Memory problems, what are the treatment options? Treatment of memory impairment. Memory problems in young people. Causes, treatment

Smirnova Olga Leonidovna

Neurologist, education: First Moscow State Medical University named after I.M. Sechenov. Work experience 20 years.

Articles written

Memory problems in young people have different causes. The process of deterioration in the ability to remember develops gradually. Therefore, if a violation is detected in time, further development of the pathology can be avoided.

Thanks to memory, a person accumulates and stores his life experiences. It happens. In the first case, a person quickly assimilates information, but retains it for a short period. With long-term memory, remembering material is not easy, but the data remains in memory for many years. People use different types of memory. Each person has a different memory threshold. Therefore, it is impossible to clearly define the norms in order to understand whether memory has deteriorated or not.

Why is it getting worse?

Most often the problem is related to:

1. Stress, depression, anxiety. If a person is overexcited or melancholic, he does not pay attention to the world around him. He is only concerned with those stimuli that put him in such a state. Therefore, forgetfulness is a common phenomenon in such cases.
2. Lack of sleep, chronic fatigue. In order for the brain to remember information better and longer, it needs sleep. Lack of sleep negatively affects the functioning of the organ. People suffering from chronic fatigue have difficulty concentrating on individual details.
3. Bad habits. At a young age, many drink alcohol, take drugs, and start smoking. All this negatively affects memory.
4. Disadvantage. This problem is especially observed in the winter season, when there is a shortage of fruits and vegetables. This impairs memory. Therefore, you should resort to vitamin complexes in case of vitamin deficiency, and also adjust your diet.
5. Information overload. This is a current phenomenon. The Internet, radio and television provide people with new information constantly. If you reduce or filter the facts entering your brain, you can reduce the load and avoid memory problems.
6. Lack of oxygen. The brain needs walks in the fresh air. Therefore, people who live in big cities are recommended to periodically go out into nature.

Often, in order to normalize memory, it is enough to eliminate the influence of these factors. It is useful to perform exercises for its development.

According to research, everyday episodes of forgetfulness are common among people between 18 and 35 years old. Most often this is due to an unhealthy lifestyle.

If forgetfulness is observed, it is important to pay attention to your lifestyle and determine what factors caused the disturbance. With a sedentary lifestyle, insufficient brain activity, chronic lack of sleep and poor diet, brain function worsens.

Memory problems in young people also arise due to various diseases. There are several hundred pathologies that have similar manifestations. This symptom is observed in schizophrenia, bipolar personality disorder, depression and anxiety.

Memory deteriorates:

• in the presence of malignant tumors;
• with multiple sclerosis;
• with pathologies of the thyroid gland;
• for tuberculosis;
• with Lyme disease;
• if there is not enough fluid in the body;
• with prolonged stress and depression;
• during infectious processes in the brain.

In order to detect these diseases in time and carry out treatment, it is necessary to visit a doctor at the first manifestations of the disease, especially if memory is increasingly deteriorating and the condition does not normalize.

What to do

If memory problems appear at a young age, then the first step is to determine the cause of this condition. Appropriate treatment will be needed, since as the disease progresses, a person will cease to be a full-fledged member of society. But you cannot choose your own medicine, since all drugs have contraindications. The type of medication, dosage and course duration should be determined by the doctor.

They continue to develop and implement new methods to combat poor memory.

If the patient does not remember and reproduces the phrases out loud, then the doctor teaches him to mentally imagine images of the phrases and memorize the text material. This is a long and difficult version of working on yourself, but it gives good results.

To support memory in the initial stages of development of disorders, they resort to. They contain components that affect the brain, improving the ability to concentrate and restoring memory. Such drugs are used to dilate blood vessels in the brain for all types of memory disorders.

If, after determining why memory deteriorates at a young age, no significant health problems were found, then forgetfulness will be easy to deal with.

Observations show that those people who often suffer from a bad mood experience memory deterioration faster, so doctors advise remaining optimistic.

An excellent option for improving blood flow in the vessels of the brain is physical activity. Thanks to sports, you get rid of tension and normalize cell nutrition.

When eating meat, it is better to give preference to beef, turkey, and offal. They contain a large amount of iron. This element is found in vegetables, fruits and seafood. Therefore, if you consume them in reasonable doses, many health problems will not arise. Sea fish and natural oils must be present in the diet. But there are some carbohydrates to watch out for. Thanks to potatoes, black bread, durum pasta, the brain is saturated with energy. But with the help of cakes, white pastries and sweets, memory cannot be improved.

It is important that groups B enter the body.

If you are concerned about very poor memory at 30 years of age or younger, then it is useful:

1. When receiving new information, you should delve deeply into it so that it is better imprinted in your memory.
2. Connect the received data with known images, events, objects. It is useful to put information into the form of a poem. While searching for a rhyme, the brain will be trained.
3. When going to bed, carefully analyze every detail of the past day.

Gradually, such training will bring good results.

If the first manifestations of memory deterioration appear, then you need to visit a neurologist, neuropsychologist or psychotherapist. They will conduct an inspection and prescribe appropriate tests to determine the cause of the violations.

You can also take action yourself. It is known that problems with memorization are observed if a person does not pay due attention to the information being conveyed, remembers it fleetingly or does not take it seriously. To eliminate this syndrome, you need to constantly work on yourself and train your brain, concentrate on certain details, write down events, keep a diary and do mental calculations.

If the examination shows the presence of pathological processes, then therapy is carried out in accordance with the diagnosis. The prognosis is made depending on the stage of development of the disease and the characteristics of the body.

Prevention measures

To avoid problems in youth, you should:

• give up alcoholic beverages, drugs and smoking;
• create a balanced diet;
• get enough sleep;
• control the level of physical activity;
• develop your brain through various exercises.

Memory is a function of the central nervous system that ensures the storage and use of acquired knowledge. This complex of complex processes is united under the general term “mnestic activity.”

It is disrupted for many reasons: from fatigue and overwork to serious illnesses. Memory impairments should not be ignored, as they may indicate organic brain damage.

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Causes of memory impairment

Memory impairment can result from many reasons.

Moreover, in patients of different age groups, a decrease in this function is caused by their own factors.

In children and adolescents

The following factors lead to memory impairment in childhood and adolescence:

• Hypovitaminosis.
• Anemia.
• Asthenic syndrome. Frequent incidence of viral infections.
• Injuries to the central nervous system.
• Stressful situations (including a dysfunctional family, despotism of parents, a problem in the team that the child or teenager attends). A special case of stress is adaptation to the start of school in children aged 6-7 years, the transition from junior to middle school at 10-11 years old.
• Visual impairment.
• Tumor processes affecting the brain.
• Mental disorders.
• Intoxication, including as a result of drinking alcohol or drugs.
• Congenital pathology characterized by mental retardation (for example, Down syndrome).
• The use of certain medications that affect metabolic processes.

Severe, persistent, and uncorrectable memory impairments are unusual in childhood. Pathologies caused by congenital characteristics and anomalies require treatment.

The memory of children and adolescents has its own characteristics that can sometimes be mistaken for disorders:

• the child forgets stressful situations faster;
• amnesia in children is manifested by the loss from memory of individual episodes that occurred during the period of clouding of consciousness associated with unpleasant events (intoxication, coma, severe trauma);
• with alcoholism, polympsest is noted even before the formation of addiction, in the first stages;
• retrograde amnesia usually affects a minimum period of time before a stressful situation and is less severe than in adults; in some cases in children it may go unnoticed.

Memory impairment in early and teenage years is characterized by a type of dysmnesia. Severe disorders of this type can negatively affect school performance and adaptation in the team.

In children attending kindergarten, these disorders manifest themselves in difficulties in memorizing poems and songs, as a result of which they are less likely to participate in holidays and matinees. In the case of a severe violation, the child, despite visiting the institution every day, cannot find his locker, has difficulty finding his things among others, forgets the names of those around him, and cannot talk about the events of the past day.



In adults

In adults, the causes of impaired memory function, as well as the occurrence of absent-mindedness and loss of the ability to concentrate for a long time are often pathological conditions acquired during life:

• Stressful situations, especially those that are repeated or prolonged.
• Chronic fatigue, both physical and psychological.
• Acute cerebrovascular accident (in patients over 40 years of age they occur more often than in young people).
• Atherosclerotic lesion of the vascular bed.
• Arterial hypertension (in some cases it also occurs at a young age).
• Encephalopathy.
• Osteochondrosis of the cervical spine and associated vertebrobasilar syndrome and insufficiency.
• Traumatic brain injuries.
• Metabolic disorders (for example, diabetes mellitus, hormonal disorders, pathology of the endocrine glands).
• Tumors of the central nervous system.
• Alzheimer's disease and other degenerative diseases (more common in older patients).
• Mental disorders (in particular, depression, epilepsy, schizophrenia and others).



Attention disorder

A decrease in the ability to concentrate negatively affects the process of memorizing information. The disorder may manifest itself in the form of the following disorders:

Attention disorder	Description
Attention instability	With this disorder, a person is constantly distracted and switches from one object to another. Instability of attention is characteristic of disinhibition syndrome in children, hypomanic states, hebephrenia
Rigidity	Characterized by slow switching between topics or objects of attention. This symptom occurs in epilepsy and other mental illnesses. The patient gets stuck on one topic, which makes dialogue difficult
Lack of concentration	Such people look very absent-minded. This disorder is often mistaken for a character or temperament trait.

The ability to concentrate is reduced by all somatic diseases that manifest symptoms that cause pain or discomfort.

Types of memory disorders

Experts identify the following types of disorders:

• dysmnesia - changes directly related to memory function;
• paramnesia - distortion of existing memories due to the influence of the patient’s fantasies on them.

Dysmnesia

There are the following types of this pathological condition:

• hypermnesia;
• hypomnesia;
• amnesia.

Hypermnesia

This condition is characterized by a person’s ability to quickly remember and perceive information, as well as reproduce information stored many years ago.

Patients often report that certain events pop up in their memory for no reason (“memories come flooding back”) and take them back to the past. In most cases, people say that they don’t know why this information is stored in their head and remembered right now. For example, an elderly person describes in detail individual lessons at school (down to the clothes of the teacher and classmates), and restores other details relating to his youth, professional activities or events in the family.

Hypermnesia itself, in the absence of other clinical manifestations, is not considered a disease. People who experience this phenomenon are able to remember and reproduce large amounts of information (numbers, sets of words not connected by meaning, lists of objects, musical notations).

But hypermnesia can be a symptom of pathological conditions:

• paroxysmal mental disorders (in particular in the structure of epilepsy);
• intoxication with psychotropic substances (both pharmacological agents and narcotic drugs);
• hypomanic states; Patients experience bursts of energy with increased vitality and ability to work (often accompanied by attacks of hypermnesia, combined with emotional instability, anxiety, and inability to concentrate).

Hypomnesia

This condition is usually described by the expression “poor memory”. Forgetfulness and absent-mindedness are part of the clinical picture of asthenic syndrome.

The following signs are characteristic of this disorder:

• Severe fatigue.
• Increased nervousness.
• Bad mood and irritability, including unmotivated ones.
• Headache.
• Meteor dependence.
• Sleep disturbance in the form of daytime fatigue and insomnia at night.
• Changes in blood pressure.
• Heart rhythm disturbance.
• Vegetative pathologies (including hot flashes in premenopausal and menopausal periods in women).
• Physical weakness, chronic fatigue.

Asthenic syndrome occurs in the structure of the following pathological conditions, in which memory deterioration is noted:

• Arterial hypertension.
• Recovery period after traumatic brain injury.
• Atherosclerotic lesion of cerebral vessels.
• The initial stage of schizophrenia.
• Recovery period after operations.
• Severe intoxication.
• Somatic diseases.
• Taking certain medications.
• Organic brain lesions (acute circulatory disorders, tumor processes).
• Menopausal syndrome with adaptation disorders.
• Depressive states.

Memory problems in these diseases are accompanied by characteristic symptoms.

Amnesia

With amnesia, the patient’s entire memory does not deteriorate, but the disappearance of its fragments is observed - certain periods of time, events, names, faces disappear.

Experts distinguish the following varieties:

Types of amnesia	Description
Dissociative amnesia	Events associated with psychological trauma disappear from memory. The mechanism of the phenomenon is due to the body’s protective reaction, which is caused by severe stress. As a result, the brain tries to get rid of a traumatic situation that is difficult for a person to survive. Such events can only be restored using special methods (hypnosis)
Retrograde amnesia	Most often occurs as a result of traumatic brain injury. In this case, the patient forgets what happened before her: she comes to her senses, but does not remember who he is, what happened to him
Anterograde amnesia	The “memory lapse” in this case refers to events that occurred after the trauma. A person remembers everything that happened before well
Fixation amnesia	This term refers to short-term memory disorders. The person has poor memory of current events. In such cases they say "short memory"
Total amnesia	In this disorder, the patient forgets all events, including information relating to his personality
Progressive amnesia	This disorder is characterized by the disappearance of events from memory, starting with the present, then recent, and then past. The cause of the pathology is the atrophic processes of the brain, which occur in degenerative diseases of the central nervous system, such as Alzheimer's disease or Pick's disease. Total amnesia also occurs in vascular dementia. Patients with this disorder forget the names of objects that they use constantly, or simply do not recognize the thing

Paramnesia

Paramnesia is a disorder that involves the distortion of memories and the addition of extraneous information to them. Experts distinguish the following varieties:

Type of disorder	Description
Confabulation	Fragments of your own memory disappear. In their place are stories and events invented by the patient himself. By retelling these false memories, a person believes what he is talking about. The plot of confabulations can be various events: exploits, achievements, crimes
Pseudo-reminiscence	Memories that have disappeared from memory are replaced by events that actually existed in the patient’s biography, but at a different time and under different circumstances (Korsakoff syndrome)
Cryptomnesia	Cryptomnesia is characterized by the fact that the patient passes off as his own memory and experience an event heard from other sources (films, documentary stories, people's stories). The disorder is characteristic of organic disorders in which delusional symptoms occur
Echomnesia	It seems to a person that this event has already happened to him, or he saw it in a dream. Similar situations occur in healthy people, but they quickly forget about it, while with pathological echonesia the patient attaches special significance to them and becomes fixated on them
Polympsest	In the clinic of paramnesia, two variants of this disorder are distinguished: 1. Short-term memory loss caused by pathological alcohol intoxication (episodes from the past day are confused with each other and with long-past events). 2. Combination of 2 situations of the same period of time - as a result, the patient himself does not know what happened in reality

Diagnostics

Often, the patient is advised by relatives and immediate circle to see a doctor in connection with memory disorders that should be treated. In this case, the specialist conducts an examination, specifying:

• What diseases does the patient suffer from? In the process of collecting anamnesis, in some cases it is possible to identify a connection between existing or previously suffered diseases and the deterioration of intellectual abilities, including memory problems.
• The presence or absence of pathology that is the direct cause: dementia, cerebrovascular insufficiency, traumatic brain injury, chronic alcoholism, drug intoxication, contributing to disorders in the mnestic sphere.
• What medications does the patient take during this period of time? Benzodiazepine derivatives can lead to similar disorders. If memory impairment is caused by medication, it is reversible.

The following studies help in diagnosis:

Diagnostic technique	Identifiable disorders that contribute to memory disorders
Blood chemistry	Disturbance of normal metabolism, deficiency of microelements and vitamins, failure of hormonal metabolism
Neuroimaging methods (computer, magnetic resonance imaging)	Brain neoplasms, hydrocephalus, vascular lesions, degenerative disorders. In a number of diseases, memory impairment remains the only symptom for a long time, so neuroimaging methods must be used without fail, as they will help identify serious pathology
EEG (electroencephalography)	Pathological bioelectrical activity of nerve cells, convulsive readiness. Identifying such disorders helps diagnose epilepsy

Particularly difficult to diagnose are depressive states accompanied by apathy syndrome. Sometimes it is necessary to prescribe a trial of depression treatment.

Treatment

In case of memory impairment as a result of the natural aging process, along with drug therapy, it is recommended that older people learn to remind themselves of current affairs. It is effective to perform special exercises, for example, memorizing a sequence of numbers that are not related to each other in terms of the meaning of words or objects.

Pharmacotherapy is based on the use of drugs that have a nootropic effect and agents that can improve blood supply to the brain. Medicines from these groups are used not only in patients suffering from age-related problems, but also in pediatric practice. Such drugs should be taken in courses, the duration and frequency of which are determined by the attending physician on an individual basis. When prescribing nootropic and vasoactive drugs, it is necessary to take into account age restrictions, contraindications and their ability to interact with other medications that the patient is already taking (this is especially true for older people with concomitant somatic pathologies).

Distracted attention is more common in children and older people. Poor memory is common among the youngest and the oldest. They say about such people, lovingly and jokingly: “Fell into childhood.”

But there are circumstances when each of us, at any age, can be absent-minded. When a person does monotonous work for a long time, is tired, exhausted, he is no longer able to concentrate.

His attention becomes distracted. This kind of absent-mindedness is called true. The reasons for its appearance are ordinary fatigue, overload, monotony.

The treatment for true absent-mindedness is the simplest. You need to go to bed, get some sleep, take a break from the monotony of actions. Poor memory needs to be dealt with in detail.

Causes of poor memory and its deterioration

Memory problems happen for various reasons. Young and elderly individuals have head injuries and vascular diseases that affect the functioning of the brain.

Lifestyle, good and bad habits, quality of nutrition, everything affects our abilities. Memory loss as a result of endless drinking is a natural process. The first thing to do in this case is to stop drinking.

Absent-mindedness at working age is a consequence of illness. With VSD, a person’s heart rhythm changes, blood pressure rises or falls, pain appears in the heart area, dizziness close to fainting.

A subject who has vegetative-vascular dystonia fears for his life, begins to intensively listen to his well-being, internal state and becomes absent-minded, losing orientation in the real world around him. Attacks of dystonia lead to weakening of attention, insomnia, and the ability to concentrate on one thing.

This type of absent-mindedness is called imaginary, when a person is focused on his inner world of thoughts and forgets about normal behavior in the outer world. So the professor, constantly thinking about his discovery, “instead of a hat while walking, suddenly put on a frying pan.”

There is student absent-mindedness in a child, low concentration of thoughts on one task for a long period of time. The child suffers from dissipated attention syndrome (ADS) due to high activity. Often the rapid growth of a schoolchild's bones does not have time to cope with the development of the brain.

Especially boys who grow 10 cm over the summer experience frequent headaches and increased intracranial pressure. These negative and painful feelings prevent the student from focusing on learning new information.

In addition, it has long been noted that modern schoolchildren are bombarded with too much information. Therefore, the culprits of adolescent absent-mindedness are often incompetent teachers and indifferent parents.

Teachers who are unable to properly build a curriculum, and parents who, instead of moral support, have a terrifying influence on the child, punishing him and scolding him.

A mother who screams at her son until all the neighbors' windows shake is not going to help him solve a math problem. She will only make it clear that she does not love him. The child will be upset and sad. This will only increase his absent-mindedness and his memory will not improve.

Forgetfulness and absent-mindedness, to which people who have crossed the age of 60-65 are prone, are determined by the natural fading of mental activity. However, much later she visits those who learn foreign languages, solve crossword puzzles, pick mushrooms in the forest, swim in the pool, and dance tango.

Attention! To activate attention, at any age, to help your brain wake up, try to ventilate the room. Fresh air will enhance brain function by 10%. Drink a glass of water, your brain will become 20% more active. Stretch your fingers, rub your palms, the blood will flow to your head and add 30% of its performance. A piece of dark chocolate will saturate the cells of the gray matter and lift your spirits.

Types of memory disorders

Memory diseases occur from a blow to the head, old age, stroke and alcohol. Amnesia can be fleeting and smoothly flowing. A person may forget his name, but remember his professional skills. Only parts of the events that take place can disappear from memory, or your whole life, along with your biography and surname, can disappear.

Such cases are told in movies. Too frequent memory loss in able-bodied, healthy men suggests that special drugs have been developed to eliminate memory. A person who does not remember himself can become an obedient doll in the unkind hands of others.

Dangerous! Do not accept food from strangers on trains. Don't drink with strangers in restaurants. Clonidine and other drugs can be quietly added to food and drink, causing persistent and complete amnesia.

Korsakov's syndrome

Disorientation in time, the inability to remember present events with a complete memory of the past, is called Korsakoff's syndrome. Patients begin to believe in fictitious events that they themselves invented, and concentration is impaired.

These symptoms are the result of endless drinking, malnutrition, and sometimes head bruises. Young people who give up alcohol can recover by taking medications that improve brain function.

For those who continue to drink after 65, the prognosis is not so positive. Fatalities that result from regular drinking bouts are not uncommon.

The choice is yours! Vodka or life!

Dementia (dementia, senile insanity)

It's no one's fault that we grow old. The natural process of withering of brain cells leads to the fact that over the years, all older people experience absent-mindedness and poor memory.

Many people experience dementia after age 65. But those who learn poetry do not become isolated in their problems, know how to communicate on social networks, walk in the park, do exercises, read about the news in the newspaper every day, and do not fall into senile insanity. Active longevity is possible if you fight adversity.

Attention! If your elderly father experiences memory loss, there should always be a note in his pocket with the phone numbers of his relatives. Let him know in the note that he can sometimes forget where he lives.

Pick's disease

Sometimes insidious diseases await a person in old age. Why they attack one subject and bypass the other is unknown. Very transient atrophy of the cortex of the frontal and temporal parts of the brain leads to the destruction of personality.

The inattention of relatives in these cases can lead to unpredictable events. Treatment does not give quick results. Sincere attention, kind words, medicine, walks, fresh air and care slow down the development of the negative process.

Important! Don't miss the moment of losing complete orientation in space and time. Do not leave a person who has forgotten his identity unattended to avoid fires, floods and other unpredictable problems.

Alzheimer's disease

Many elderly people aged over 70-80 years suffer from this disease. What to do with bad memory during these years? Train her! Learn to use a computer. Do crossword puzzles. Go visit, support forgetful friends.

Read prayers in foreign languages. Breathe fresh air. Do exercises without getting out of bed in the morning. Go to the ballet with your grandchildren.

Age-related diseases take away memories, but if you struggle, these processes slow down. Life becomes rich, interesting and long. Children should definitely support their elderly parents during these difficult years.

Cerebral atherosclerosis of cerebral vessels

Cerebral atherosclerosis is a lesion of the vascular system of the brain. If in Pick's disease pathological proteins are deposited in the cell bodies of the cerebral cortex, in atherosclerosis cholesterol plaques are deposited on the walls of the arteries of the head, gradually impeding blood circulation.

Consequences of poor oxygen supply to the brain:

• memory deteriorates gradually;
• concentration decreases;
• characterized by absent-mindedness, sleep disturbance;
• headaches, blurred vision;
• other signs of deterioration in brain function.

How to treat atherosclerosis? Fight obesity, stick to a diet without fatty, fried, smoked and sweet “snacks”. Drugs that lower the percentage of cholesterol and blood sugar, vasodilators, anti-inflammatory drugs, and vitamins will help. Walking, daily physical activity, and a balanced diet will improve the condition of blood vessels and the brain.

Treatment of memory disorders

Treatment for absent-mindedness largely depends on the cause that led to it. If a person is overtired, he needs to rest. If you have VSD, you must first treat dystonia. When the cause of atherosclerosis is diabetes mellitus, something needs to be done about it.

An absent-minded child should be helped by loving parents and experienced teachers. Teach your child to understand information rather than cram it. Then the memory is not overloaded and attention is not scattered.

Drugs that improve brain function:

• Inteplan;
• Nootropil;
• Glycine;
• Piracetam;
• Picamilon;
• Tanakan;
• Aminalon;
• Many that improve mental performance.

Traditional methods

Grated fresh horseradish with honey and grated lemons perfectly improves memory. Crush five walnut kernels in a mortar and mix with cream.

Mix a tablespoon of dry mint with the same volume of dry sage, pour half a liter of boiling water. Leave for 24 hours, strain, drink 50 ml 4 times a day half an hour before meals.

Nutrition, diet

The diet should be varied. But, if you want to improve your memory, give preference to:

• dried fruits;
• baked potatoes;
• sunflower seeds;
• fresh vegetable salads with olive oil;
• bananas;
• walnuts;
• fresh berries and fruits;
• dark chocolate;
• cottage cheese;
• cheese.

Eliminate alcoholic drinks, fried, smoked, fatty, and excess sweets from your diet.

Sports, gymnastics

In order for the brain to be better supplied with oxygen, new information to be remembered more easily and absent-mindedness to disappear forever, learn to dance. You shouldn't strive for Olympic records. But daily walks and light, feasible gymnastics will help improve your quality of life.

Children should play snowballs in the winter, ski, go to the pool, and go to football in the summer. A healthy lifestyle helps to maintain working capacity and not lose memory at any age.

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Complaints about memory problems in most cases are not related to severe mental disorders. Most often, people complain that their memory has begun to deteriorate or their memory has become poor.

Treatment of memory impairment

Treatment of conditions associated with memory problems is selected individually by a competent psychotherapist after a full pathopsychological examination.

As a rule, for memory impairment, the doctor selects complex therapy, which should include both neurometabolic therapy and a special form of psychotherapy. It is possible that special hypnotherapy techniques can be used, which is determined by the doctor as necessary.

Paradox: patients with mental disorders in which memory is impaired rarely complain about it, and the more severe the memory impairment, the less critical the patient is to it. For example, with Korsakoff's syndrome, when the ability to remember current events is completely lost, the patient has no criticism of the condition, and, despite obvious memory disorders (he does not remember what today's date is, what happened a minute ago, how he got here), it is impossible to convince him that his memory is impaired.

Examples of memory complaints

Woman with memory problems

The patient is a woman, 32 years old, resident of a big city. He has no bad habits and leads a healthy lifestyle. There is a lot of psychophysical stress at work and at home. I contacted a psychotherapist with the following complaints:

“Three years ago I was examined by a neurologist about decreased memory and concentration. A diagnosis of chronic CVN in the VVB of complex origin was made (hypoplasia of the left VA + vertebrogenic), cephalgic sm, vestibulo-ataxic sm, subcompensation. Tension headache. The course of treatment was completed immediately after the examination with Cavinton, Actovigin, Milgamma, nicotinic acid, Sirdalud, Grandaxin. The treatment did not help. There were minor improvements. Currently, I really complain about memory loss, I work as an accountant, but I can’t remember a couple of numbers. General condition – lethargy, fatigue, difficulty falling asleep, presence of obsessive thoughts.”

An asthenic disorder was established. She completed an outpatient course of intensive complex therapy under the guidance of a psychiatrist and psychotherapist (psychotherapist) for two months. She was under the supervision of a psychotherapist for a year. The result is a complete restoration of working capacity, the social sphere does not suffer. He has no complaints about his health.

Memory problems in a man

Patient, 23 years old, male, resident of a big city. Smokes (1/3 pack of cigarettes per day). Consumes alcohol in moderation. Didn't take drugs. I consulted a psychotherapist with a referral from a neurologist.

“Several years ago, when I was at school, I suddenly began to develop: an almost constant feeling of fatigue, constant drowsiness (sometimes almost irresistible during the day), a feeling of the unreality of what is happening (as if drunk), memory deterioration, decreased intelligence, difficulty maintaining attention (sometimes in store, I look at the abundance of goods in the store and see just a “heap”, I can’t single out any individual item), dulling of emotions. Moreover, the condition varies greatly throughout the day and from day to day. I endured it for many years, began to exercise, began to adhere to a sleep schedule, but it did not get better. Somehow I graduated from school, I somehow study at the institute, now I live the life of an amoeba: all day long at the computer or TV. More than a year and a half ago, I went to the clinic to see a therapist.

Trying to solve memory problems

First I passed simple tests - the norm. The heart condition is normal. The fundus is also normal. The neurologist prescribed - Three months of Magne B6, Piracetam, Tenoten, Anaprilin (propranolol). There was no effect. I visited the neurologist again. They sent me for an EEG, it showed some horrors. They prescribed Ginos and Cerepro. And electrophoresis with Eufillin on the collar area, probably due to cervical osteochondrosis. There were no results from the pills, but according to the REG indications, we were sent for an ultrasound scan of the vessels of the brain and neck. An ultrasound scan showed that everything was normal. MRI – normal. EEG – normal. Then I saw a neurologist, but a different one. I prescribed a course of Phenotropil and Negrustin tablets for 2 months. It didn’t help with this problem, but “Negrustin” temporarily reduced the anxiety that had been there since childhood. But after a month it started to come back, I had to take more pills. The therapist referred me for Gastroscopy, ultrasound of the abdominal cavity, and blood biochemistry. Everything is fine. I saw a neurologist again, and again went to another one. Just in case, I told him about another problem of mine: since childhood, in my sleep, in the morning, I begin to make a loud monotonous sound. The doctor said that it was sleep-speaking, and it was not scary. After looking at the results of EEG, MRI, REG, ultrasound, he concluded that I have VSD.

The result of attempts to solve a memory problem

He prescribed an expensive course of medications for 3 months: Pantogam, Semax, Trittico, Ginseng Tincture. All together it comes out to more than 4 thousand, I have already spent a lot of money on diagnostics and pills, and now it is very difficult for me to find such an amount. Besides, this didn't help either. I plucked up my courage and visited a psychologist. The psychologist conducted some intelligence tests and wrote in the conclusion that everything was fine with me. After this, there is no desire there. I went again, again to another neurologist, who referred me for a consultation with a psychotherapist. My main complaints have always been memory problems.”

The examination revealed the presence of astheno-depressive syndrome against the background of mild organic changes in the brain. He completed an outpatient course of intensive complex therapy under the guidance of a psychotherapist for four months. She is under the supervision of a psychotherapist for six months. The result is a complete restoration of working capacity, the social sphere does not suffer. Complaints about the state of health remain insignificant in the form of minor anxiety and a slight decrease in mood. He continues treatment at home under the supervision of a psychotherapist.

Hypomnesia - memory problem

The most common memory disorder is memory loss (hypomnesia). Hypomnesia makes it difficult to recall memories of the recent or distant past.

The decline in memory with age-related changes in the brain occurs according to the so-called Ribot's law: first, recent events are forgotten, while old ones are remembered well. Memory decreases in vascular diseases of the brain (hypertension and hypotension, vascular atherosclerosis, etc.), atrophic diseases (Alzheimer's disease, Pick's disease), after traumatic brain injury, alcoholism and drug addiction, and many other diseases.

Decreased memory in mentally healthy people is often a manifestation of the so-called transient inhibition reflex. This is the body’s protective reaction to physical or mental overload due to fatigue, illness, or long-term stress. That is, memory loss is not always a sign of illness.

Less commonly observed is the opposite disorder – hypermnesia (enhanced memory). It can be observed in mentally healthy people when excited or in an elevated mood. Hypermnesia is a common symptom of manic states in bipolar affective disorder, schizophrenia and other endogenous diseases.

Amnesia is a memory problem

Another type of memory disorder is amnesia – memory gaps. Amnesia indicates gross disturbances in the functioning of the brain. Amnesia is observed in unconscious states, with traumatic brain injuries, with alcoholism and drug addiction. Anterograde amnesia is loss of memory for the period after a traumatic event (for example, after a concussion, the patient does not remember events that occurred immediately after the injury itself).

Retrograde amnesia is a loss of memory of events preceding a traumatic event (the patient does not remember the events that preceded the injury).

Complaints of memory impairment are often associated with decreased attention. A person’s attention can deteriorate under many conditions: overwork, any illness accompanied by an increase in temperature, during the recovery period after infections, poisoning.

For a psychotherapist faced with complaints of memory impairment, an objective assessment of the state of memory is important. The simplest objective test of memory is the ten-word test, in which the subject is asked to listen to ten words, then asked to repeat them, after which he is distracted for five minutes and again asked to reproduce these words. More complex memory testing techniques are used in pathopsychological examinations.

Nowadays, the problem of memory impairment is one of the most important problems. It can appear regardless of age.

Unhealthy diet, bad habits, lack of oxygen, a large flow of information, stress, high psycho-physical stress and insufficient ability to manage your memory, all this affects the functioning of memory.

It is possible to eliminate and prevent memory problems only if you find out the causes of its occurrence and eliminate them in a timely manner.

Factors influencing memory impairment

Probably one of the most important factors affecting memory is the use of psychoactive substances, and this is drug use, excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages, tobacco smoking, hookah smoking, spice, etc., which greatly stimulates not only the development of memory impairment, but also significantly reduces concentration. If you care about your health and you care about your memory, protect yourself from these bad habits, which are often no longer habits, but alcohol addiction, drug addiction, tobacco addiction or another psychoactive substance.

Everyone has probably noticed that sometimes he himself, and many people around him, manage to receive information from several sources at once, for example, reading a newspaper and watching TV. Due to such an excess of information, a person is not always able to concentrate on the subject whose information needs to be remembered. Thus, a large flow of information can cause thoughtless perception of all this information. All this leads to a lack of desire to concentrate one’s attention on one source of information.

One of the reasons that influence memory problems is poor nutrition.

Stressful situations, depression and troubles at work, all this does not have a positive effect on our memory, which deteriorates due to a person’s constant experiences. Thus, showing concern, even about your forgetfulness, will only increase your memory problems.

Factors influencing memory improvement

Scientists have proven that a healthy and balanced diet not only preserves, but also improves our memory. In order to stimulate metabolism in brain cells, our body needs vitamins and microelements that contribute to this.
Walking in the fresh air and playing sports have a positive effect on our memory. A lack of oxygen in the body impairs the functioning of the brain and negatively affects a person’s memory.

Healthy sleep is the basis of a healthy body, and therefore good memory. Especially sleep in the dark, because that’s when brain cells are restored. Thus, subject to a healthy sleep regime, memory will work in full force at the neuronal level. Any sleep disturbance will almost instantly affect the quality of memory.

Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease are serious diseases of the brain, which are also certainly associated with memory impairment.

Therefore, if you have problems with memory and some other problems with the functioning of the brain, you should consult a doctor.
But memory problems are not always associated with physical and biological problems. You've probably noticed more than once that you remember some information better than others. For example, some cannot remember even a few dozen product names, but they remember hundreds of numbers in an area that interests them, without spending much time on memorizing them. Such situations should not be perceived as memory problems; rather, what you are trying unsuccessfully to remember does not interest you, and it takes a sufficient amount of time to remember such information.

Memory impairment associated with overlapping information

There are theories in psychology that explain the nature of the existence of forgetting. For example, the result of extinction of a memory trace is described in the theory of attenuation. But current interference theory states that recall of an earlier memory trace becomes less likely due to the superposition of older information on later information.
This theory can be explained as follows: what can happen if a person first remembers one piece of information, and then studies similar information, but different in some respects from the previous one.

Then two outcomes are possible: either the first stream of information prevents the new one from being remembered, or the second stream of information replaces the first, thereby erasing the old information from memory.
There are cases that reflect this theory. For example, you have computer keyboards at work and at home, the settings of which are different from each other. And when you work, at home, you begin to get confused and press keys that correspond to the layout at work, and if you work on a work computer, the same situation can happen, since you alternately get used to each keyboard.

Memory loss associated with information loss

There is a theory according to which information that has not been used for a long time gradually disappears from a person’s memory. This may also be due to the years lived and the age of the person. But I can't agree with this theory, at least not completely.
The fact is that science and history know of cases when at an early age some people were able to speak some non-native language, but after many years this language was forgotten, which in principle would confirm this theory. But as they grew older, some of them began to remember this language and even speak it calmly, to the surprise of everyone around them.
This can be explained by the fact that information is stored in our memory in different “storages”, and if this information is not used for a long time, the address and code to this storage are lost. And for those people who, in their old age, suddenly remembered that lost information, this address was inexplicably located.

Decreased memory associated with encoding information

Information, as we know, is stored in different cells or storages and is encoded in different ways. Therefore, extracting it is quite difficult and sometimes impossible. This is similar to if you changed the password on your home computer. Then they didn’t use it for a long time. It will be very difficult for you to reproduce it yourself until someone from your family helps you.
The worst thing is that you can only control your memory yourself. If you try to reproduce the situation in which you memorized something, the treasured password may pop up in your memory.

There are times when a person under stress, having a lot of different information, gets lost. And if a person gives testimony in court, and the lawyer tries to show his version of what happened with his questions, then often the witness is simply not able to accurately tell about what happened, and his testimony becomes completely useless.
But sometimes, if a person experiences some bad event, the memories of which only bring disappointment, and which are better to forget, this is what happens.

Fortunately, our brain apparently has a mechanism that “protects” our memory from such information.

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The main thing is not to delay in seeking help for various types of memory impairment!

The causes of memory impairment can be divided into five groups.

1. Brain lesions

2. Diseases of other organs

3. Adverse environmental factors

4. Chronic intoxication

Mercury has three main sources:
Amalgam ( in dental fillings). An average sized filling contains 750,000 mcg of mercury, of which 10 mcg is released daily. Plus, mercury is released faster if the amalgam is heated to the temperature of hot tea.
Vaccines. Merthiolate, an organic compound of mercury, is found in vaccines against influenza, hepatitis B, and DTP and is more dangerous than its vapor.
Fish. The mercury contained in it has already reacted with protective molecules and does not pose a significant health hazard. But still, you shouldn’t overeat tuna.
Additionally, thermometers, thermostats, mercury switches, and barometers are potential sources of mercury in the home.
e) drug abuse. Memory loss is a side effect of many medications. If these drugs are abused, a cumulative effect will be created, which is especially pronounced after taking tranquilizers and sedatives.
The list of such pharmaceutical groups also includes antipsychotics, anticholinergics, “heart” drops, barbiturates, anticholinergics, antidepressants, and antihistamines.

5. Age-related changes in the body