Memory disorders at different ages, causes of pathology and ways to solve the problem. Causes of short-term memory What are memory disorders called, what are their causes

memory disorders) It is believed that the information received. and the events experienced are more or less permanently fixed in the memory. To understand memory, an analogy with the process of processing information may be useful. Inform. enters through the channels of sensory perception, processed, stored, called and used. The operations used in this case have the functions of adequate encoding of information, linking events related to each other, ranking by importance and selection of information. to avoid confusion. Obviously, the effective search and extraction of information. is the goal of any memory system, but achieving this is not always an easy task. This operation can be hampered by the lack of information. When too much information is received, the memory capacity may become overloaded and the information becomes full. is lost. When too much time passes between retrieval moments, old memories fade. The extraction operation can also be hampered by the inaccessibility of information. Inadequate prioritization of inform. may lead to the impossibility of extracting the most important information; the weakening of attention and the high similarity of the encodings used to denote different contents can cause confusion and interference of information retrieved from memory. Loss of memory as a result of the absence and / or unavailability of information. manifests itself in the most common, non-pathological form of memory disorders: forgetting. Forgetting due to the loss of accumulated information. can occur as a result of too infrequent access to it or a change in priorities (when recently received information becomes more important than previously received, which makes it impossible to extract earlier information). A common cause of forgetting is confusion or interference of acoustically or semantically similar information. Amnesia, or memory loss, may be anterograde or retrograde; it is caused by emotional or cerebral trauma and alcohol or barbiturate abuse. Amnesia can be: a) localized, when the possibility of remembering the immediate episode of trauma is lost; b) selective, when it is impossible to remember some specific events, for example, the death of loved ones, a car accident or experienced during the war; c) generalized, manifested inability to remember life events before the moment of trauma (including it); d) continuous, with a cut, memories of events are inaccessible, starting from the period of trauma to the present. Generalized and continuous types are much less common than localized and selective. Violations of the memory of the senile period are characterized by clear memories of events of the distant past, inadequately popping up at the moment. Called up at the same time inform. often looks trivial to others, but has emotional and situational importance for the individual. Memory disorders can also manifest as confabulations - storytelling that fills in memory gaps caused by alcohol or other substance abuse. Substance abuse disrupts information coding and storage, resulting in both loss of information and loss of access to it for periods that may exceed 48 hours. Similar memory loss is observed in convulsive epileptic seizures and episodes of catatonic stupor in schizophrenia. Specific memory disorders are observed with mental retardation. At the same time, despite repeated motor and elementary intellectual efforts to memorize, memory is only short-term, rarely remaining for more than the last 24 hours. Other specific cases of memory disorders are manifested in aphasias. In this case, previously automated and often used skills in reading, speech, writing, and pattern recognition are lost due to neurological disorders caused by organic brain damage, stroke, etc. In some cases, the previously competent individual becomes lexicic and loses the ability to read. In other cases, individuals with fine motor skills exhibit apraxia, losing the ability to perform complex movements; in a number of other cases, people who previously had a high social. competence, exhibit prosopagnosia, losing the ability to recognize familiar faces. See also Attention, Stability of attention, Forgetting, Memory D. F. Fisher

MEMORY DISORDERS

deterioration or loss of the ability to remember, store, recognize or reproduce information. The most common memory disorders are: amnesia, hypomnesia.

MEMORY DISORDERS

dysmnesia) - a decrease or loss of the ability to remember, save and reproduce. Memory disorders are divided into amnesias - lack of memory and paramnesias - deceptions of memory.

Amnesia is the loss of the ability to maintain and reproduce the existing stock of knowledge. Allocate amnesia: retrograde, anterograde, anteroretrograde, reproductive, fixation and progressive.

Retrograde amnesia - loss of memory of events of days, months and even years immediately preceding the present disease. Retrograde amnesia is divided into local, in which only some events fall out, and systemic, in which all events fall out completely.

Anterograde amnesia is the loss of all events immediately following the disease. The duration of the period of anterograde amnesia can be several hours, days or even weeks.

Anteroretrograde amnesia is a combination of retrograde and anterograde amnesia, in which the patient does not remember the events that occurred both before the onset of the disease and after it.

Reproductive amnesia - difficulty or inability to reproduce at the right time the necessary information, names, numbers, dates, wording, etc.

Fixation amnesia - inability to remember, lack of memory for current events. Along with impaired reproduction, fixation amnesia underlies the Korsakov syndrome (see).

Progressive amnesia is a regular-successive decay of memory from new knowledge acquired recently to old ones. First, the material of the last days falls out of memory, then the last months, then years. The events of distant childhood remain in the memory most firmly. The most organized and automated knowledge acquired in early childhood is retained for a long time.

Paramnesias are divided into confabulations (false memories) and cryptomnesias (memory distortion). Confabulations are memory disorders in which events that actually took place are amnesiac, and memory gaps are filled with fictions or displacement of memories of the past into the present. Depending on the content, confabulations can be ordinary and fantastic. The influx of confabulations, accompanied by disorientation in the environment, is called confabulatory confusion.

Cryptomnesia is a distortion of memory, in which what they see, what they hear seems to be experienced by them in reality, other people's thoughts and ideas - their own, etc. Paramnesia also includes reduplicating memories or echomnesia, in which events occurring at the moment seem to have already occurred before. Difference from states<уже виденного>is that the event took place.

Memory disorders are characteristic of symptomatic psychoses, epilepsy, brain injuries, and organic diseases of the central nervous system.

Treatment. The underlying disease is being treated.

Memory disorders are one of the complex neuropsychiatric disorders that complicate life. Memory lapses in older people are a natural process of aging. Some disorders are correctable, others are a symptom of a more severe comorbidity.

Memory impairment in psychology

Mental memory disorders are a group of qualitative and quantitative disorders in which a person either stops memorizing, recognizing and reproducing information, or there is a noticeable decrease in these functions. In order to understand how certain disorders affect a person's memorization of information, it is important to understand what memory is. So, memory is the highest mental function that includes a complex of cognitive abilities: memorization, storage, reproduction.

The most common memory disorders are:

• hypomnesia– decrease or weakening;
• paramnesia– errors in memory;
• – event dropout (before or after).

Causes of memory disorder

Why are memory disorders observed? There are many reasons for this, both psychological and pathological, a traumatic effect on a person. Memory impairment - psychological causes:

• psycho-emotional overstrain;
• overwork due to mental or hard physical work;
• a psychotrauma that once occurred that caused a defensive reaction - displacement;

Disorders of memory functions - causes of an organic nature:

• prolonged toxic effects on the brain of alcohol, drugs;
• unfavorable ecology;
• various circulatory disorders (stroke, atherosclerosis, hypertension);
• brain oncology;
• viral infections;
• Alzheimer's disease;
• congenital mental illnesses and genetic mutations.

External influences:

• traumatic brain injury;
• difficult childbirth with the imposition of forceps on the baby's head.

Types of memory impairment

Many people are familiar with the concept of amnesia, because the word itself very often appears in various films or TV shows, where one of the characters loses his memory or pretends not to remember anything, but meanwhile, amnesia is just one type of memory impairment. All types of memory disorders are usually divided into two large groups:

1. quantitative hypermnesia, amnesia, hypomnesia.
2. quality– confabulation, contamination, cryptomnesia, pseudo-reminiscence.

Cognitive memory disorder

Memory refers to the cognitive functions of the human brain. Any violations of memory disorders will be cognitive and leave an imprint on all human thought processes. Cognitive memory disorders are usually divided into 3 types:

• lungs- amenable to medical correction;
• medium- occur earlier than in old age, but are not critical, often associated with other diseases;
• heavy- these disorders occur with general brain damage, for example, as a result of progressive dementia.

Quantitative memory disorders

Memory impairment - dysmnesias (quantitative disorders) are divided into several types by psychiatrists. The largest group is made up of various kinds of amnesia, in which memory loss occurs for a certain period of time. Types of amnesia:

• retrograde- occurs on the events preceding the traumatic, painful situation (for example, the period before the onset of an epileptic seizure);
• anterograde(temporal) - there is a fallout of events after a traumatic situation has occurred, the patient does not remember the period when he got to the hospital;
• fixative- memory impairment, in which current impressions are not remembered, a person at this moment can be completely disoriented in space and after a few seconds all actions in the current moment are forgotten by the patient forever;
• congrade - loss of state memory during delirium, oneiroid, amnesia in this case can be total or fragmentary;
• episodic - it also happens in healthy people when tired, for example, in drivers who are on the road for a long time, when they remember, they can vividly remember the beginning and end of the journey, forgetting what happened in between;
• children's- the inability to remember events that occur before the age of 3 - 4 years (normal);
• intoxication- with alcohol and drug intoxication;
• hysterical(catatim) - exclusion from the memory of traumatic events;
• affective- loss of events occurring during the affect.

Quantitative memory disorders include the following disorders:

• hypomnesia("Hidden memory") - the patient remembers only important events, in healthy people this can be expressed in weakness of memory for dates, names, terms;
• hypermnesia- an increased ability to remember past events that are irrelevant at the moment.

Short-term memory impairment

Psychiatry associates short-term memory disorders with many factors and causes, more often with concomitant diseases and stress factors. Short-term or primary, active memory is an important component of memory in general, its volume is 7 ± 2 units, and the retention of incoming information is 20 seconds, if there is no repetition, the trace of information after 30 seconds becomes very fragile. Short-term memory is very vulnerable, and in amnesia there is a loss of memory of events that happened from 15 seconds to 15 minutes ago.

Memory and speech impairment

Hearing-speech memory is based on the images captured by the auditory analyzer and the memorization of various sounds: music, noise, speech of another person, pronounced memory and speech disorders are characteristic of mentally retarded children and due to damage to the left temporal lobe of the brain during trauma or stroke, which leads to acoustic syndrome. - mnestic aphasia. Oral speech is poorly perceived by patients and out of 4 words spoken aloud reproduces only the first and last (edge ​​effect).

Thinking and memory disorders

All cognitive functions of the brain are interconnected, and if one function is disturbed, over time, others begin to suffer along the chain. Memory and intelligence disorders are observed in Alzheimer's disease, senile dementia. If we consider how a violation occurs, it can be cited as an example that a person performs many operations in his mind, which are stored in the form of experience with the help of short-term and long-term memory. With memory impairments, this experience synthesized by memory and thinking is lost.

Memory and attention disorder

All disorders of attention and memory have a negative impact on the memorization of events, situations and information. Types of impaired memory and attention:

• functional- occur when it is impossible to focus on a certain action, which is manifested by a deterioration in memorization, which is typical for ADHD in children, stress;
• organic- with oligophrenia, Down's syndrome, the development of dementia in the elderly.

Memory disorders in brain lesions

With the defeat of different parts of the brain, memory disorders have different clinical manifestations:

• defeat of the hippocampus and the "Peypets circle" - there is a gross amnesia for current everyday events, disorientation in space and time, patients complain that everything falls out of memory, and they are forced to write everything down in order to remember;
• damage to the medial and basal parts of the frontal lobes - characterized by confabulations and memory errors, patients are not critical to their amnesia;
• local lesions of the convexital departments - a violation of the mnestic function in any particular area;
• memory impairment after a stroke can be verbal (the patient cannot remember the names of objects, names of loved ones), visual - there is no memory for faces and shapes.

Memory impairment in a child

Basically, memory development disorders in children are associated with asthenic syndrome, which together represents high psycho-emotional stress, anxiety and depression. An unfavorable psychological climate, early deprivation, hypovitaminosis are also provoking amnesia in children. Often, children manifest hypomnesia, expressed in poor assimilation of educational material or other information, while along with memory impairment, all cognitive functions suffer.

Memory impairment in the elderly

Senile dementia or senile memory disorder, popularly referred to as senile insanity, is one of the most common memory disorders in the elderly. Dementia is also associated with diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Pick's. In addition to amnesia, the extinction of all thought processes is observed, dementia sets in with the degradation of the personality. Adverse factors in the development of dementia are cardiovascular diseases, atherosclerosis.

Symptoms of memory impairment

The symptoms of disorders are varied and depend on the forms in which memory disorders manifest themselves, in general, the symptoms can be as follows:

• loss of information, skills, both ordinary (brushing teeth) and related to the profession;
• disorientation in time and space;
• stable gaps for the “before” and “after” events;
• palimpsest - loss of individual events when intoxicated;
• confabulation - the replacement of memory gaps with information of a fantastic nature, in which the patient believes.

Diagnosis of memory disorders

The main memory disorders should be diagnosed by a doctor in order not to miss a serious concomitant disease (tumors, dementia, diabetes). Standard diagnostics includes a comprehensive examination:

• blood tests (general, biochemistry, hormones);
• magnetic resonance imaging (MRI);
• computed tomography (CT);
• positron emission tomography (PET).

Psychodiagnostics of memory disorders is based on the methods of A.R. Luria:

1. Learning 10 words. Diagnosis of mechanical memory. The psychologist or psychiatrist slowly calls out 10 words in order and asks the patient to repeat in any order. The procedure is repeated 5 times, and when repeated, the doctor notes how many of the 10 words were correctly named. Normally, after the 3rd repetition, all words are remembered. An hour later, the patient is asked to repeat 10 words (normally 8-10 words should be reproduced).
2. Associative series "words + pictures". Violations of logical memory. The therapist names the words and asks the patient to pick up a picture for each word, for example: a cow - milk, a tree - a forest. An hour later, the patient is presented with pictures with a request to name the words corresponding to the image. The number of words and the complexity-primitiveness in the compilation of the associative series are estimated.

There is such a thing as super memory, when a person is able to remember even the smallest details of what they saw or heard, everything they had ever dealt with.

In serious publications and official reference books, memory is called, first of all, not only a physiological phenomenon, but also a cultural one, the ability to store and accumulate life experience. It is divided into two categories: short-term and long-term, and their ratio varies significantly for each person. For example, if you are the owner of a long-term memory, then, most likely, remembering the material will not be easy for you, however, after years you will easily reproduce it. If the opposite is true, then you will remember everything you need, literally instantly, but after a week you won’t even remember what you once knew.

Causes of memory impairment.

To make them easier to understand, the causes of memory impairment were divided into several components:

1. Those associated with brain damage, such as traumatic brain injury, its oncological diseases and stroke;
2. Associated with the deterioration of the performance of other equally important organs;
3. Other adverse factors, such as sleep disturbance, constant stress, a sudden transition to a different lifestyle, increased stress on the brain, especially on memory.
4. Chronic abuse of alcohol, tobacco smoking, sedative drugs and hard drugs.
5. Changes associated with age.

Treatment of memory impairment in adults.

A person lives and does not even think about memory until he encounters a deterioration in memory, for example, forgetfulness and poor perception of information, a decrease in the volume of perception. Any minor process can put a bullet in your memory.

There are a lot of types of our memory: there are visual, motor, auditory and others. Someone remembers well if he hears the material, and someone if he sees it. It is easier for someone to write and remember, and for someone to imagine. This is how our memory is different.

Our brain is divided into zones, each of which is responsible for some function. For example, for hearing and speech - temporal regions, for vision and spatial perception - occipito-parietal, for movements of the hands and speech apparatus - lower parietal. There is such a disease - astereognosia, which occurs when the lower parietal region is damaged. With its development, a person ceases to feel objects.

It is now scientifically established that hormones play an important role in the processes of our thinking and memory. Estrogen, testosterone and other components improve learning, assimilation of new material, memory development, while oxytocin acts the other way around.

Diseases leading to memory impairment.

Memory problems arise on the basis of various diseases. For example, most often the culprits are traumatic brain injuries, because of which there are constantly complaints of memory impairment, and this depends on the severity of the injury. Also, with craniocerebral injuries, various kinds of amnesia occur: retrograde and anterograde. At the same time, the victim does not remember how he received this injury, nor what happened before. It happens that all this is accompanied by hallucinations and confabulations, that is, false memories that have settled in the human brain and were invented by him. That is, for example, when asked what he did the day before yesterday, the patient will say that he was at the opera, walked the dog, but in fact he was in the hospital all this time, because he was very sick. Hallucinations are images of something that does not exist.

One of the most common causes of impaired memory functionality is impaired blood circulation in the brain. With vascular atherosclerosis, there is a decrease in blood flow to all parts of the brain, which is the main provocateur of the development of acute cerebrovascular accident. Any type of stroke develops in the areas of the brain, and therefore the blood flow to it completely stops, which greatly disrupts their functioning.

Similar symptoms of memory impairment are also manifested in diabetes mellitus, one of the complications of which is damage to blood vessels, their thickening and closure. All these factors further lead to damage not only to the brain, but also to other important organs.

Such well-known diseases as inflammation of the membranes of the brain - meningitis and inflammation of the substance of the brain - encephalitis, are reflected in the entire work of this organ. And they arise due to damage to the nervous system by various viruses and bacteria. It is good that these diseases are curable with timely treatment to the hospital.

True, this cannot be said about diseases that are inherited, one of which is Alzheimer's disease. Most often, it occurs in elderly people and is characterized by a decrease in intelligence and memory loss up to a loss of orientation in the area. It begins imperceptibly, but as soon as you notice that memory is deteriorating and attention has begun to decline, consult a doctor, because it may be just her. A person does not remember recent events, begins to dream of the past, becomes a difficult and selfish person, apathy reigns over him. If he is not provided with the necessary treatment, then he will completely lose his bearings, will not recognize his family, and will not even be able to pronounce what date it is today. According to medical research, it has been established that Alzheimer's is mainly inherited. It is not curable, but if the patient is provided with the necessary treatment and care, then its process will proceed without consequences and complications, quietly and smoothly.

Memory can also deteriorate due to thyroid disease, that is, due to a lack of iodine in the body. A person will have a tendency to be overweight, apathy, depression, irritability and muscle swelling. To avoid this, you need to eat right, eat more iodine-containing foods, seafood, persimmon, seaweed, hard cheese and, of course, dairy products and nuts.

But forgetfulness should not always be equated with memory diseases, because sometimes a person consciously wants and tries to forget the difficult moments of his life, unpleasant and tragic events. This is a kind of human protection, and this should not be scared.

When a person represses unpleasant facts from his memory, this is repression, when he believes that nothing happened, this is denial, and when he takes out his negative emotions on another object, this is substitution, and all these are the main mechanisms for protecting the human mind. For example, after troubles at work, the husband comes home and takes out his irritability and anger on his beloved wife. To consider such cases as memory problems is possible only when it happens constantly, day after day. In addition, the forgotten negative emotions that you did not express, but suppressed in yourself, will eventually turn into neurosis and long-term depression.

Treatment of memory impairment.

Before you begin to treat memory impairment, you must first understand what disease caused this process. It is advisable to use drugs only as prescribed by a doctor, but no matter how independently.

Physiotherapeutic methods can be used, for example, electrophoresis with the introduction of a glutamic acid preparation through the nose.

For patients with memory impairment, psychological and pedagogical treatment is also successfully used. The teacher helps and teaches the patient to memorize again, while only healthy areas of the brain are involved in the process. For example, if the patient cannot remember the phrases spoken aloud, then if he mentally imagines this image, he will be able to remember at least the whole text. True, this is a very long and laborious process, work on oneself, which involves not only memorizing with the help of other possibilities, but also bringing this technique to automatism, when the patient will no longer think about how to do it.

A sharp deterioration in memory is not a disease at all, but a warning symptom that indicates that you have another, more serious disease that should be identified and treated. Moreover, it prevents a person from living a full life and separates him from society, worsens adaptive properties and functions.

If you have been diagnosed with memory impairment, then doctors will most likely prescribe you nootropic drugs that you will take. For example, a drug from a new series of drugs belonging to the group of nootropics - Noopept. It contains the most important amino acids for the human body - dipeptides, which, by acting on the neurons of the cerebral cortex, help restore memory and improve concentration. This drug acts on all stages of memory recovery and improvement: on the initial processing of information, its generalization and extraction. It also increases the resistance of the human body to such damaging factors as alcohol, drugs, tobacco, head injuries and various injuries.

Which doctor to contact in case of memory impairment.

If you notice in yourself or your loved ones symptoms of memory impairment similar to those described above, then you should contact a neurologist, neuropsychologist or therapist who will conduct special examinations. If you do not want to wait for a doctor's verdict, then you can start acting on your own. It has long been known that the main cause of complaints is not a violation of memory, but the usual lack of due attention, when the information conveyed is remembered fleetingly and is not taken seriously. Such manifestations of inattention are usually characteristic of already elderly people, although, of course, they also occur in young people. To overcome this syndrome, you need to constantly work on yourself and train, focusing your attention on important details, writing down events, keeping a diary and learning how to do mental calculations.

This method is very popular and is literally described in the book of the American professor Lawrence Katz. According to him, these techniques activate the work of all parts of the brain, develop memory, attention and creativity.

Here are some of the exercises in the book:

1. Habitual things should be done with closed eyes, not with open ones;
2. If you are left-handed, then do everything with your right hand, if you are right-handed, then vice versa, for example, if you wrote, brushed your teeth, stroked, drew with your left hand, then start doing it with your right hand, we assure you, you will immediately feel the result;
3. Learn Braille, that is, a reading system for the blind, or learn the basics of sign language - this will come in handy;
4. Type on the keyboard with all fingers of both hands;
5. Learn some kind of needlework, such as knitting or embroidery;
6. Speak in unknown languages ​​and learn them as much as possible;
7. Distinguish coins by touch and determine their value;
8. Read about things you've never been interested in.
9. Go to new places, institutions, theaters, parks, meet new people, communicate more.

That's basically all you need to know about the insidious memory impairment, treatment and symptoms of this disease. Follow these rules, know how to improve your memory and be healthy!

Symptoms and causes of short-term memory loss

First symptoms of memory loss

• dementia
• visual impairment
• depression
• muscle coordination disorder

A person with short-term memory loss remembers events from a year ago, but cannot recall the details of what happened 15 minutes ago.

Progressive memory loss can be a frightening experience. Therefore, it is very important that the symptoms of short-term memory loss are recognized in time, as they may indicate the presence of a disease of the brain or spinal cord.

Sometimes this memory loss significantly affects daily life and causes certain problems. The person may become unable to properly carry out their daily activities. Memory loss, especially memory loss that allows you to remember recently acquired information, is often the first symptom of dementia (progressive loss of memory and other aspects of the thinking process), and if not treated promptly, can worsen over time. Therefore, everyone should be aware of the symptoms of short-term memory loss and its effects. Early diagnosis and prompt treatment can improve a person's memory.

Anxiety and depression. Anxiety and depression can cause chemical imbalances in the brain that can eventually seriously affect memory. These conditions often lead to an inability to concentrate. In some cases, a person cannot stop their attention on what others are saying, or focus on their work. Therefore, under conditions of stress or confusion, his ability to remember things is significantly negatively affected.

Stroke. This is a very common cause of memory loss in older people. A stroke leads to a violation of blood flow to the brain (even for a few minutes). A person can remember events from childhood, but is unable to say what he ate for breakfast.

Psychic trauma. The brain naturally tries to block any traumatic experience. The central nervous system attempts to remove some of the painful memories, which can sometimes cause short-term memory loss. As mentioned above, severe stress resulting from emotional trauma can also cause such a violation.

Brain injury. Any brain injury can lead to short-term memory loss. Memory usually improves gradually over time.

Substance abuse. This disorder can also be triggered by excessive alcohol consumption or the use of drugs such as marijuana. Even excessive smoking, by changing the capacity of the lungs, leads to the fact that the brain receives less oxygen than required. This can greatly affect a person's memory.

Other common reasons. The human brain and short-term memory can also be affected by: nutritional deficiencies (especially lack of vitamins B 1 and B 12), excessive use of drugs (antidepressants, tranquilizers, muscle relaxants, etc.), lack of sleep (insomnia), thyroid dysfunction, Alzheimer's disease, and serious infections such as HIV, tuberculosis, syphilis, etc.

Symptoms associated with memory loss

Dementia. This disorder is progressive in nature and is characterized by incoherent thoughts and confusion.

Violation of vision. Visual impairment may not always occur, it is usually observed in cases of brain injury, accompanied by memory loss.

Decreased cognitive ability. Cognitive activity (the process of cognition) is the physiological result of perception, learning and thinking. Facing cognitive decline can be a very traumatic symptom.

Violation of muscle coordination. This symptom is most often observed in certain diseases of the brain and spinal cord.

Mind games. There are many brain games and exercises that can improve a person's memory (for example, memorizing a list of things and listing them after a 5-minute break). You should play these games as often as possible.

Medications and psychiatric drugs. There are many different medications that improve a person's memory, but they must be taken exactly as recommended by the doctor. These drugs can have a direct effect on the central nervous system, so extreme caution should be exercised when taking them. A person who experiences short-term memory loss may also suffer from a variety of psychiatric problems. In this case, psychiatric drugs may be included in the number of drugs prescribed to him.

Diet and exercise. A nutritious diet and regular exercise increase the body's ability to transport oxygen to brain cells, which can help improve brain function.

Symptoms of short-term memory loss can vary from person to person. Memory loss is a condition that requires careful monitoring. In most cases, short-term memory loss is reversible with treatment, but the success rate depends on many different factors, such as the cause of the memory loss, the severity of the accompanying symptoms, the patient's overall response to treatment, the timing of diagnosis, and the type of treatment.

What doctors say about memory loss (video)

Warning: The information in this article is for educational purposes only and should not be used as a substitute for the advice of a medical professional.

Photo: fichemetier.fr, 92newshd.tv, calcagnodds.com

Violation of short-term memory causes

The ability of each person to remember current events is individual and depends on the state of mind and the content of the information. Researchers believe that the so-called short-term memory is responsible for the ability to remember information about current actions. Sudden memory loss can be stressful not only for the person himself, but also for his loved ones. When short-term memory loss occurs without a specific cause, a doctor should be consulted immediately.

The more attention a person pays to the process they are busy with, the more likely it is that memories of it will be deposited in long-term memory.

At the first signs of a violation of the memorization mechanism, it is necessary to abandon alcohol and drugs.

Recording everyday activities and events will help you remember a certain period of time.

Healthy sleep helps to cope with memory loss - every day you need to get at least 8 hours of sleep.

Saying phrases out loud makes them easier to remember.

Perhaps the most necessary measure in the fight against memory loss is the constant activity of both the body and the brain - proper blood circulation and a healthy lifestyle will prevent irreversible brain damage.

Information

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Memory disorders

Memory disorders are one of the most common disorders that significantly impair a person's quality of life. There are two main types of them - quantitative disorders, which are manifested in the loss, weakening or strengthening of memory traces, and qualitative disorders (paramnesia), expressed in the appearance of false memories, in a mixture of reality, past, present and imaginary.

This symptom manifests itself in the form of the following diseases:

1. Amnesia, which can take various forms, but in general is characterized by a loss of memory for various periods of time, the loss of various information or skills.
2. Hypomnesia - is characterized primarily by a weakening of the ability to reproduce and memorize various reference data - names, numbers, terms and names, i.e. memory functions are affected unevenly.
3. Hypermnesia is, on the contrary, a pathological exacerbation of memory. Often occurs in manic states and the initial stages of alcohol and drug intoxication.
4. Paramnesias are qualitative disorders, they are quite difficult to clearly classify, since the symptoms are quite complex. With these diseases, what is seen, experienced or told for the first time is perceived by a person as something familiar that happened to him before. The illusion of recognition also applies to these disorders.

The reasons

There are actually a lot of reasons for memory loss. This is an asthenic syndrome - anxiety and depression, alcoholism, dementia, chronic diseases, intoxication, micronutrient deficiencies, traumatic brain injuries, as well as age-related changes. Below we consider the reasons why such disorders may occur in different age groups of patients.

In children

The main causes of disorders in children are congenital mental retardation and acquired conditions, expressed in hypomnesia - a deterioration in the process of memorizing and reproducing information, or amnesia - loss of memory of individual episodes.

Amnesia in children can be a consequence of trauma, mental illness, coma, or poisoning, such as alcohol. However, partial memory impairment in children is most common due to the complex effect of several factors, such as an unfavorable psychological climate in the children's team or in the family, asthenic conditions (including due to frequent acute respiratory viral infections), and hypovitaminosis.

In adults

The reasons why memory impairments can occur in adults are perhaps the most. This is the impact of stressful situations at work and at home, and the presence of all kinds of diseases of the nervous system, such as Parkinson's disease or encephalitis. Of course, alcoholism and drug addiction, mental illnesses - depression, schizophrenia, neuroses lead to such disorders.

An important factor that can greatly affect the ability to remember are somatic diseases, during which there is damage to the vessels of the brain and, as a result, a violation of cerebral circulation.

These are diabetes, hypertension, atherosclerosis, thyroid pathology.

In the elderly

In older people, almost all memory impairments are also associated with a deterioration in cerebral circulation due to age-related changes in the vessels. With age, the normal metabolic process also changes in nerve cells. A separate cause of memory impairment in the elderly is Alzheimer's disease.

As a rule, during the natural aging process, memory decline occurs rather slowly. At first, it becomes more difficult to remember the events that just happened. Patients during this period may experience fear, depression, self-doubt.

One way or another, 50-75% of people in old age complain about memory impairment. However, as already noted, in most cases this process is slow and does not lead to serious problems or a significant deterioration in the quality of life. However, the process can also take on severe forms, when memory begins to deteriorate rapidly. If in this case you do not resort to treatment, then, as a rule, the patient develops senile dementia.

Learn about what to do if you suspect Alzheimer's disease. Warning signs and factors in the development of the disease.

Brain ischemia can also be the cause of poor memory. Read about it here.

Diagnostics

To determine if a person has problems, various diagnostic methods have been developed. Although it is necessary to understand that all methods are averaged, since people differ greatly in individual characteristics, and it is rather difficult to determine what a “normal” memory is. However, below are a few techniques for checking the memory status.

Diagnosis of visual and auditory memory

For the implementation of the diagnosis, cards are used that depict various objects. In total, 60 cards are required, which will be used in two series - 30 in each.

Each card from the stack is sequentially shown to the patient with an interval of 2 seconds. After showing all 30 cards, it is necessary to take a break of 10 seconds, after which the patient will repeat the images that he managed to remember. Moreover, the latter are allowed to be called in a chaotic order, that is, the sequence is not important. After checking the result, the percentage of correct answers is determined.

Under the same conditions, the patient is shown a second stack of 30 cards. If the results differ greatly, then this will indicate poor concentration of attention and unstable mnestic function. If during the test an adult correctly names the pictures, then he is considered one hundred percent healthy.

The patient's auditory memory is checked in a similar way, only the images on the cards are not shown to him, but are pronounced aloud. A repeated series of words is pronounced on another day. One hundred percent result - the correct indication of the words.

memorization method

The subject is read a dozen two-syllable words, the semantic connection between which cannot be established. The doctor repeats this sequence from two to four times, after which the subject himself names the words that he can remember. Repeatedly the patient is invited to name the same words in half an hour. Correct and mismatched responses are recorded, after which a conclusion is made about the level of attention of the patient.

There is also a method for memorizing artificial words (for example, roland, whitefish, etc.) that do not carry any semantic load. The patient is read 10 such simple sound combinations, after which the subject repeats the words that he managed to remember. A healthy patient will be able to reproduce all the words without exception after 5-7 repetitions by the doctor.

Prevention

The best prevention of memory loss is a healthy lifestyle. It is also necessary to treat somatic diseases - diabetes, hypertension, etc. in a timely manner and in strict accordance with medical recommendations. It is important for prevention and compliance with the normal mode of work and rest, sufficient sleep - at least 7 hours.

No need to overdo all kinds of diets. You need to understand that about 20% of the energy received by the body with food goes just to meet the needs of the brain. Therefore, a balanced diet must be selected.

Priority should be given to foods made from whole grains, vegetables, oily fish, etc.

It must also be remembered that the water balance of the body also has an extremely negative effect on the nervous system and, accordingly, the risk of memory impairment. Dehydration should not be allowed, for this you need to consume 2 liters of fluid per day.

Most importantly, remember that normal positive communication with friends and relatives, work activity, albeit minimal, maintaining social activity is the key to maintaining a healthy brain until old age.

The doctor's story about the problem in question in the following video:

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Memory disorders at different ages, causes of pathology and ways to solve the problem

Memory impairment is a pathological condition characterized by the inability to fully remember and use the information received. According to statistics, about a quarter of the world's population suffers from various degrees of memory impairment. The most pronounced and most often this problem is faced by the elderly, they can experience both episodic memory impairment and permanent ones.

Causes of memory impairment

There are quite a lot of factors and reasons that affect the quality of assimilation of information, and they are not always associated with disorders caused by age-related changes. The main reasons include:

• asthenic syndrome. This is the most common cause in people of all ages. Asthenic syndrome is a consequence of overstrain, stress, somatic pathologies, etc.;
• result of intoxication. The ability to perceive information is mainly influenced by alcohol. Its toxic substances cause general disturbances in the body and directly in the structure of the brain. People suffering from alcoholism often suffer from memory loss and lapses;
• stroke and other pathologies associated with impaired blood circulation in the vessels of the brain;
• traumatic brain injury;
• tumors in brain structures;
• mental illness, such as schizophrenia. Also, congenital mental retardation, one option is Down syndrome;
• Alzheimer's disease.

Memory impairment in the elderly

Complete or partial memory loss accompanies 50 to 75% of all elderly people. The most common cause of such a problem is the deterioration of blood circulation in the vessels of the brain, caused by age-related changes. In addition, in the process of structure, changes affect all structures of the body, including metabolic functions in neurons, on which the ability to perceive information directly depends. Also, memory impairment in old age can be the cause of a serious pathology, such as Alzheimer's disease.

Symptoms in older people begin with forgetfulness. Further, there are problems with short-term memory, when a person forgets the events that have just happened to him. Such conditions often lead to depressive states, fears and self-doubt.

In the normal aging process of the body, even in extreme old age, memory loss does not occur to such an extent that it could affect the normal rhythm. The memory function decreases very slowly and does not lead to its complete loss. But in cases where there are pathological abnormalities in the functioning of the brain, older people may suffer from such a problem. In this case, supportive treatment is required, otherwise the condition may develop into senile dementia, as a result of which the patient loses the ability to remember even the elementary data necessary in everyday life.

It is possible to slow down the process of memory deterioration, but this issue should be dealt with in advance, long before old age. The main prevention of dementia in old age is mental work and a healthy lifestyle.

Children's disorders

Not only the elderly, but also children can face the problem of memory impairment. This may be due to deviations, often mental, that arose even in the fetal period. An important role in congenital memory problems is influenced by genetic diseases, in particular Down syndrome.

In addition to a birth defect, there may be acquired disorders. They are caused by:

• skull injuries, more often in this condition amnesia occurs (loss of individual fragments from memory);
• mental illness, very often partial memory loss is observed in children with schizophrenia;
• severe intoxication of the body, including alcohol;
• asthenic conditions, a common cause in children is systematically recurring infectious, viral diseases;
• vision problems directly affect the deterioration of perception. Since almost 80% of information a person receives through visual perception, if there is no such possibility and the entire load goes only to auditory memory, the memorization process increases significantly.

Short term memory problems

Our memory consists of short-term and long-term. Short-term allows us to assimilate the information that we receive at the moment, such a process lasts from a few seconds to a day. Short-term memory has a small amount, therefore, within a short period of time, the brain decides to move the information received to long-term storage or erase it as unnecessary.

For example, information about when you cross the road and look around, you see a silver car moving in your direction. This information is important exactly as long as you have not crossed the road to stop and wait for the car to pass, but after that there is no need for this episode, and the information is erased. Another situation is when you met a person and learned his name and remembered his general appearance. This information will remain in memory for a longer period, how much it will depend on whether you will have to see this person again or not, but it can be stored even with a one-time meeting for years.

Short-term memory is vulnerable and the first suffers from the development of pathological conditions that can affect it. With its violations, the learning ability of a person decreases, forgetfulness and the inability to concentrate on a particular object are observed. At the same time, a person can remember well what happened to him a year or even a decade ago, but cannot remember what he did or what he thought a couple of minutes ago.

Short-term memory lapses are often observed in schizophrenia, senile dementia and the use of drugs or alcohol. But there may be other reasons for this condition, in particular tumors in the brain structures, injuries, and even chronic fatigue syndrome.

Symptoms of memory impairment can develop either instantly, for example, after an injury, or occur gradually as a result of schizophrenia or age-related changes.

memory and schizophrenia

Patients with schizophrenia in their anamnesis have many disorders from the side of disorders of intellectual abilities. Organic lesions of brain structures are absent in schizophrenia, but despite this, dementia develops over the course of the disease, which is accompanied by loss of short-term memory.

In addition, people with schizophrenia have impaired associative memory and the ability to concentrate. It all depends on the form of schizophrenia, in many cases memory is preserved for a long time and its violations occur after years and even decades against the background of developed dementia. An interesting fact is that people with schizophrenia have, as it were, a “double memory”, they may not remember certain memories at all, but, despite this, they clearly remember other episodes from life.

memory and stroke

In the case of a stroke, when a clot clogs the blood vessels of the brain, many functions suffer. Often, memory lapses and motor and speech disorders are distinguished from the consequences after such a state. After such a state, people can remain paralyzed, the right or left side of the body is taken away, facial expressions are distorted, due to atrophy of nerve endings, and much more.

Regarding memory, in the first time after a stroke, there may be complete amnesia for all events that occurred before the onset of the disease. With extensive strokes, total amnesia can be observed, when patients cannot recognize even the people closest to them.

As a rule, despite the seriousness of the pathology, with proper rehabilitation, the patient's memory in most cases returns, almost completely.

Therapeutic actions

Memory loss or deterioration is always a secondary process caused by one or another pathological process. Therefore, in order to prescribe the appropriate treatment, it is necessary to initially identify the cause that led to such consequences and treat it directly. Further correction of memory occurs already against the background of the treatment of the underlying disease. Restoring memory functions requires:

• treatment of the primary disease;
• drug therapy to improve brain activity;
• balanced diet;
• rejection of bad habits;
• performing special exercises aimed at developing memory.

From drug treatment, nootropic drugs are prescribed to improve thinking and brain metabolism. Piracetam is the most commonly used nootropic drug. Of the herbal remedies, bilobil is used, it indirectly affects the metabolism in the brain and, as a rule, is well tolerated.

The diet should be designed in such a way that it contains a sufficient amount of acids, B vitamins, and magnesium.

Note! With any pathological changes, only a doctor should prescribe treatment, uncontrolled intake of nootropic drugs can aggravate the situation.

If you want to keep a good memory for many years and not feel the discomfort associated with excessive forgetfulness even in late old age, it is important to deal with this issue from your youth. By following a healthy lifestyle, watching your diet, getting enough sleep, giving up bad habits and engaging in self-education, you can achieve significant results in improving not only memory, but also thinking, attention and intelligence.

Diagnosis and treatment of memory disorders

Memory is one of the most important functions of the central nervous system, the ability to store, store and reproduce the necessary information. Memory impairment is one of the symptoms of neurological or neuropsychiatric pathology, and may be the only criterion of the disease.

Memory is short-term and long-term. Short-term memory postpones the seen, heard information for several minutes, more often without comprehending the content. Long-term memory analyzes the received information, structures it and postpones it for an indefinite period.

The causes of memory impairment in children and adults may be different.

Causes of memory impairment in children: frequent colds, anemia, traumatic brain injury, stressful situations, alcohol consumption, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, congenital mental retardation (for example, with Down syndrome).

Causes of memory impairment in adults:

• Acute disorders of cerebral circulation (ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes)
• Chronic disorders of cerebral circulation - dyscirculatory encephalopathy, most often the result of atherosclerotic vascular lesions and hypertension, when the brain is chronically deprived of oxygen. Dyscirculatory encephalopathy is one of the most common causes of memory loss in adults.
• Traumatic brain injury
• Dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system. It is characterized by a violation of the regulation of the cardiovascular, as well as the respiratory and digestive systems. May be an integral part of endocrine disorders. It occurs more often in young people and requires consultation with a neurologist and endocrinologist.
• stressful situations
• brain tumors
• Vertebrobasilar insufficiency (deterioration of brain function due to reduced blood flow in the vertebral and basilar arteries)
• Mental illness (schizophrenia, epilepsy, depression)
• Alzheimer's disease
• Alcoholism and drug addiction
• Memory disorders in intoxication and metabolic disorders, hormonal disorders

memory loss or hypomania often combined with the so-called asthenic syndrome, which is characterized by increased fatigue, nervousness, changes in blood pressure, headaches. Asthenic syndrome, as a rule, occurs with hypertension, traumatic brain injury, autonomic dysfunction and mental illness, as well as with drug addiction and alcoholism.

At amnesia some fragments of events fall out of memory. There are several types of amnesia:

1. Retrograde amnesia is a memory impairment in which a fragment of an event that occurred before the injury falls out of memory (more often this occurs after a TBI)
2. Anterograde amnesia is a memory impairment in which a person does not remember the event that occurred after the injury, before the injury, the events are stored in the memory. (this also happens after a traumatic brain injury)
3. Fixation amnesia - poor memory for current events
4. Total amnesia - a person does not remember anything, even information about himself is erased.
5. Progressive amnesia - memory loss that cannot be dealt with, from present to past (occurs in Alzheimer's disease)

hypermania- memory impairment, in which a person easily remembers a large amount of information for a long time, is considered as a variant of the norm, if there are no other symptoms indicating a mental illness (for example, epilepsy) or data on the use of psychoactive substances.

Decreased concentration

Memory and attention disorders also include the inability to focus on specific objects:

1. Attention instability or distractibility, when a person cannot concentrate on the topic under discussion (often combined with memory loss, occurs in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, in adolescence, with schizophrenia (hebephrenia, a form of schizophrenia))
2. Rigidity - slowness of switching from one topic to another (observed in patients with epilepsy)
3. Insufficient concentration of attention (may be a feature of temperament and behavior)

For all types of memory disorders, it is necessary to consult a general practitioner (neurologist, psychiatrist, neurosurgeon) for an accurate diagnosis. The doctor finds out whether the patient had a traumatic brain injury, whether memory impairment has been observed for a long time, what diseases the patient has (hypertension, diabetes mellitus), whether he uses alcohol and drugs.

The doctor may prescribe a complete blood count, analysis of biochemical blood parameters and blood tests for hormones to rule out memory impairment as a result of intoxication, metabolic and hormonal disorders; as well as MRI, CT, PET (positron emission tomography), in which you can see a brain tumor, hydrocephalus, distinguish vascular brain damage from degenerative. Ultrasound and duplex scanning of the vessels of the head and neck are necessary to assess the condition of the vessels of the head and neck; MRI of the vessels of the head and neck can also be done separately. EEG is essential for diagnosing epilepsy.

Treatment of memory disorders

After establishing the diagnosis, the doctor proceeds to treat the underlying disease and correct cognitive impairment.

Acute (ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke) and chronic (dyscirculatory encephalopathy) cerebrovascular insufficiency are a consequence of cardiovascular diseases, so therapy should be directed to the underlying pathological processes of cerebrovascular insufficiency: arterial hypertension, atherosclerosis of the main arteries of the head, heart disease.

The presence of hemodynamically significant atherosclerosis of the main arteries requires the appointment of antiplatelet agents (acetylsalicylic acid in dosemg / day, clopidogrel at a dose of 75 mg / day.

The presence of hyperlipidemia (one of the most important indicators of hyperlipidemia is elevated cholesterol), which cannot be corrected by diet, requires the appointment of statins (Simvastatin, Atorvastatin).

It is important to combat risk factors for cerebral ischemia: smoking, physical inactivity, diabetes mellitus, obesity.

In the presence of cerebrovascular insufficiency, it is advisable to prescribe drugs that act mainly on small vessels. This is the so-called neuroprotective therapy. Neuroprotective therapy refers to any strategy that protects cells from death due to ischemia (lack of oxygen).

Nootropic drugs are divided into neuroprotective drugs and direct-acting nootropics.

Neuroprotective drugs include:

1. Phosphodiesterase inhibitors: Eufillin, Pentoxifylline, Vinpocetine, Tanakan. The vasodilating effect of these drugs is due to an increase in cAMP (a special enzyme) in the smooth muscle cells of the vascular wall, which leads to relaxation and an increase in their lumen.
2. Calcium channel blockers: Cinnarizine, Flunarizine, Nimodipine. It has a vasodilating effect due to a decrease in the calcium content inside the smooth muscle cells of the vascular wall.
3. Blockers of α 2-adrenergic receptors: Nicergoline. This drug eliminates the vasoconstrictive effect of adrenaline and norepinephrine.
4. Antioxidants are a group of drugs that slow down the processes of so-called oxidation that occur during ischemia (lack of oxygen) of the brain. These drugs include: Mexidol, Emoksipin.

Direct acting nootropics include:

1. Neuropeptides. They contain amino acids (proteins) necessary to improve the functioning of the brain. One of the most used drugs in this group is Cerebrolysin. According to modern concepts, the clinical effect occurs with the introduction of this drug into the ground intravenously in 200 ml of saline, for a course of necessary injections. Also this group of drugs includes Cortexin, Actovegin.
2. One of the first drugs to improve memory was Piracetam (Nootropil), belongs to the group of nootropics that have a direct effect. It increases the resistance of brain tissue to hypoxia (lack of oxygen), improves memory, mood in sick and healthy people by normalizing neurotransmitters (biologically active chemicals through which nerve impulses are transmitted). Recently, the appointment of this drug in early prescribed dosages is considered ineffective, to achieve a clinical effect, a dosage of 4-12 g / day is necessary, it is more advisable to give intravenous administration of piracetam per 200 ml of saline, for a course of necessary injections.

Herbal preparations to improve memory

Ginkgo biloba extract (Bilobil, Ginko) refers to drugs that improve cerebral and peripheral circulation

If we are talking about dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system, in which there are also disorders of the nervous system due to insufficient absorption of oxygen by the brain, then nootropic drugs can also be used, as well as, if necessary, sedatives and antidepressants. With arterial hypotension, it is possible to use such herbal preparations as tincture of ginseng, Chinese magnolia vine. Physiotherapy and massage are also recommended. With dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system, it is also necessary to consult an endocrinologist in order to exclude a possible pathology of the thyroid gland.

Therapy with nootropic drugs is used for any memory impairment, taking into account the correction of the underlying disease.

Therapist Evgenia Kuznetsova

Memory is a mental process of capturing, preserving and reproducing past experience.

The strength of memory depends on the degree of concentration of attention on the incoming information, the emotional attitude (interest) to it, as well as on the general condition of the person, the degree of training, the nature of mental processes. A person's conviction that the information is useful, combined with his increased activity in memorizing it, is an important condition for the assimilation of new knowledge.

Types of memory according to the storage time of the material:
1) instantaneous (iconic) - thanks to this memory, a complete and accurate picture of what the sense organs have only perceived is retained for 0.1-0.5 s, while no processing of the information received is performed;
2) short-term (KP) - is able to store information for a short period of time and in a limited amount.
Typically, most people have a CP volume of 7 ± 2 units.
In the CP, only the most significant information, a generalized image, is recorded;
3) operational (OP) - functions for a predetermined time (from several seconds to several days) depending on the task that needs to be solved, after which the information can be deleted;
4) long-term (LT) - information is stored for an indefinitely long period.
DP contains the material that a practically healthy person must remember at any time: his name, patronymic, surname, place of birth, capital of the Motherland, etc.
In humans, DP and CP are inextricably linked.

Memory disorders

Hypomnesia- violation of short-term memory (memory loss, forgetfulness).
Fixation hypomnesia is a disorder in remembering current events.
Hypomnesia is normal with severe fatigue, psychopathy, alcoholism, drug addiction.

Amnesia- Violation of long-term memory (memory loss, memory loss).
Retrograde amnesia is the disappearance from memory of events preceding the trauma.
Anterograde amnesia is the disappearance from memory of events following the injury.
Congrade amnesia - loss of memory only for a period of direct impairment of consciousness.
Perforation amnesia (palimpsest) - loss of memory for part of the events.
Amnesia occurs in organic brain lesions, neurotic disorders (dissociative amnesia), alcoholism, drug addiction.

Paramnesia- distorted and false memories (memory errors).
Pseudo-reminiscences(illusions of memory, paramnesia) - erroneous memories of events.
Confabulations(memory hallucinations) - memories of what was not.
Cryptomnesia- inability to remember the source of information (the event was in reality, in a dream or a movie).
Paramnesias are found in schizophrenia, dementia, organic lesions, Korsakov's syndrome, progressive paralysis.

In addition, there is hypermnesia- pathological increased ability to memorize.
Hypermnesia occurs with manic syndrome, taking psychotropic drugs (marijuana, LSD, etc.), at the beginning of an epileptic seizure.

Ribot's law

Ribot's law- decrease in memory by the type of "memory reverse". With memory impairments, memories of recent events first become inaccessible, then the mental activity of the subject begins to be disturbed; feelings and habits are lost; finally, instinctive memory disintegrates. In cases of memory recovery, the same steps occur in reverse order.

The main function of the mental activity of the brain is its ability to remember and reproduce learned information at the right time. It is thanks to the properties of memory that a person has memories, experience, knowledge. An individual is able to operate with information without coming into contact with it in real life. must be protected, otherwise various causes can lead to the appearance of symptoms of its violation, which will require serious treatment.

It is unlikely that a person who suffers from memory impairment will be able to note this. Indeed, often a violation of this brain function is accompanied by impaired thinking and even a critical assessment of one's health. That is why the specialists of the website of the psychiatric help site recommend that relatives of the patient contact doctors for help.

Memory impairment can be a consequence of the development of a brain disease, its injury, underdevelopment from birth, or a decrease in the amount of blood flow, which leads to tissue atrophy and insufficiency of the departments. Also, one should not exclude mental illnesses, which often provoke memory impairment, and senile brain diseases with tissue atrophy, which also leads to a decrease in memorization and reproduction of information.

The most well-known forms of memory impairment are:

1. Loss of short-term or long-term memory.

If the causes that provoked the violation are reversible, then the memory can be restored. However, if the causes are associated with atrophic processes in the brain, then, most likely, the memory will no longer be completely restored.

What is memory impairment?

Memory impairment is the same unpleasant phenomenon as the loss of the full functionality of other areas of the brain. After all, memory is responsible for strengthening, assimilation and reproduction of information. How will a person live if he cannot remember something or his memories disappear altogether? A memory impairment is a symptom in which a person is unable to remember and reproduce specific types of information.

There are two types of memory impairment:

1. Qualitative - when a person does not remember events, he begins to invent them.
2. Quantitative - when a person is not able to remember little or a lot of information compared to the natural ability of memory.

There are many reasons for the development of memory impairment. In this regard, in some cases, memory can be restored, but not in others.

For example, many people become forgetful as a result of severe overwork, abuse of drugs or alcohol, long work without rest, absorption of a large amount of information, in a state of illness and even depression. If a person does not feel well, then he becomes less able to remember and even more so reproduce information.

However, there are conditions that can no longer be completely reversed, and the treatment process itself will be very long. So, a well-known form of memory impairment - dementia - is also accompanied by a decrease in mental activity.

Before proceeding to treatment, it is necessary to find out the causes of the development of memory impairment. If a person is healthy at all levels, then he is simply advised to take a break from everyday affairs. If a person has begun to lose memory as a result of depression, then the help of a psychologist is recommended, who will eliminate the cause (the problem that caused depression), and not restore memory (which will be restored immediately, as the depression is eliminated).

If the cause of memory impairment is various physiological diseases, then doctors are involved in the treatment. Memory can be restored, or it can remain lost forever.

Causes of memory impairment

There are many reasons for the development of memory impairment:

1. asthenic condition.
2. body intoxication.
3. Depletion of the body.
4. High anxiety.
5. Traumatic brain injury.
6. fatigue.
7. Depressive state.
8. Age changes.
9. Alcoholism.
10. Micronutrient deficiency.
11. Circulatory disorders in the brain.
12. long-term stressors.
13. Diseases of the nervous system, such as Parkinson's disease or.
14. neuroses.
15. Various mental illnesses.

In young children, memory impairment may be due to underdevelopment of the brain or congenital causes. So, hypomnesia (inability to remember and reproduce information) or amnesia (loss of memory of some event or time) may develop. Acquired causes of memory impairment in children are:

• Injuries of a mental or physical nature.
• Severe poisoning.
• Mental illness.
• asthenic condition.
• Unfavorable environment in the family or children's team.
• Hypovitaminosis.

However, already from the first days of life, the baby may experience memory impairment for the following reasons:

1. Prolonged chronic illness of the mother during pregnancy.
2. Difficult pregnancy and difficult childbirth.
3. Birth trauma.

Why do people not remember the events that happen to them after birth, in infancy, in very early childhood? Such "amnesia" occurs at the age of 7 years. At 5-7 years old, a child remembers from 63 to 72% of everything that happens to him at an early age, and at 8-9 years old, only 35% of memories remain. Not everything is erased from a person's memory, but most cannot be reproduced at an older age.

What explains this childhood "amnesia"? hippocampal instability. Until the age of 7, he does not remember information very well. However, after 5-7 years, neurons begin to develop, establish new connections, which is why the old information is lost. We are talking about the fact that the brain forgets everything that was learned in the first years of life and ceases to be used in a later period. That is why a person remembers how to walk, talk, draw, read, if he continues to use these skills at a later age. But the child does not remember the events that happened to him and were not of great importance.

Why this is so conceived by nature, still remains a mystery. Perhaps the psyche protects itself from traumatic events that could happen to the child during this period. Perhaps the need for neurons to establish new connections, which are reinforced by the child's increased learning and acquisition of new knowledge, blocks access to previous information. But all people are faced with the fact that they cannot remember most of their early life, when they were just born and explored the world from a stroller.

Memory functions are affected by human nutrition. It is one thing when a person eats poorly, because of which his body does not receive the necessary trace elements, which leads to memory impairment. Another thing is when a person has diseases of the vascular-cardiac system, because of which blood circulation in the brain is disturbed, which also leads to memory impairment.

Do not forget about the age of the patient. Having crossed the line of 60 years, a person may encounter forgetfulness. It's good if he just forgets some information. But it will be much more difficult for a person to live in society and provide for himself if he develops atrophic processes and other brain diseases. For example, Alzheimer's disease deprives a person not only of memory, but also of personality as a whole.

Iodine deficiency in the body, which enters the thyroid gland, which in turn produces hormones involved in metabolic processes, also contributes to memory impairment. Various thyroid diseases due to iodine deficiency can be easily eliminated by starting to consume foods high in this element.

Symptoms of memory impairment

Memory impairment should not be confused with ordinary forgetfulness and even inattention. In the first case, treatment is required, which often involves taking special medications. In the second case, a person may simply be tired or preoccupied, which can be eliminated, as a result of which the memory will restore its functions again. What are the symptoms of memory impairment?

Memory stores a large amount of different information. Depending on what exactly a person cannot do and what information is not remembered, the following types of violations are distinguished:

1. Figurative violations - when a person forgets some items.
2. Motor memory - movements and sequence of actions are forgotten.
3. Mental memory - pain is not remembered.
4. Symbolic memory - when a person forgets words, ideas, thoughts.
5. Short-term memory - the function of the brain suffers, in which a person is able to absorb and retain some information for a short period of time.
6. Long-term memory - when a person cannot remember what happened to him a long time ago.
7. Mechanical memory - the ability of a person to remember phenomena and objects as they are in reality is lost, without creating connections between them.
8. Associative memory - when the ability to build logical connections between objects and phenomena is lost.
9. Arbitrary memory - when a person is not able to remember what his attention is directed to.
10. Involuntary memory - when the ability to remember everything is lost without a conscious approach of a person.

Cognitive disorders can be distinguished as follows:

• Progressive.
• Temporary.
• episodic.

Violation of memory leads to the fact that a person is not able to remember, assimilate, forget or reproduce the necessary information at the right time.

• Paramnesia is the confusion of memories from different time periods.
• Amnesia is the forgetting of an event or a whole period of time. It can be stable or stationary.

1. Retrograde amnesia is the loss of memory of a situation that preceded the pathology in the brain, due to which memory loss occurred.
2. Fixation amnesia - when a person is not able to remember and assimilate the surrounding information. He adequately assesses the world around him, he is simply not able to remember what is happening to him.
3. Total amnesia - when a person forgets absolutely everything that happened to him until now. He even forgets who he is.
4. Hysterical amnesia - when specific events are forgotten that are unsuitable or unpleasant for a person. It is a protective function of the psyche.

• Paramnesia is memory loss with filling in the gaps with other information:

1. Pseudo-reminiscence is the forgetting of events and their subsequent replacement by other events that actually happened to a person, but in a different period of time.
2. - forgetting events, followed by filling in the gaps with fictional and even fantastic situations.
3. Echomnesia - when a person remembers the current information and considers it his past.
4. Ekmnesiya - when a person returns memories to the past and begins to live them in the present.
5. Cryptomnesia is forgetting followed by filling in the gaps with information that a person does not remember where he got it from. For example, an event could happen in a dream, and a person thinks that everything was in reality.

• Hypermnesia is the influx of memories in large quantities, predominantly of a sensual nature.
• Hypomnesia - when a person loses the ability to remember and record current events in part.

Treatment of memory impairment

It is better to prevent memory impairment than to treat it. If the causes of memory impairment can be eliminated, then this should be done. Depending on how easily the causes are eliminated, the faster the memory is restored.

However, if the cause of the memory impairment was changes in the structure of the brain, then, most likely, the memory cannot be restored.

Outcome

If a healthy person suffers from various memory disorders, such as absent-mindedness or forgetfulness, he should eliminate current stresses, fatigue, restore proper nutrition and daily routine. It is also recommended to constantly engage in various exercises to strengthen memory.