• Question: what would happen to a person if they lost all their memory

    Asked by anon-188125 to Warren, Shanti, Pizza Ka Yee, Paul, Nadine, Alex on 14 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: Alex Reid

      Alex Reid answered on 14 Nov 2018:

      Great question. Sadly this does happen. Some brain diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, are marked by ‘neurodegeneration’, this is a decay of brain structures including those responsible for memory. People towards the end remember very little, if anything, about their former selves. This includes really basic stuff, and they may not be able recognise their own children or loved ones. It is very sad to see and this is why it is important we work on a cure and range of treatments.

    • Photo: Nadine Mirza

      Nadine Mirza answered on 15 Nov 2018:

      Good question Menaal!
      Like Alex has said, brain diseases like Alzheimer’s Disease which is a type of dementia, can cause people to forget almost everything. Having worked with people at different stages of memory loss I have seen that it can impact people in many different ways:
      -For some people it can cause a lot of paranoia. Not remembering who the people are around you, where you are, or even who you are is very distressing for some people and can cause immense stress and panic.
      -Some people’s memory loss also comprises loss of language so they can no longer read, write or sometimes even speak. For some it is the loss of memory regarding certain talents like playing an instrument. Sometimes they may lose all procedural memory, which is their ability to perform any kind of activity or action.
      -For people who experience severe short term memory loss, not only are they incapable of storing new memories but it’s almost like they are stuck in the past. For some people this can be immensely traumatic, especially for those who have fought in wars or who had an abusive childhood. PTSD can occur in these cases. There have been examples of survivors of the Holocaust having dementia and because of this they are living through those experiences all over again.
      This can be very heartbreaking for the person and for their loved ones who see this happening. But, with more and more research we are not only on our way towards a cure but also finding more solutions and approaches to making people who have this level of memory loss and comfortable and secure as possible.

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