Aakriti Lajpal
“Nothing can last forever. There is not any memory, no matter how great, it does not disappear”.
INTRODUCTION: RETROGRADE AMNESIA
Amnesia is a type of memory loss or blackout that influence a person’s potentiality to construct, accumulate and recover memories. Retrograde amnesia act on memories that were established before the inception of amnesia.
A person who develops retrograde amnesia after a traumatic brain lesion may be unable to remember what happened in the particular period of time. With retrograde amnesia, memory loss usually involves reality rather than competence. For example, someone might forget whether or not they own a car, what type it is, and when they bought it — but they might be knowing how to drive.
Retrograde amnesia is the loss of past memories. It may be occurred due to any injury or disease. Amnesia is linked with retrograde amnesia.
In this condition, a person can easily remember few past events but unfortunately may forgets the events that happened just ahead the beginning of disease. This is in agreement with Ribot’s law
A person with retrograde amnesia disease may remember basic general information but not few particular situations.
DEFINITION: RETROGRADE AMNESIA
- “Retrograde amnesia is an appearance of amnesia in which a person forgets his/her past events that happened before onset of this illness”.
- “Retrograde amnesia is defined as a loss of memory about events that occurred in the past”.
GENDER DIFFERENCES
In this experiment, we surveyed adults on the basis of gender differences. For doing this, we had collected a sample of male and female adults from three cultural backgrounds (New Zealand European, New Zealand Maori and Asian) to describe and mention their oldest personal memory.
In accordance with researches done earlier, the Asian adults remembered delayed memories than European adults on the other hand, extremely late memories recalled by Asian females. Maori adults, whose traditional culture relies on the past reported significantly older memories than adults from the two cultural groups.
Among these three cultures, the women were able to recall more information than men. These findings support the view that the age and details of our earliest memories are influenced by a wide range of factors including our culture and our gender. These factors could be added into any wider theory of autobiographical memory.
CATEGORIES AND MANIFESTATIONS
- TEMPORALLY GRADED RETROGRADE
Retrograde amnesia is commonly temporally graded. In this situation, our most recent memories are attacked first and our oldest memories are usually left untouched. This is known as Ribot’s law.
The extent of retrograde amnesia can vary significantly. Some people may only lose memories from the year or two prior to the ailment. Other people may lose bundle of memories cherished over number of years.
Indications:
A person is unable to recall things that happened before the onset of amnesia
- A person is forgetting names, people, faces, places, facts and general information from before the onset of amnesia
- A person is remembering his/her competence like playing the football.
- A person is recollecting previous memories especially from childhood and adolescence
- A person may or may not be able to make fresh new memories and grasp new skills.
- FOCAL RETROGRADE AMNESIA
Focal retrograde amnesia sometimes also known as isolated or pure retrograde amnesia is when a person only experiences retrograde amnesia with few or no symptoms of anterograde amnesia. This means that the ability to form new memories is left unbroken. This isolated memory loss doesn’t affect a person’s intellectual power or mastery to learn new things.
This is a unique type of retrograde amnesia emerges from an emotional shock. It is not developed due to any damage to the brain like other kinds of retrograde amnesia. It is completely a psychological feedback to trauma. It is often caused by a brutal crime or other threatening trauma and is usually only temporary. Symptoms include:
- A person is unable to recall things that happened before a traumatic event
- A person might be unable to recall autobiographical information
ORIGIN: RETROGRADE AMNESIA
Retrograde amnesia can arise from impairment to distinct parts of the brain responsible for controlling emotions and memories. These include the thalamus present in the center of the brain and the hippocampus present in the temporal lobe.
There are variety of conditions that can result into retrograde amnesia. These include
- TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY
Most traumatic brain injuries are mild resulting in concussion. But a severe injury, like a serious blow to the head can destruct the storage areas for memories in the brain which results in retrograde amnesia.
- THIAMINE DEIFICIENCY
Thiamine deficiency usually resulted by chronic alcohol misuse or serious malnutrition can lead to a condition called Wernicke encephalopathy. If left untreated, Wernicke encephalopathy progresses into a condition called Korsakoff psychosis which depicts with indications of both anterograde and retrograde amnesia.
Encephalitis is swelling or tenderness in the brain caused by a viral infection such as herpes simplex. It can also be developed by a cancerous or non-cancerous autoimmune reaction. This swelling or tenderness can cause damage to the memory-storing parts of the brain.
- ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE
Alzheimer’s disease and other deteriorative dementias can result in retrograde amnesia. There is presently no cure or treatment for this disease.
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STROKE
Large strokes and repeated small strokes can cause harm to the brain equally. Depending on location of brain damage area, memory problems may occur. It is ordinary for strokes to lead to memory problems and even dementia. Visual and auditory memories can be affected by stroke
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SEIZURES
Any kind of seizure can cause damage to the brain and cause memory problems. Some seizures affect the complete brain and some only affect a small area. Seizures in few specific parts of the brain especially the temporal and frontal lobes are a usual cause of memory problems in people with epilepsy or fits.
- CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE
Congestive heart failure leads to stop breathing which means their brain may be lacking oxygen for several minutes. This can lead to serious brain damage which may cause retrograde amnesia or other cognitive disorders.
- NUTRITIONAL DEFICIENCY
Retrograde amnesia can be found in people who have Korsakoff’s syndrome. Such people lack thiamine and shows lack of vitamin B1.Due to deficiency of nutrients in the body and excess of alcohol intake, retrograde amnesia can be found among them.
IDENTIFICATION: RETROGRADE AMNESIA
To diagnose retrograde amnesia, a doctor needs to perform a full medical exam to look for all the possible origin of memory loss. It is necessary to have a loved one & help to communicate with the doctor especially if a person is forgetting the details of medical report. A doctor is required to know the type of medications a patient is taking and any past health issues such as seizures, strokes or infections.
A doctor may perform a variety of diagnostic tests shown as follows :
- A doctor may perform imaging tests (CT scan or MRI scan) to look for brain injuries or abnormalities
- A doctor may perform blood tests to check for any nutritional deficiencies or infections
- A doctor may perform a neural examination
- A doctor may perform cognitive tests to evaluate short and long-term memory
- A doctor may perform an electroencephalogram to check for seizure activity
INTERVENTIONS: RETROGRADE AMNESIA
There are no particular medications used to cure retrograde amnesia. Universally, your treatment will focus on the underlying cause of the amnesia. For example, if a person has epilepsy, he/she and his/her doctor will work to reduce your quantity of seizures.
Presently there is no cure for Alzheimer’s disease and other deteriorating dementias However, there are some medications that may moderate the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. Therapy for other varieties of dementia generally focuses on support and coping.
1. OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY
Some people with amnesia work with an occupational therapist to grasp present day details and try to replace what was vanished. They work with the therapist to use their previous, unharmed memories as a basis for storing new memories.
Therapists can help people to process organizational strategies and make it easier to remember new details. It can also help to develop conversational methods.
2. PSYCHOTHERAPY
Psychotherapy may help to improve memories lost because of threatening events. It can also help those with other forms of amnesia to come out with the problem of loss of memory.
3. DIGITALIZATION
Numerous people with amnesia find smart phones and tablets convenient to learn new things. People with severe amnesia can use it to manage information. Smartphone and tablets are helpful for people who has trouble in creating present day memories.. Images, videos and other media can be a good source of information for such people.
INTERPRETATION
Depending on its root cause, a person having retrograde amnesia can become better, worse or remain fixed throughout life. It is a serious condition that can present challenges, so the help and support of loved ones is really important. Depending on the seriousness of the amnesia, a person may retrieve their independent behavior or may required more protection.
