Dissociative amnesia is a type of dissociative disorder that can negatively affect memory and general awareness. With dissociative amnesia, a person can experience abnormal memory loss in a number of ways:

• Forgetting specific events
• Forgetting certain periods of time
• Forgetting everything about their life and who they are

Dissociative amnesia often occurs due to intense trauma or stress and may affect people in different ways. We’ll talk through the symptoms of dissociative amnesia, different types of dissociative amnesia that a person can experience, and how to treat it. 

Symptoms of dissociative amnesia

The main symptom of dissociative amnesia is, of course, memory loss. However, this can show up in a number of different ways and has many related symptoms. Here are some of the more common symptoms that may occur along with memory loss in dissociative amnesia. You may:

• Be unable to remember important information about yourself that should be easy to recall
• Have a lack of awareness
• Experience flashbacks
• Feel confused or disoriented
• Wander or travel without remembering where you’ve been (this is also called a dissociative fugue, which is a separate but related disorder in the dissociative disorders category and also involves confusion about your identity and the assumption of a new identity)
• Feel detached from yourself, including regarding your identity and emotions
• Have relationship or trust issues
• Feel distressed about your memory loss in everyday situations such as at work, at school or with loved ones

You may experience some or all of these symptoms, depending on how your dissociative amnesia affects you. 

Before a health care professional can diagnose you with dissociative amnesia, they must rule out other possibilities, such as a substance use disorder, any other mental health disorder, or a physical medical condition such as a brain injury or seizure.

Types of memory loss that can be caused by dissociative amnesia

If you’ve been diagnosed with dissociative amnesia, you will probably experience memory loss in some form. However, there are different types of memory loss that you can have. Some people with dissociative amnesia may have just one form of memory loss; others may experience several different types. The different types of memory loss you can experience with dissociative amnesia include:

• Localized amnesia — This type of amnesia means that you are unable to remember a specific event, events, or period in your life. Oftentimes these very specific gaps are related to trauma or stress that you experienced at that time. This type of amnesia may not occur right away. It can manifest hours, days or even longer after the traumatic event or time period. The parts of your memory that have been forgotten usually have very clear beginning and end points, such as certain hours, days or months. With this kind of amnesia, you can experience one or more instances of memory loss. 
• Selective amnesia — This type of memory loss can affect a single event or multiple events of a similar type inside a specific time frame in your life. You may only be able to recall part of a traumatic event, or you may forget similar traumatic events within a certain time period. This can also be known as “patchy” amnesia because it only affects specific memories. It is possible to have both selective amnesia and localized amnesia at the same time.
• Generalized amnesia — This is an extremely rare form of dissociative amnesia where you can experience a complete loss of your identity, life history and even learned skills. This type of memory loss may affect every memory within a long period of time, such as months or even years. While this type of amnesia is rare, it tends to be more common for survivors of sexual assault, combat veterans, or other people who have experienced severe stress or trauma. The onset of generalized amnesia usually occurs suddenly and may happen without warning.
• Continuous amnesia — This type of dissociative amnesia impacts your ability to create new memories after a specific psychologically traumatic event. This loss of memory occurs as events happen, meaning you will immediately forget what happened after the fact. However, people with continuous amnesia are still aware of their surroundings.  
• Systematized amnesia — With systematized amnesia, memory loss can affect all information that falls under a specific:
  • Topic
  • Category
  • Person

You may forget all information regarding something like your family or surrounding a particularly traumatic job or similar circumstance.

It’s important to know that although these categories help describe patterns of memory loss, the boundaries between them can sometimes overlap, and you may not fit neatly into one category. If you are experiencing one or more of these types of dissociative amnesia due to trauma or stressful circumstances, psychotherapy may be beneficial for you. While it can sound scary, dissociative amnesia is treatable, and you can work toward regaining those lost memories.

Our clinical experts at Lightfully Behavioral Health are highly trained in many different types of mental health care. We can develop a unique, holistic and evidence-based treatment plan to address and treat your condition. When you’re ready to take the first step, reach out to our Admissions Concierge Team. We’ll take the next steps together, toward the fullest, brightest version of you.