citation, that'd be great. I'd rather the first didn't go back at all, unless it justifies an unreferenced section and a pubmed article can't be found. WLU (talk) 18:16, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] WP:EL

Per our external links guidelines, I removed the following link, [1], it's a terrible choice for an EL, but a good source for the page itself. WLU (talk) 17:30, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] some contentious statements

Some of this contains statements about abuse which propound theories of recovered memory syndrome, which is not accepted by some/most experts. Merkinsmum 22:18, 4 February 2008 (UTC)

The theories that recovered memory exists have been backed by verifiable data. Most experts accept this data. See http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Taubman_Center/Recovmem/archive.html
for data on RM. Dataman5 (talk) 03:01, 5 February 2008 (UTC)
I agree with the OP, this article is biased and does not once address the substantial scepticism around the disorder. There is an equally strong body of data casting doubt on the claims made by this article; 'most experts' do not accept the theories of repressed memory even when they do accept the data held to support it. The article is presenting the phenomena as far more concrete and sure than academic/research consensus can back up - I call NPOV.

http://server03.cpa-apc.org:8080/Publications/Archives/CJP/2005/november/cjp-nov-05-mcnally-IR-nov.pdf 81.101.251.160 (talk) 14:41, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

That's kind of an awesome link. Consider integrating it into the page as a source. Unfortunately, if editors are exclusively adding reliable sources that only portray one side of the debate, it may be NPOV but we can not delete RSes because we don't like them. The appropriate action is to add the other opinion and strive for due weight to reflect the current consensus. If the sources are not reliable, then they can be removed. WLU (talk) 15:36, 20 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Bad sentence!

The following sentence I strongly object to (and have commented out):

The study strongly suggested that "independent corroboration of recovered memories of abuse is often present" and that the recovery of the abuse memories generally is not associated with psychotherapy.

As I stated in my edit summary and my invisible comments, recovered memory is NOT the same thing as psychogenic amnesia - one is a diagnosed condition with extensive pubmed articles, discussion in very reliable source, a ICD number, section in the DSM and extensive medical research. Recovered memory is a suspect condition that is more political than medical, extremely suspect, and not comparable. If Chu discusses exclusively recovered memory, I don't think it's a good choice for the page.

I also dislike the statement about corroboration of recovered memories (which suggests there is reason to doubt) and the link with psychotherapy (psychogenic amnesia is treated with psychotherapy to retrieve and integrate memory; repressed and recovered memories are thought to be induced by suggestive, suspect and leading techniques used inappropriately by therapists). Psychogenic amnesia and repressed memory have different wikipedia pages, and I dislike the line between them being blurred. WLU (talk) 00:50, 5 February 2008 (UTC)

WLU states: “RECOVERED MEMORY IS NOT THE SAME THING AS PSYCHOGENIC AMNESIA - ONE IS A MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS, THE OTHER IS A SUSPECT POSITION OF A POLITICAL GROUP WHICH IS NOT CORROBORATED BY SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH.” Actually, recovered memory has been verified as existing in many studies. And it has been verified by objective data. Here’s a good place to start for data on RM : http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Taubman_Center/Recovmem/archive.html
Recovered memory and amnesia are connected phenomena. The fact is, the line is “blurred” between the two terms by the research. Wikipedia should reflect the research.
Chu considers his study to be researching amnesia. He is comparing recovered memory and amnesia as connected phenomena when he states "amnesia for abuse memories" and "memory recovery." In the article, Chu states : "Participants who reported a period of complete amnesia for episodes of childhood abuse were asked about the role of suggestion in memory recovery" and "Many of the participants who had complete amnesia had made attempts to corroborate their recovered memories. Nearly all participants who reported physical and sexual abuse and who attempted corroboration were able to find some kind of verification."
I have also reverted a phrase recently added with no source. I have restored a sentence connected to the Albach study, which does discuss amnesia. The Albach study does discuss a treatment related issue. It talks about psychotherapy and the connection, or lack thereof, to recovered memory. Dataman5 (talk) 02:58, 5 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] EL added

I have added an EL on Dissociation and Trauma Archives, full text searchable articles and case studies published in the 1800s and early 1900s. ResearchEditor (talk) 19:29, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Untrue Sentance

I'm just a kid who is doing a health project, but on the LSD page it says "There is also some indication that LSD may trigger a dissociative fugue state in individuals who are taking certain classes of antidepressants such as lithium salts and tricyclics."

Then on the Fugue State page it says that "Unlike retrograde amnesia, Dissociative Amnesia is not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance."

Now, that seems just a little bit wrong.

If I totally messed up the format, I'm sorry. Just wanted to let you people know. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.161.91.108 (talk) 23:01, 18 May 2008 (UTC)