- Hey, everybody, I'm Kati Morton, a licensed marriage and family therapist, and today, I'm going to explain what dissociative amnesia
is, why it happens, and offer five ways for
you to better manage it. So make sure you stick
around until the end to see the best way to
manage dissociative amnesia. (gentle music) As with all diagnostic-based videos, let's jump into how it's diagnosed first. The DSM states that
dissociative amnesia occurs when we, number one, have an inability to recall autobiographical information, usually from traumatic
or stressful events, and it's inconsistent
with ordinary forgetting, meaning we can't remember
things that happened to us and it usually happens during
times of trauma or stress. Number two, the symptoms cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. Now, this criterion is attached
to almost all diagnoses because in order for something
to be diagnosed and treated, it has to be affecting our
ability to live our life and to do what we need to do every day. The third criteria is that this amnesia must also not be attributed to any drugs or alcohol that we may be on or any neurological or
other medical condition. And the fourth and final criteria is that the dissociative amnesia
must not be better explained by dissociative identity disorder, which I'll be doing another video on soon, so make sure you're subscribed
so you don't miss out. It also can't be attributed to PTSD or acute stress disorder
or other mental illness. The key here is the
phrase "better explained," meaning that this amnesia
can't only be part of another diagnosis. It has to occur on its own
at least some of the time. (gentle music) This amnesia can be difficult
to deal with because, as one member of our community shared, it's like "even though we know
the days happened logically, but it's like we slept through them." (gentle music) Dissociative amnesia can also lead to what is called dissociative fugues, which is when we wander or
travel to find ourselves or to figure out what we can't remember. An example of this would be, if I suffered from dissociative amnesia, I could leave work one day, not go home, but get on a bus, head
to another city or state. And while I'm there, I get a new job. I start a new life. And if Sean came looking for
me or if the police found me, I wouldn't recognize Sean or
have any memory of my leaving. And these dissociative
fugues aren't very common, only occurring in 0.2% of the population, so don't worry that if you
struggle with dissociation, you're gonna just up and
leave your life one day. It's just another portion
of this diagnosis. (gentle music) Dissociative amnesia can be localized, meaning that we can't recall events during a specific period of time, like we don't remember the
months surrounding that time when we were abused,
which is the most common. It can also be selective, meaning that we can recall
some of what happened, but not all of the events during that stressful or traumatic time, like we remember one instance of abuse but have trouble recalling another that happened only a week later. Another member of our
community explained it as, quote, "Even though you went through the bad/traumatizing experience, you can't remember all the details of it." Also know that we can have both localized and selective amnesia. Just important to remember. (gentle music) Our dissociative amnesia
can also be more general, and we can completely
forget our life history. It can also lead to us
losing previous knowledge about the world, the meaning of life, and any well-learned skills that we had. This usually comes on quickly and can cause us to be
confused, disoriented, and even find ourselves
wandering aimlessly. I know that sounds scary, but because it's so noticeable, people with generalized amnesia usually get help extremely quickly, and it's also good to know that generalized amnesia
is incredibly rare, although the DSM does state that it may be more common
among combat veterans, sexual assault victims, and individuals experiencing extreme
emotional stress or conflict. (gentle music) There's also systematized amnesia where we lose memory for
specific categories of our life, like if we can't remember
anything involving our family or the one cousin who harmed us or if any memory surrounding
school just isn't there. (gentle music) And finally, there's continuous amnesia where we forget new events as they occur, like we aren't able to form memories. I've had this happen
with one of my patients who was struggling with her
relationship with her mom. Her mother was emotionally
abusive her entire life, but she still wanted to find a way to have some contact with her mom. However, every time she talked to her, she couldn't recall what was being said, and I would ask her how it
went in our session together and she said it was just
gone, like it never happened. She knew she spoke to her mom but couldn't remember what was said. Most people with dissociative
amnesia are unaware or only partially aware
of their memory problems, just like this member
of our community shared. They said, quote, "It's funny, it doesn't really feel like anything because you don't know about
what you don't remember." Those of us with localized
amnesia can even minimize the importance of our memory loss and can become uncomfortable
when we are pressed to acknowledge it or
to remember something, which is how this differs from someone having a spotty memory
or just being forgetful. It's like we never knew what happened, so we don't even know
that we don't remember it. Does that make sense? Whereas someone who's
forgetful can become frustrated with their inability to remember
that person's name, right, or the directions to their old home. They used to know it and
are aware of that fact but just can't quite pull
it out of their memory. It also differs from permanent
amnesias due to brain damage because it always has the
potential to be retrieved through talk therapy and other
mental health treatments. (gentle music) First, dissociative amnesia
most commonly occurs during stressful or traumatic times. Therefore, the best treatments
are trauma-based ones. This means that traditional
talk therapy can be beneficial as a starting point. This is where we talk
through the distressing or traumatizing event
and piece it together into a story and tell that story until it's not as emotionally
charged or upsetting, and our therapist will
usually help us come up with some of the ways
to calm our system down or feel okay while pushing us to continue talking through the trauma. Overall, research finds that
talk therapy is effective for about 40% of people
with a history of trauma. This leads nicely into our
second treatment option: EMDR or what's otherwise known as eye movement desensitization
and reprocessing. This treatment focuses on what's called bilateral stimulation, meaning we stimulate our nervous system in a rhythmic right-to-left pattern. This can be done through tapping on our left and right sides, using headphones and it beeping on our left and then right ears, or even through buzzers or tappers that vibrate in our
hands from left to right. Now, this bilateral stimulation is done while we recall distressing
situations, images, or memories. In theory, this gives
our brain another chance to process the trauma. Third, CBT or cognitive behavioral therapy has also been shown to be effective. CBT works by having us identify
unhelpful thinking patterns and beliefs about ourselves. Then we work to change those patterns by incorporating more helpful and healthy therapeutic techniques. A fourth potential therapy is DBT or dialectical behavior therapy, which has been shown
to be helpful as well. It is similar to CBT, but with
a bit more emotion regulation and mindfulness added in. It works by helping us become more aware of how we're feeling before
we are overcome by it, and it also offers helpful
tools to better manage impulses and effectively navigate
our relationships. It's been very useful for those of us who have a history of trauma or anyone with borderline
personality disorder. Fifth and finally, medication
can be effective, too. While there isn't a
medication that's indicated for use in those with
dissociative amnesia, it can help with other symptoms that may be making our dissociation worse. These are things like anxiety
or depressive symptoms, or maybe we have trouble with our sleep. Seeing a psychiatrist
and trying medication could be beneficial. I hope you find that helpful. If you feel like I left
something out or you'd like to share what dissociative
amnesia feels like to you, please feel free to do so
in the comments down below. Thank you so much for watching,
and have a great week. Our dissociative am... (babbles) I said that word. (laughs) Please feel free to make... (babbles)
