Amnesia is a condition in which memory is disturbed or lost. The causes of amnesia have traditionally been divided into the “organic” or the “functional”. Dissociative amnesia is one example of a functional type, meaning there is no underlying physical cause (such as brain injury).
Dissociative amnesia is classified by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition, Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR), as one of the dissociative disorders. I have already discussed dissociation in general and the idea that dissociative disorders are usually associated with trauma in the recent or distant past, or with an intense internal conflict that forces the mind to separate incompatible or unacceptable knowledge, information, or feelings. Dissociative amnesia is considered a disorder when the symptoms cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
Dissociative amnesia as a symptom often occurs in people diagnosed with other dissociative disorders (like dissociative fugue and dissociative identity disorder) . If episodes of dissociative amnesia occur only in the context of these disorders, a separate diagnosis of dissociative amnesia is not made.
In dissociative amnesia, the person is unable to remember personal information. They are aware that they have forgotten information, but do not know what they have forgotten. In some instances this loss can lead to the erasure of a vast amount of memory, so that people even forget basic facts about their identity, such as where they live or what their name is. The International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation describes the most common amnesia presentations seen in therapy with dissociative disorder clients:
…the amnesias are often an important event that is forgotten, such as a wedding, or birthday party that was attended, or a block of time, from minutes to years. More typically, there are micro-amnesias where the discussion engaged in is not remembered, or the content of a conversation is forgotten from one moment to the next. Some people report that these kinds of experiences often leave them scrambling to figure out what was being discussed. Meanwhile, they try not to let the person with whom they are talking realize they haven’t a clue as to what was just said (Maldonado et al., 2002; Steinberg et al., 1993; Steinberg, 1995)
People with dissociative amnesia usually report a gap or series of gaps in their recollection of their life history. The gaps are usually related to episodes or abuse or equally severe trauma. In this way, like with dissociation in general, dissociative amnesia is definitely a survival mechanism and serves to protect the individual from material that might have been to overwhelming to cope with.
It is important to understand that dissociative amnesia serves a protective function. It protects the individual from the consequences of extreme trauma and catastrophic fear. the flip side is that memory loss can prevent the development of appropriate coping mechanisms, such as managing painful emotions. Remember, even if traumatic events or painful emotions are not remembered, they are often impacting you adversely at some level.
Dissociative amnesia can be addressed as part of trauma therapy. In fact, as you work on developing basic coping skills and establish a safe enough present environment, you may find yourself getting access to previously blocked information. You may become ready to know what has been forgotten when you have enough support internally and externally to cope with the information in the present.