WHAT HAPPENS WHEN MEMORIES ARE LOST with no clear cause?
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Psychogenic Fugue &
Retrograde Amnesia
Psychogenic fugue is a disorder of memory that appears suddenly and is thought to be attributable to an emotional or psychological trauma rather than to an organic cause. Usually, one's whole identity and personal past is erased from memory. There is often a period of time where the person might wander before even realizing something has changed. This retrograde amnesia usually resolves after a short period of time, but sometimes it can last for years without complete memory restoration. The problem may be resolved by a cue, according to Dan Schacter's studies, but often happens randomly without an obvious event bringing it on. In most cases, there is only a mild anterograde memory deficit or none at all. Standard tests of episodic memory usually show up as close to normal. Semantic memory, however, is somewhat different for each case, but the loss of personal semantics-including facts learned over time, or knowledge of their own personal past, such as where one has gone to school or their family member's names-is an indication of this disorder. General mainstream knowledge of the world, however, is usually retained in these cases.
Dissociative fugues sometimes occur in people with unstable personalities after stress-inducing experiences or experiences where people would have reasons for escape. It is often difficult to discern between a person who is actually in the real psychogenic fugue state and one who is faking it. It is just as hard to determine whether the cause is psychogenic or organic. A few examples of those plagued with real psychogenic fugue include someone who forgot their autobiographical past and native German language (in A case of psychogenic fugue: I understand, aber ich verstehe nichts study by Elizabeth L. Glisky, Lee Ryan, Sheryl Reminger, Oliver Hardt, Scott M. Hayes, Almut Hupbach), and another, seen in "Unkown White Male."
"Unkown White Male" is a documentary that focuses on a young man, Doug Bruce, who one day, took the train to Coney Island for no apparent reason. He is said to have retrograde amnesia, but has no clear reason for losing his personal identity and memory. He loses all memory before July 3, 2013. This is a very unsettling story because he has so-called family and friends who try to tell him what he was like before and he trusts them. An important question in all of these disorders is, who can you actually trust? And should you trust people who say they know you? What if they really are not who they say the are? Luckily, Bruce's family is kind and helps him learn about the life he has forgotten. However, that may not always be the case. This is discussed further in my analysis of "Before I Go To Sleep" on page 14.