home Acute Why is alcoholic amnesia dangerous and why do you not remember anything after drinking? How to remember what you forgot? A few tips on how to remember everything The big riddle - human memory

Why is alcoholic amnesia dangerous and why do you not remember anything after drinking? How to remember what you forgot? A few tips on how to remember everything The big riddle - human memory

Why don't you remember anything after drinking? People often ask themselves such a question after an active feast. The question is often sounded with irony, but in fact there is little funny here. The problem of alcoholic amnesia is a rather complex tangle of physiological and psychological processes.

Memory loss is not always a symptom of alcoholism. But the question of why you don't remember anything after drinking should be on your guard, and you should listen to it to prevent the development of alcoholism. After all, it is not at all out of idle curiosity that the answer to this question is sought by high-ranking scientists.

Features of alcoholic amnesia

If a person is puzzled by the question of why he does not remember anything after drinking, then he underwent alcoholic amnesia, which is a partial loss of memory about a separate period related to increased alcohol consumption. Three types of such amnesia can be conventionally distinguished:

Alcoholic palimpsest is the impossibility of recalling individual episodes of events, while the overall picture remains in the memory. This type of forgetfulness is characteristic of almost all people prone to alcohol abuse, but it can also manifest itself in a person who first drank a surplus of alcohol.
Alcoholic narcotic amnesia is characterized by loss of memory about a sufficiently long period of time after the onset of narcotic intoxication due to an excess of alcohol. This type of amnesia is found in all alcoholics, but it can occur in a beginner with a very high dose of alcohol.
Total amnesia is defined as the loss of memory of the entire period of drinking. This phenomenon can already be considered as a sign of stage 3 alcoholism, if a memory lapse occurs after taking the first portion of alcohol.

Reasons for memory loss

For a correct analysis of the causes of memory loss after drinking, one should consider the factors causing the development of alcoholic amnesia.

One of the main determining factors is the amount of alcohol consumed. Increasing the dose of alcohol causes an increased effect on human brain function, which consequently increases the likelihood of memory loss. It should be borne in mind that each person has his own threshold of intoxication, and therefore the concept of an excessive dose is individual. In addition, with the influence of this factor, it is necessary to take into account the gender, age, alcoholic "experience" of a person.

The strength of the alcoholic drink and its quality have a noticeable effect on the manifestation of forgetfulness after drinking. Naturally, the fortress has a directly proportional effect on amnesia. In addition, you must consider mixing different types of alcohol. The cumulative nature of incompatible alcoholic beverages has long been known, a cocktail of which leads to rapid intoxication and the risk of alcoholic palimpsest.

The question of why a person does not remember anything after a party may also arise in the case when alcohol began to flow into an empty stomach. If a person has not eaten anything before drinking and while drinking, the dose causing amnesia is significantly reduced due to the fact that alcohol is rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream, forming ethanol. The process can be catalyzed by drinking alcoholic beverages after or together with other drugs, usually drugs of various types. Most of the medicinal substances are not compatible with alcohol, which causes the body to react accordingly, accelerating the processes of memory loss.

Finally, the state of the body plays a significant role in possible alcoholic amnesia: feeling sick, trauma (especially to the head), fatigue from heavy physical exertion. A person's susceptibility to a decrease in the threshold of forgetfulness has also been noticed if alcohol is taken after psychological stress.

The mechanism of alcoholic memory loss has not yet been fully understood, but most researchers recognize the following pathogenesis. Ethanol, produced during the penetration of alcohol-containing substances into the blood, does not destroy cells in the brain zones, but significantly changes their functioning for some time. It has the maximum effect on a part of the limbic system in the cerebral temporal regions - the hippocampus. This site forms instant memory and memories, which in the process of consolidation transform memory from a short-term type to a long-term type.

Ethanol, reaching the neurons of such a system, blocks some centers, disrupting the signal transmission channels along the synapse chain. The information received from the senses does not enter the memory drive. At the same time, neurons stimulate steroids, which block the fixation of information, leading to the termination of the formation of memories. Such a process manifests itself when certain conditions are reached, and after that further events are no longer recorded by the cerebral cortex. A memory lapse occurs, which, depending on the influencing factors, can last from several seconds to several hours. Precisely because events are no longer recorded, they cannot be restored in memory with any treatment.

Psychological factors

The main mechanism of alcoholic amnesia is the physiological processes occurring in the cerebral cortex.

But you should also take into account the psychological impact. A person who has taken an excessive dose of alcohol the day before experiences fear and guilt during the period of a terrible hangover. The human body turns on its reflexive functions in order to reduce emotional overload and through the psyche blocks the zones responsible for negative memories, causing a secondary barrier to their formation. Thus, a double obstacle to the emergence of unpleasant memories is formed.

Of course, the psyche of any person has a purely individual character, and despite the fact that the nervous system automatically minimizes dangerous factors, and ethanol affects brain cells, memory loss does not always occur. Many people around them also understand this, expressing distrust of a person's forgetfulness after a violent drunkenness. Therefore, in the case when a sober person really does not remember anything, an increased psychological load falls on him. In such a situation, memory cannot be restored, but psychological assistance is necessary.

Amnesia progression

Unfortunately, alcoholic amnesia tends to progress with continued alcohol abuse. The first palimpsest can come unexpectedly after the first excess of the norm, cause some remorse, but not stop further spree.

If the first lapses of memory concerned only small episodes, then gradually forgetfulness covers more and more prolonged periods and occurs with the use of a smaller dose of alcohol.

A person is psychologically ready for such phenomena and perceives them without unnecessary emotional stress, as a small adventure. However, in fact, frequent manifestations of amnesia and its development into a narcotic form indicate the manifestation of the first signs of alcoholism (stage 1).

A person, at least once faced with alcoholic forgetfulness, should be alert and take measures to prevent such a phenomenon.

Subsequent manifestations of it can lead to a narcological dispensary. Moreover, in the future, a psychological factor is added, when witnesses talk about forgotten incidents. Such forced memories often lead to new drinking and sometimes to binge drinking.

Thank you for your feedback

Comments

Megan92 () 2 weeks ago

And did anyone manage to save your husband from alcoholism? Mine drinks without drying out, I don't know what to do anymore ((I thought about getting a divorce, but I don't want to leave the child without a father, and I feel sorry for my husband, so he's a great person when he doesn't drink

Daria () 2 weeks ago

I have already tried so many things and only after reading this article, I managed to wean my husband from alcohol, now he does not drink at all, even on holidays.

Megan92 () 13 days ago

Daria () 12 days ago

Megan92, so I wrote in my first comment) I will duplicate just in case - link to article.

Sonya 10 days ago

Isn't this a divorce? Why are they selling on the Internet?

Yulek26 (Tver) 10 days ago

Sonya, what country do you live in? They sell it on the Internet, because shops and pharmacies set their marginal markup. In addition, payment only after receipt, that is, first looked, checked and only then paid. And now everything is sold on the Internet - from clothes to TVs and furniture.

Editorial response 10 days ago

Sonia, hello. This drug for the treatment of alcohol dependence is really not sold through the pharmacy chain and retail stores in order to avoid overpriced. Today you can order only on official website... Be healthy!

Sonya 10 days ago

I apologize, I didn't notice the information about cash on delivery at first. Then everything is fine for sure if the payment is on receipt.

Margo (Ulyanovsk) 8 days ago

Has anyone tried folk methodsto get rid of alcoholism? My father drinks, I just can't influence him ((

Andrey () A week ago

What folk remedies have not tried, the father-in-law both drank and drinks

Ekaterina 1 week ago

The state when you do not remember anything after an immoderate libation of alcohol causes shame and self-loathing. This problem is not uncommon: those who regularly consume alcohol in large doses suffer from memory lapses. The manifestations of sudden amnesia after drinking should cause alertness, since they signal not only the presence of alcoholism, but also about its progression.

Features and types of state

The mechanism of development of amnesia that occurs against the background of the consumption of alcoholic beverages is the toxic effect of ethanol on nerve cells. Memory loss occurs when the cerebral cortex, which controls behavior, thinking, concentration, and the ability to remember events, is affected.

There are several types of alcoholic amnesia:

narcotic;
lacunar;
total.

Narcotic amnesia is a state of unconsciousness associated with severe intoxication, which occurs due to the intake of large doses of alcohol. Usually, the complete loss of consciousness of this or that event refers to the final period of intoxication before the onset of narcotic sleep. This type of alcoholic amnesia can develop in both addicts and healthy people.

Lacunar amnesia (alcoholic palimpsests) is a partial memory loss resulting from excessive drinking. A person cannot remember individual episodes of the period of intoxication, but is able to restore in his memory the general course of events. This type of unconsciousness is observed in the 1st and 2nd stages of alcoholism.

Total amnesia is characterized by loss of memory of all or almost all events accompanied by alcohol intake. Moreover, the occurrence of this type of alcoholic oblivion can occur when using both large and small doses of alcoholic beverages. Complete loss of memory during drunkenness is characteristic of the 3rd stage of alcoholism.

Why memory is lost

Alcohol has a bad effect on all organs, tissues and cells of the body. But first of all, it affects neurons - brain cells responsible for thinking, memory and intelligence.

The toxic effect of ethanol extends to all parts of the main organ of the nervous system. The hippocampus, the part of the brain that controls the consolidation of memory, that is, its transition from short-term to long-term, also experiences it. Memory blackouts are formed due to alcoholic damage to his tissues.

Thanks to the hippocampus, perception and memorization of the surrounding space (spatial memory) occurs. The need to take into account external reference points determines the behavior of a person at any moment of his life. That is why, with alcoholic damage to this part of the brain, palimpsests occur, caused by the physiological impossibility of remembering current events. Long-term memory usually remains unchanged.

With alcohol intoxication, memory loss can occur at a psychological level. This state is explained by the experiences a person experiences in the morning after a binge. The shame for their yesterday's adventures, guilt before the people around and fear for the consequences of their inadequate actions are so strong that there is a partial loss of memory.

The brain is deprived of memories associated with those events that most traumatize a person. The organism "includes" this protective property regardless of the patient's will. Psychological factors that put pressure on the nervous system are excluded from the chain of memories.

The amount of ethanol that can cause different types of amnesia is directly related to the degree of alcohol dependence. A person who does not experience a harmful attraction to alcohol can only lose memory during stunning or drug sleep. This happens if he drank more than usual. After waking up, the events of yesterday are remembered clearly until the moment the victim fell asleep.

Alcoholic palimpsests are the first "bell" signaling that alcohol dependence is becoming pathological. At first, the causes of the appearance of palimpsests is a strong excess of the dose, but over time, less alcohol is needed for their occurrence.

How to remember what happened

Friends or unwitting witnesses to the drunken adventures of an unlucky drinker will help to recall the episodes that have fallen out of memory. This is the only efficient way to recover the sequence of events if memory refuses to be returned. In those cases when a person has forgotten their yesterday's adventures due to traumatic factors, the picture can be clarified using a hypnosis session performed by a specialist.

Treatments for alcoholic amnesia boil down to avoiding alcohol altogether and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. It is important to understand that it will no longer be possible to regain memory, but you can prevent its repeated failures by becoming a teetotaler. In the absence of willpower, seeking help from a narcologist is mandatory. Based on the results of the examination, the doctor will prescribe the necessary medications:

b vitamins in injections and tablets;
nootropic drugs;
antipsychotics;
tranquilizers;
antidepressants;

The main measures to prevent memory loss after alcohol are awareness of the problem and the desire to get rid of the painful symptoms of drunken forgetfulness. An ineffectual recovery of yesterday's events is a formidable symptom indicating the presence or progression of alcoholism. Therefore, avoiding the state of intoxication should become the norm under any circumstances.

Dangerous consequences

At first, episodes of partial memory loss after alcohol abuse may not be perceived as symptoms of developing alcoholism. But their progression can lead to unpredictable consequences.

In a drunken stupor, you can do a lot of troubles, causing harm to yourself and others. Often in a state of amnesia, serious crimes are committed, and in the morning the offender does not remember the events of the past day and refuses to believe in what he did.

Being unconscious, it is easy to become a victim of scammers, robbers, rapists yourself. Often, victims cannot identify the perpetrator by sight, since they do not remember any of his characteristic features.

In a state of alcoholic forgetfulness, it is impossible to control the dose of alcoholic beverages. This can lead to severe intoxication and even death.

When memory disappears while drinking alcohol, sooner or later it affects the reputation. Problems arise at work, in the family, in relationships with friends. People shun a person with inappropriate behavior.

Partial memory loss after a friendly feast is not a reason for jokes, but a serious illness that requires the manifestation of willpower or the help of a narcologist. It is necessary to realize that the state “I don’t remember anything” should remain in the past, giving way to “I am always in my right mind and firm memory”. This is the only way to preserve health, family, work and reputation.

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Have you ever forgotten something? Couldn't remember someone's name, password, event, or even a word? For sure, yes. But what did you do in this situation? What they were doing? Let's talk about how to remember what you forgot.

We will offer you several not only simple, but also effective ways to solve this problem, and also tell you about why such annoying misunderstandings happen to us. We will also touch on how to develop your memory and even attention.

Why do we forget certain things

Before we talk about how to remember what we have forgotten, let's look at the main reasons for our forgetfulness. There are a lot of options for why we keep forgetting any information, important or not very much. We will highlight the main ones.

The first and most common reason is lack of concentration.

Remember how often you cannot remember where you put your keys, phone, notepads, even things. In most cases, you forget where you put the thing, if you are in a hurry, or you are distracted, if you are in a hurry and think only about how not to be late, you feel bad, etc. That is, one of the reasons for forgetfulness is absent-mindedness.

The second reason, no less common, is that you consider the information unimportant or unnecessary. In this case, you do not want to memorize it on a subconscious level. The complexity of the information itself may also be the reason.

The third option we'll highlight is poor memory. Agree, not all people can memorize large amounts of information for a long time, whatever it may be. This means that after some time it will be erased from memory. It can also be noted that over time, memory weakens, and a person increasingly begins to forget what he knew.

In order to remember as much information as possible and not to forget it, you need to constantly train your memory. We will talk to you about how to do this later.

In addition, it happens that we ourselves want to forget this or that incident, words, names, knowledge.

Remembering forgotten information

So, before talking about how to remember where you put the thing (and this is the most common problem), let's try to figure out how to remember any information that surrounds us.

How to remember forgotten information? For example, you studied the material for a year, then repeated it before passing the exam, but when the moment came to answer, you completely forgot everything. What to do in such a situation? Try to remember. To do this, do the following.

First of all, remember exactly how you learned this material - sitting at a book, making notes, listening to the teacher. Try to reproduce this moment in your head as accurately as possible. In most cases, this technique helps to remember the forgotten.

We are looking for the missing thing

What to do if you forgot where you left the necessary and important thing? How do you remember exactly where you put it? Let's talk about how to remember where you put the thing.

First of all, try to remember where you usually put this item, where you leave it. For example, if these are keys, try to recall what you did after you opened the apartment door and went inside. If this is a phone, remember who and what you talked about on it, where exactly, and it is quite possible that soon you will understand where you put it.

Remembering passwords

What if you forgot your password? For example, we had such a misfortune that we don't know how to remember the WiFi password. What to do?

In this case, you also need to thoroughly strain your memory. First of all, remember what exactly you put on passwords - numbers, letters or words. Next, we try to remember which ciphers you often use. Try to iterate over the most likely options. In addition, a rather effective way is to remember what you were thinking at the moment when you registered, what you were doing. If you recall those minutes, it is likely that you will remember it.

But what if you have forgotten and do not know how to remember your login? In this case, you just need to remember what you like, what or who you associate yourself with. After all, often a login is our nicknames, nicknames, what we call ourselves.

"Where did we meet?"

It happens that you see a person on the street and cannot remember where you saw him. How do you remember who it is and what is his name? How to remember a person, especially a stranger?

First of all, you need to strain your memory and try to remember exactly where you saw it. What places are associated with it? This will make it possible to remember exactly where you met him.

Next, we are trying to determine what associations you have with the name of this person. It so happens that it is associated with a particular action, event, color, etc. In addition, you can iterate over all the letters of the alphabet. It is quite possible that in this way you will remember which one of them the person's name begins with, and then remember him completely.

Remembering the past

The most necessary but difficult skill is to remember the past. Quite often it happens that you want to recall some moment in your life - childhood or adolescence, to revive in your memory this or that event, celebration, meeting. What to do in this case, how to remember the past?

First of all, try to evoke in your head at least distant images associated with the event you need. Then begin to slowly pull on each of the strings, remembering what happened before or after this episode, what exactly caused these or those actions, words.

It is also worth noting that it is far from always possible to recall the past in this way, especially what happened in childhood. In this case, you need to seek the help of a psychologist and go through a hypnosis session. In this situation, this is the most effective way to reliably reproduce the events that have occurred.

Remembering a forgotten word

It also happens in our life that we forget this or that word. Just a couple of minutes ago, it was spinning on our tongue, but now we cannot pronounce it. What to do in such a situation? Naturally, try to remember, although there are other options for solving this problem. So let's talk about how to remember a word.

First of all, it can be replaced with a synonym. Of course, if the given word is a term or a name, a name, then this option will not work for you. In this case, we are trying to collect our thoughts and try to remember at least part of it, the sound associations that this concept evokes in you.

Another option is to just forget about the given word, not to get hung up on remembering it, and after a couple of minutes it will surely appear in your head.

Train your memory

So, we figured out how to remember what you forgot. Now let's talk about how we can develop our memory.

Of course, the most important thing is that there are no problems with remembering certain things, you should definitely train your memory. To do this, we recommend to your attention a few simple, but quite effective exercises.

You've probably heard that nothing trains your memory as well as memorizing poetry or even parts of text. Be sure to try to memorize at least a couple of lines from a variety of books every day. At the same time, it is advisable to pay attention to large texts, completely memorizing them. So, taking any story, teach a paragraph every day, and do not forget to repeat what you have already learned.

The second simple exercise is to replay the events of the past day in your head every night. So, going to bed, remember how your day began, then step by step approach the night. Alternatively, you can rewind events in reverse order. It will also be a good brain exercise.

And finally, one more exercise for developing memory and attention. Surely you are often on the street - go to school, work, just walk. With this pastime, you can also develop some qualities. To do this, simply memorize the numbers of passing cars and carry out various mathematical operations on them. In this case, you will never have a question about how to remember the WiFi password or your username.

conclusions

We all face the problem of blackouts. This is quite understandable, because we are far from always focused on obtaining this or that information, our brain is not always able to quickly recall a particular word, phrase, action, and some things we do not want to remember at all.

In fact, remembering forgotten things is quite easy and simple, if you adhere to the recommendations we have given. In addition, if you need to restore quite serious and necessary events in your memory, you can always turn to the help of a specialist. As you can see, to answer the question: "How to remember what you forgot?" - not so difficult.

Memory is an important function of our central nervous system to perceive the information received and store it in some invisible "cells" of the brain in reserve in order to extract and use it in the future. Memory is one of the most important abilities of a person's mental activity, therefore the slightest memory impairment weighs on him, he gets out of the usual rhythm of life, suffering himself and irritating others.

Memory impairment is most often perceived as one of the many clinical manifestations of some kind of neuropsychic or neurological pathology, although in other cases forgetfulness, absent-mindedness and poor memory are the only signs of a disease to the development of which no one pays attention, believing that a person is such by nature ...

The big riddle is human memory

Memory is a complex process that takes place in the central nervous system and involves the perception, accumulation, retention and reproduction of information received at different periods of time. Most of all, we think about the properties of our memory when we need to master something new. The result of all the efforts made in the learning process depends on how someone manages to hook, hold, perceive what he saw, heard or read, which is important when choosing a profession. From the point of view of biology, memory is short-term and long-term.

Information received in passing or, as the saying goes, "flew into one ear, flew out of the other" - this is a short-term memory, in which what was seen and heard is postponed for several minutes, but, as a rule, without meaning and content. So, the episode flashed and disappeared. Short-term memory does not promise anything in advance, which is probably good, because otherwise a person would have to store all the information that he does not need at all.

However, with certain efforts of a person, information that has fallen into the zone of short-term memory, if you hold your gaze on it or listen and penetrate, will be transferred to long-term storage. This also happens against the will of a person, if some episodes are often repeated, have a special emotional significance, or for various reasons occupy a separate place among other phenomena.

Assessing their memory, some people claim that they have a short-term memory, because everything is remembered, absorbed, retold after a couple of days, and then just as quickly forgotten.This often happens in preparation for exams, when information is set aside only in order to reproduce it to decorate the grade book. It should be noted that in such cases, referring again to this topic, when it becomes interesting, a person can easily restore seemingly lost knowledge. Knowing and forgetting is one thing, and not getting information is another. And here everything is simple - the acquired knowledge without much human effort was transformed into the departments of long-term memory.

Long-term memory analyzes, structures, creates volume and purposefully postpones for future use indefinitely. Everything is kept from on long-term memory. Memorization mechanisms are very complex, but we are so used to them that we perceive them as natural and simple things. However, we note that for the successful implementation of the learning process, in addition to memory, it is important to have attention, that is, to be able to concentrate on the necessary subjects.

It is natural for a person to forget past events after a while, if he does not periodically extract his knowledge in order to use them, therefore, the inability to remember something is not always necessary to be attributed to memory impairment. Each of us has experienced the feeling when “it is spinning in the head, but it doesn’t come to mind”, but this does not mean that the memory is seriously disturbed.

Why do blackouts happen?

The causes of impaired memory and attention in adults and children can be different. If a child with congenital mental retardation immediately has problems with learning, then he will come to an adult state with these disorders. Children and adults can react differently to the environment: the child's psyche is more delicate, so it is harder to endure stress. In addition, adults have long learned what the child is still trying to master.

Sadly, but the tendency towards the use of alcoholic beverages and drugs by adolescents, and even young children left without parental supervision, has become frightening: cases of poisoning are not so rarely recorded in the reports of law enforcement agencies and medical institutions. But for a child's brain, alcohol is a powerful poison that has an extremely negative effect on memory.

True, some pathological conditions that are often the cause of absent-mindedness and poor memory in adults, as a rule, are excluded in children (Alzheimer's disease, atherosclerosis, osteochondrosis).

Causes of memory impairment in children

Thus, the causes of impaired memory and attention in children can be considered:

Lack of vitamins;
Asthenia;
Frequent viral infections;
Traumatic brain injury;
Stressful situations (a dysfunctional family, parental despotism, problems in the team that the child visits);
Poor eyesight;
Mental disorder;
Poisoning, alcohol and drug use;
Congenital pathology, in which mental retardation is programmed (Down syndrome, etc.) or other (whatever) conditions (lack of vitamins or microelements, the use of certain drugs, a change not for the better in metabolic processes), contributing to the formation of attention deficit disorder, which, as you know, memory does not improve.

Causes of Problems in Adults

In adults, the reason for poor memory, distraction and inability to concentrate for a long time, are various diseases acquired in the course of life:

Stress, psycho-emotional stress, chronic fatigue of both mind and body;
Acute and chronic;
Dyscirculatory;
cervical spine;
Traumatic brain injury;
Metabolic disorders;
Hormonal imbalance;
GM tumors;
Mental disorders (depression, schizophrenia and many others).

Of course, anemias of various origins, lack of trace elements, diabetes mellitus and other numerous somatic pathologies lead to impaired memory and attention, contributes to the appearance of forgetfulness and absent-mindedness.

What types of memory disorders are there? Among them are dysmnesia (hypermnesia, hypomnesia, amnesia) - changes directly to memory, and paramnesia - distortion of memories, to which the patient's personal fantasies are added. By the way, some of them others, on the contrary, consider it a phenomenal memory rather than a violation of it. However, experts may have a slightly different opinion on this matter.

Dysmnesia

Phenomenal memory or mental disorder?

Hypermnesia- with such a violation, people remember and perceive quickly, information put off many years ago pops up in memory for no reason, "rolls over", returns to the past, which does not always cause positive emotions. A person himself does not know why he needs to keep everything in his head, but he can reproduce some long-past events to the smallest detail. For example, an elderly person can easily describe in detail (up to the teacher's clothes) individual lessons at school, retell the litmontage of the pioneer gathering, it is not difficult for him to recall other details concerning his studies at the institute, professional activities or family events.

Hypermnesia, present in a healthy person in the absence of other clinical manifestations, is not considered a disease; rather, on the contrary, this is exactly the case when they talk about phenomenal memory, although from the point of view of psychology, phenomenal memory is a slightly different phenomenon. People with a similar phenomenon are able to memorize and reproduce huge amounts of information that is not associated with any special meaning. These can be large numbers, sets of individual words, lists of objects, notes. Such a memory is often possessed by great writers, musicians, mathematicians, and people of other professions that require genius abilities. Meanwhile, hypermnesia in a healthy person who does not belong to the cohort of geniuses, but has a high intelligence quotient (IQ), is not such a rare occurrence.

As one of the symptoms of pathological conditions, memory impairment in the form of hypermnesia occurs:

With paroxysmal mental disorders (epilepsy);
In case of intoxication with psychoactive substances (psychotropic drugs, narcotic drugs);
In the case of hypomania, a condition similar to mania, but not reaching it in severity. Patients may experience a surge of energy, increased vitality, and work capacity. In hypomania, memory and attention impairment (disinhibition, instability, inability to concentrate) is often combined.

It is obvious that only a specialist can understand such subtleties, distinguish between norm and pathology. Most of us are the average representatives of the human population, to whom “nothing human is alien”, but they do not turn the world upside down. Periodically (not every year and not in every locality) geniuses appear, they are not always immediately noticed, because often such individuals are considered simply eccentrics. And, finally, (maybe not often?) Among the various pathological conditions there are mental illnesses that require correction and complex treatment.

Bad memory

Hypotension - this kind is usually expressed in two words: "bad memory".

Forgetfulness, distraction and poor memory are observed in asthenic syndrome, for which, in addition to memory problems, other symptoms are characteristic:

Increased fatigue.
Nervousness, irritability with and without it, bad mood.
Meteorological dependence.
during the day and insomnia at night.
Blood pressure drops,.
Tides and others.
, weakness.

Asthenic syndrome, as a rule, forms another pathology, for example:

Arterial hypertension.
Postponed traumatic brain injury (TBI).
Atherosclerotic process.
The initial stage of schizophrenia.

The cause of impaired memory and attention by the type of hypomnesia can be various depressive states (there are countless ones), climacteric syndrome occurring with adaptation disorder, organic brain damage (severe head injury, epilepsy, tumors). In such situations, as a rule, in addition to hypomnesia, the symptoms listed above are also present.

"I remember here - I don't remember here"

When amnesia not all memory falls out entirely, but its individual fragments. As an example of this type of amnesia, I just want to recall the film by Alexander Sery "Gentlemen of Fortune" - "I remember here - I don't remember here."

However, not all amnesias look like in the famous motion picture, there are more serious cases when memory is lost significantly and for a long time or forever, therefore, among such memory impairments (amnesia), several types are distinguished:

A special type of memory loss that cannot be dealt with is progressive amnesia. representing a sequential loss of memory from the present to the past. The reason for the destruction of memory in such cases is the organic atrophy of the brain, which occurs when alzheimer's diseaseand ... Such patients poorly reproduce traces of memory (speech disorders), for example, they forget the names of everyday objects that they use every day (plate, chair, clock), but at the same time know what they are intended for (amnestic aphasia). In other cases, the patient simply does not recognize the thing (sensory aphasia) or does not know what it is for (semantic aphasia). However, one should not confuse the habits of the "happy" owners to find a use for everything that is in the house, even if it is intended for completely different purposes (you can make a beautiful dish or stand from an old kitchen clock in the form of a plate).

Well this must be invented!

Paramnesia (distortion of memories) are also referred to as memory impairments, and among them the following types are distinguished:

Confabulation, in which fragments of his own memory disappear, and their place is taken by stories invented by the patient and presented to him "in all seriousness", since he himself believes in what he is talking about. Patients talk about their exploits, unprecedented achievements in life and work, and even sometimes about crimes.
Pseudo-reminiscence - the replacement of one memory with another event that actually took place in the patient's life, only at a completely different time and under different circumstances (Korsakov syndrome).
Cryptomnesiawhen patients, having received information from various sources (books, movies, stories of other people), pass it off as events they have experienced. In a word, patients, due to pathological changes, go to involuntary plagiarism, which is characteristic of delusional ideas encountered in organic disorders.
Echomnesia - the person feels (quite sincerely) that this event has already happened to him (or saw in a dream?). Of course, such thoughts sometimes visit a healthy person, but the difference is that patients attach special importance to such phenomena ("get hung up"), while healthy people simply quickly forget about it.
Polypsest- this symptom exists in two versions: short-term memory lapses associated with pathological alcohol intoxication (episodes of the past day are confused with past events), and the combination of two different events of the same time period, in the end, the patient himself does not know what happened in fact.

As a rule, these symptoms in pathological conditions are accompanied by other clinical manifestations, therefore, having noticed the signs of "deja vu" in oneself, there is no need to rush to make a diagnosis - this also happens in healthy people.

Decreased concentration affects memory

The following pathological conditions are referred to memory and attention impairments, loss of the ability to focus on specific objects:

Instability of attention - a person is constantly distracted, jumps from one object to another (disinhibition syndrome in children, hypomania, hebephrenia - a mental disorder that develops as one of the forms of schizophrenia in adolescence);
Rigidity (slowness of switching) from one topic to another - this symptom is very characteristic of epilepsy (whoever communicated with such people knows that the patient is constantly "stuck", which makes it difficult to conduct a dialogue);
Lack of concentration - they say about such people: “Here is how scattered from Basseinaya Street!”, That is, absent-mindedness and poor memory in such cases are often perceived as features of temperament and behavior, which, in principle, often corresponds to reality.

Undoubtedly decreased concentration of attention, in particular, will negatively affect the entire process of memorizing and storing information, that is, on the state of memory in general.

Children forget faster

As far as children are concerned, all these gross, permanent memory impairments characteristic of adults and, especially, the elderly, are very rarely observed in childhood. Memory problems arising from congenital features require correction and, with a skillful approach (as far as possible) may recede a little. There are many cases when the efforts of parents and teachers literally worked wonders for Down syndrome and other types of congenital mental retardation, but here the approach is individual and dependent on different circumstances.

It's another matter if the baby was born healthy, and the problems appeared as a result of the troubles suffered. So here a child can expect a slightly different reaction to various situations:

Amnesia in children in most cases, it manifests itself as memory lapses in relation to individual memories of episodes that took place during the period of clouding of consciousness associated with unpleasant events (poisoning, coma, trauma) - it is not for nothing that they say that children quickly forget;
Alcoholization in adolescence also proceeds differently from adults - lack of memories ( polypests) on events occurring during intoxication, appears already at the first stages of drunkenness, without waiting for the diagnosis (alcoholism);
Retrograde amnesia in children, as a rule, it affects a short period of time before injury or illness, and its severity is not as distinct as in adults, that is, in a child, memory loss can not always be noticed.

Most often, children and adolescents experience memory impairment of the type of dysmnesia, which is manifested by a weakening of the ability to remember, store (retention) and reproduce (reproduction) the information received. Disorders of this type are more noticeable in school-age children, as they affect school performance, adaptation in the team and behavior in everyday life.

In children attending preschool institutions, symptoms of dysmnesia are problems with memorizing rhymes, songs, children cannot participate in children's matinees and holidays. Despite the fact that the kid attends kindergarten all the time, every time he comes there, he cannot independently find his locker to change clothes, it is difficult for him to find his own among other objects (toys, clothes, towels). Dysmnestic disorders are also noticeable at home: the child cannot tell what happened in the garden, forgets the names of other children, he perceives fairy tales read many times, as if he hears them for the first time, does not remember the names of the main characters.

Transient memory and attention disorders, along with fatigue, drowsiness and all sorts of autonomic disorders, are often observed in schoolchildren with various etiologies.

Before treatment

Before you start treating the symptoms of memory impairment, you need to make a correct diagnosis and find out what caused the patient's problems. To do this, you need to get as much information about his health:

What diseases does he suffer from? Perhaps it will be possible to trace the connection between the existing pathology (or transferred in the past) with a deterioration in intellectual abilities;
Does he have a pathology that directly leads to memory impairment: dementia, cerebrovascular insufficiency, head injury (history), chronic alcoholism, drug disorders?
What medications does the patient take and is memory impairment related to medication? Certain groups of pharmaceuticals, for example, benzodiazepines, have side effects of this kind, which, however, are reversible.

In addition, in the process of a diagnostic search, it can be very useful to identify metabolic disorders, hormonal imbalances, deficiencies of trace elements and vitamins.

In most cases, when looking for the causes of memory weakening, they resort to methods neuroimaging (CT, MRI, EEG, PET, etc.), which help to detect a GM tumor or hydrocephalus and, at the same time, differentiate vascular brain damage from degenerative.

Neuroimaging methods are also needed because memory impairment at first may be the only symptom of a serious pathology. Unfortunately, the greatest difficulties in diagnosis are depressive conditions, forcing in other cases to prescribe a trial antidepressant treatment (to find out whether there is depression or not).

Treatment and correction

The normal aging process itself involves some decline in intellectual ability: forgetfulness appears, memorization is not so easy, concentration of attention drops, especially if the neck is "pinched" or pressure rises, however, such symptoms do not significantly affect the quality of life and behavior in everyday life. Older people, who adequately assess their age, learn to remind themselves (and quickly remember) about current affairs.

In addition, many people do not neglect pharmaceutical treatment to improve memory.

There are a number of drugs now available that can improve brain function and even help you perform tasks that require significant intellectual effort. First of all, these are - (piracetam, fezam, vinpocetine, cerebrolysin, cinnarizine, etc.).

Nootropics are indicated for elderly people with certain age-related problems that are not yet noticeable to others. The drugs of this group are suitable for improving memory in case of cerebral circulation disorders caused by other pathological conditions of the brain and vascular system. By the way, many of these drugs are successfully used in pediatric practice.

However, nootropics are symptomatic treatment, and in order to obtain the desired effect, one must strive for an etiotropic one.

As for Alzheimer's disease, tumors, mental disorders, here the approach to treatment should be very specific - depending on the pathological changes and the reasons that led to them. There is no single prescription for all cases, therefore there is nothing to advise patients. You just need to see a doctor, who, perhaps, before prescribing drugs to improve memory, will send for additional examination.

Difficult in adults and correction of mental disorders. Patients with poor memory, under the supervision of an instructor, memorize poetry, solve crosswords, exercise in solving logical problems, however, training, bringing some success (the severity of mnestic disorders seems to have decreased), still does not give particularly significant results.

Correction of memory and attention in children, in addition to treatment with various groups of pharmaceuticals, includes classes with a psychologist, exercises for the development of memory (poems, drawings, tasks). Of course, the child's psyche is more mobile and better amenable to correction, unlike the psyche of an adult. Children have the prospect of progressive development, while older people only have the opposite effect.