OT 501 Diagnostics (Dissociative Amnesia)

what is dissociative amnesia

inability to recall important personal information (traumatic/stressful not just normal forgetfulness)

dissociative amnesia is not due to

substance abuse or brain injury

dissociative amnesia is not better explained by

DID, PTSD, Neurocognitive disorder

what is the course of dissociative amnesia?

no one knows (could be under or over diagnosed)

how much can the person forget with dissociative amnesia?

minutes to years

individuals with one amnesia episode are more than likely to have

another

acute amnesia may be resolved when....

removed from the situation

types of amnesia

localized (limited amount of time), selective (person can recall some but not all events), generalized (failure to recall episodes from entire life), continuous (failure to recall certain categories)

repressed memory syndrome is the idea that

its very likely for our memories to be repressed and its very easy to create false memories

specifier for dissociative amnesia

with dissociative fugue

range of travel for with dissociative fugue

-short periods of time to complex usually unobtrusively wandering over long periods

-some individuals cross national borders and wander thousands of miles

features of dissociative fugue

-sudden unexpected travel away from home/work

-inability to recall one's past

-confusion about personal identity or assumption of new identity

-can be purposeful travel or aimless wandering

what is personality like during a dissociative fugue?

-no obvious psychopathology (other than possible amnesia or lack of personal identity)

- most fugues don't form new identity

-RARELY set up new residence

prevalance of dissociative fugue (when does this increase?)

1 in 500 people (RARE)

increased during extreme stress (war, national disaster)

how long does dissociative fugue last?

months to hours, recover rapidly but dissociative amnesia will remain

what is malingering?

faking amnesia in order to get out of something/lying