Amnesia medical therapy
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Aditya Govindavarjhulla, M.B.B.S. [2]
Overview
Treatment can be offered in cases of reversible conditions. If not, provision of supportive care can help to improve a patients condition.
Medical Therapy
Memory loss can't be treated unless it is caused by a reversible condition. The treatment is greatly dependent on the primary cause of the condition. When memory loss is a symptom of a more severe disease, it may be reversed as soon as the underlying condition is identified and cured. Memory loss due to aging cannot be cured, but the symptoms may be improved by following the preventative measures.
Family support plays an important role in treating memory loss. Family members are usually encouraged to take special orientation classes on how to cope with their sick relatives and how to help them improve their condition.
Dissociative or Functional or Psychogenic Amnesia
Currently, various treatments are available for patients with psychogenic amnesia although no well-controlled studies on the effectiveness of different treatments exist.
- Psychoanalysis - uses dream analysis, interpretation and other psychoanalytic methods to retrieve memories; may also involve placing patients in threatening situations where they are overwhelmed with intense emotion.[1]
- Medication and relaxation techniques - in conjunction with benzodiazepines and other hypnotic medications, the patient is urged to relax and attempt to recall memories.[1] With the help of psychotherapy and learning their autobiographies from family members, most patients recover their memories completely.[citation needed]
- It has been proposed that abreaction could be used in conjunction with midazolam to recover memories. This technique was used the World War II|second World War but is currently much less popular. The technique is thought to work either through depressing the function of the cerebral cortex and therefore making the memory more tolerable when expressed, or through relieving the strength of an emotion attached to a memory which is so intense it suppresses memory function.[2]
- Some studies about psychogenic amnesia have concluded that psychotherapy is not connected to recovered memories of child sexual abuse.[3][4] Data suggests that one’s amnesic recovered memory is spontaneous, and that this is triggered by abuse-related stimuli.[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Brandt J, Van Gorp WG (2006). "Functional ("psychogenic") amnesia". Semin Neurol. 26 (3): 331–40. doi:10.1055/s-2006-945519. PMID 16791779.
- ↑ Vattakatuchery, JJ (2006). "The use of abreaction to recover memories in psychogenic amnesia: A case report". Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology. 17 (4): 647–653. doi:10.1080/14789940600965938. Retrieved 2007-12-05. Unknown parameter
|coauthors=ignored (help) - ↑ 3.0 3.1 Albach, Francine (Dec-1996). "Memory recovery of childhood sexual abuse". Dissociation. Vol. 9, No. 4, p. 261-273. ISSN 0896-2863. Retrieved 2008-01-03. Unknown parameter
|coauthors=ignored (help); Check date values in:|date=(help) - ↑ Chu JA, Frey LM, Ganzel BL, Matthews JA (1999). "Memories of childhood abuse: dissociation, amnesia, and corroboration". Am J Psychiatry. 156 (5): 749–55. PMID 10327909.
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