Amnesia Types

Another termfor dissociative amnesia is psychogenic amnesia. This conveys

the concept that the amnesia is not due to organic brain pathology. Individuals

developing psychogenic or dissociative amnesia often encounter a

traumatic event or extreme stress that overloads their coping abilities. Four

different types of psychogenic or dissociative amnesia can be identified. Localized

amnesia is seen when a person cannot remember anything about a

specific event. This is often seen after a person experiences a very traumatic

event, such as a serious accident, and then does not recall what happened.

The second type of amnesia is called selective amnesia and occurs when only

some parts of a certain time period are forgotten. Infrequently, generalized

amnesia takes place, and the person forgets his or her entire life history. The

fourth type of dissociative amnesia is the continuous type. This form of amnesia

is seen when a person does not remember anything beyond a certain

point in the past.