Psychogenic amnesia

Memory loss presumed to have a psychological, rather than neurological, cause; and is either ‘global’ or situation-specific (1).

• Global psychogenic amnesia characterized by sudden loss of autobiographical memories for the whole persons’ past.
• Situation-specific amnesia refers to gap in memory for a traumatic incident and can arise in a variety of circumstances (post-traumatic stress disorder, or being a victim of an offence).

This is uncommon. The reaction can follow traumatic events, in particular head injury, and can be provoked by physical or psychological stress.

Most commonly, important personal information is forgotten, and the recall of events during a circumscribed period fails. This often bears relation to a traumatic episode, i.e. a car accident.

During the period of memory loss cognitive skills are entirely intact.

Recovery is usually complete with no residual memory impairment (typically within 48 hours), and recurrence is rare.

Reference:

• (1) Harrison NA, Johnston K, Corno F, Casey SJ, Friedner K, Humphreys K, Jaldow EJ, Pitkanen M, Kopelman MD. Psychogenic amnesia: syndromes, outcome, and patterns of retrograde amnesia. Brain. 2017 Sep 1;140(9):2498-2510. doi: 10.1093/brain/awx186. PMID: 2905