In my “Need for Psychology Understanding” article, I wrote about how almost all fiction writers need at least a basic understanding of psychology in order to write realistic content, dialogues, characters, and relationships. A lack of psychology understanding also sometimes causes writers to use a psychology word incorrectly or to describe it incorrectly to readers. This confusion and can easily be avoided with a bit of psychology research. One area that many writers struggle with is memory loss, memory impairment, and memory improvement.

Strokes, head injuries, drug use, depression, Parkinson’s disease, and dementia commonly cause memory loss or impairment. These causes can affect short-term memory, long-term memory, or both types of memory. Short-term memory is the form of memory, which holds information for a relatively short period with a limited storage capacity; long-term memory does not have any storage capacity limits and the information stored can be held for long periods of time (SNHU, n.d.). Two common main types of memory loss are posttraumatic amnesia caused by head injury and vascular dementia as a result of a stroke.

Posttraumatic Amnesia

Posttraumatic amnesia (PTA) is a type of memory loss that is typically caused by a head injury and is defined as a period of time after an injury when the brain is unable to form short term memories and may include a state of disorientation of time, place, and people (Prowe, 2010). There are two different types of PTA. According to Cartlidge and Shaw (1981), the first type is called retrograde and results in a partial or total loss of the ability to recall events that occurred during the period right before the head injury. The second type is known as anterograde amnesia and it results in an inability to form new memories after the head injury and may be accompanied by decreased attention and inaccurate perception (Cantu, 2001). PTA memory loss typically goes away on its own; however, the amount of time it takes depends on the severity of the head injury. According to Cantu (2001):

* a mild head injury that does not result in a loss of consciousness typically will have symptoms resolved in 30 minutes or less

* a moderate head injury with a minute or less of lost consciousness typically has PTA resolved in 30 minutes to 24 hours

* a severe head injury with a loss of consciousness lasting more than a minute could have PTA for anywhere from 24 hours to more than 7 days

A writer might use this posttraumatic amnesia to explain why a character cannot remember certain information, memories, or knowledge after sustaining a head injury. The writer would then also be able to explain why and how the character recovers from the memory loss that he or she experienced from the head injury.

References

Cantu R. C. (2001). Posttraumatic retrograde and anterograde amnesia: pathophysiology and   

                implications in grading and safe return to play. Journal of athletic training, 36(3), 244–248.

Cartlidge, D., & Sloan, J. (1993). Transferring patients with a serious head injury. BMJ: British Medical Journal, 307(6908), 865.

Prowe, G. (2010). Post-traumatic amnesia after brain injury: excerpt from brain injury success books.

Retrieved from https://www.brainline.org/article/post-traumatic-amnesia-after-brain-injury

SNHU. (n.d.). Module five overview: memory. Retrieved from

https://learn.snhu.edu/d2l/le/content/289180/viewContent/6421196/View