Background:

When damage occurs in the parts of the brain that make up the limbic system it can result in amnesia. This section of the brain controls memories and emotions. It includes the hippocampal formations in the temporal lobes and the thalamus in the center of the brain. Damage and injury of the brain are types of neurological amnesia and can be caused by an array of different things like strokes, seizures, degenerative brain diseases, and much more. The severity of amnesia varies in individuals, prevention measures can include treating infection early, no excessive use of alcohol, wearing protective gear in sports among other things. (Nichelli, Menabue, 1988) 

Medical professionals determine if a patient has amnesia through blood work, imaging tests, and cognitive exams. The process after diagnosing an individual with amnesia varies depending on the cause of the amnesia. Memories and brain functionality can come back with the treatment of conditions that lead to memory loss, cognitive therapy, and good nutrition. Many people in elderly homes suffer from dementia, leading to memory loss. Amnesia in the elderly is more about prevention to stop progression and injury, so labeling rooms, keeping phone numbers by a telephone, holding identification on them at all times, prevention of falls, good social relations, and keeping up brain activity are all important. In some cases constant monitoring is necessary. 

In this application towards the assessment of amnesia, it is important to first assess how many people around the country/world, percentage and population-wise, are affected by amnesia in general. Amnesia is a disease that involves the loss of short-term or long-term memory, depending on the specific type that the patient has. This can include anterograde, retrograde, dissociative, transient global amnesia, drug-induced amnesia, Korsakoff’s syndrome psychosis, selective amnesia, infantile amnesia, epileptic amnesia, posthypnotic amnesia, source amnesia, blackout phenomenon, and neurological amnesia. In terms of pathophysiology and why this matters in terms of statistics, amnesia, in general, is caused by any damage/diseases affecting the brain. Usually, if the limbic system is affected, which is responsible for the emotions and memories, amnesia can be instigated (Briggs & McMullen, 2020).

Specific parts of the brain, part of the limbic system, such as the thalamus and hippocampal formations can represent the presence of amnesia if these regions demonstrate loss of function due to factors such as disease impairing these regions of the person’s brain. Seizures, lack of the proper oxygen levels, encephalitis, and stroke are common causes of amnesia in patients. Certain amnesias, such as transient global amnesia affects individuals between 40 years and 80 years of age and this applies to other types of amnesias in which specific age groups are targeted (Dohring, Schmuck, & Bartsch, 2014). The incidence rate is equivalent to 5 out of every 100,000 in the U.S. who are diagnosed with the disease and this is similar in incidence rate to retrograde amnesia. This amnesia can be prevented, yet can recur within a span of 5 years with a chance of 3% to 20% in patients who have had transient global amnesia before (Alessandro, 2019). In addition, anterograde and retrograde amnesia are also common in the U.S. with anterograde being more common in the U.S as the the signs of this amnesia can be seen from traumatic/severe head injuries that may occur in patients. Anterograde amnesia causes individuals to find it difficult to form new memories after amnesia since the limbic system has been compromised. Retrograde is when patients find it increasingly difficult to remember past events and access their memories before the onset of amnesia. Generally, either MRI or CT scans are useful in differentiating between anterograde and retrograde amnesia as specific damages to the brain can be monitored to see which parts of the brain (including the limbic system) to create a proper diagnosis of which type of amnesia that the patient is experiencing (Kritchevsky, Chang, & Squire, 2004). It can also be noted that 7 out of every 10 patients that are diagnosed with anterograde amnesia can retain new information temporarily but remove the old information/memories that may have been in their brain before. For instance, if a patient remembers a famous person’s name, such as Martin Luther King Jr, and then reads about Mahatma Gandhi, the patient will remember the name “Mahatma Gandhi” and will forget about the name “Martin Luther King Jr.” This phenomenon is known as “retroactive interference” and this is common in many patients that are diagnosed with retrograde amnesia and thus this is one of the main reasons as to why these patients have poor memory retention and can lose memories about past information that may be found in their minds, therefore hindering their abilities to form new memories.

This data and pathophysiology are important as this represents how vastly amnesia affects many individuals throughout the U.S. and the world and it is important to set up designs to help provide less expensive ways to help treat patients with the variations of amnesia (Owen, Paranandi, Sivakumar, & Seevaratnam, 2007).