Amnesia

Patrice Stubblefield

207662565

Psychology 2301

Professor Ramos Nunez

10/31/16

Amnesia
 To begin with I will define exactly what amnesia is. Amnesia is the

partial or total loss of memory. There are many different types of amnesia,

but for now I will focus on anterograde amnesia. Anterograde amnesia is the

inability to form new memories after a brain injury. This type of amnesia is

presented in a movie called 50 First Dates, starring Adam Sandler and Drew

Barrymore. This movie features a young woman named Lucy Whitmore

(played by Drew Barrymore), who has anterograde amnesia after suffering a

car accident. In her case she cannot remember the accident and every 24

hours for the rest of her life her short-term memory resets. To be more clear,

shell never be able remember what happened the day before. Later the

movie dives into how to handle her disease, since there is no cure for this. I

agree with the ideas presented in this movie because it will be shown that

the movie accurately describes anterograde amnesia.

To further explain, in the movie they describe her condition as being

stable, but with no improvement and it is unlikely her memories will return.

They also say her temporal lobe is damaged from the car accident. This is

pretty accurate because most amnesia patients suffer from mostly damage

in the hippocampus, but can also suffer from damage in the temporal lobe. I

also agree with how they are handling her particular condition. Most people

might just send her to a facility that could help her, but instead they are

taking care of her and actually giving her a chance to live her life. In the

movie, since her memory resets every 24 hours, when she wakes up there is
a sign for her to watch this tape at the foot of her bed. The tape describes

her condition and her accident and then shows her some memories shes

made after the accident. For example, Lucy and Henry get married and Lucy

gets pregnant and that is shown on the tapes. I really think this is a beautiful

way to handle this because like I stated before, she gets to live her life and

even have kids, which is something most people with her condition wouldnt

even think possible.

However, one thing I do disagree with in the movie is the idea that

Lucy subconsciously remembers Henry, her main love interest. In the movie,

it shows that Lucy will sometimes wake up and paint a portrait of him,

claiming that she saw him in her dreams. This is not the case in the real

world of anterograde amnesia. Another thing that was fictitious in this movie

was the name of her condition. They called her specific type of anterograde

amnesia Goldfield Syndrome. There is no such syndrome that matches the

definition they gave in the movie.

I found the topic of amnesia interesting because I came across infantile

amnesia. Infantile amnesia is the inability to recall events from ones first few

years of life. For example, do you remember when you were born or the first

time you were held? You dont remember this because the hippocampus,

where memories are made, is not yet fully developed yet. I found this

particular type of amnesia interesting because most people remember a little

or pre-k and kindergarten, but I dont remember any of it. The oldest

memory I have is when I started first grade. I always wondered why

everyone else could remember kindergarten and I couldnt and when I came

across this type of amnesia I got my answer.

I also found the topic of amnesia interesting because my great

grandfather had dementia and although dementia and amnesia are very

different, he did lose his some of his long-term memories. He was first

diagnosed with Alzheimers when he was 70 years old, which is when we first

started noticing his inability to recall some events in his life. Later, when he

was 75, he was re-diagnosed with dementia, which is when he started

forgetting his grandchildren and great grandchildrens names. Not long after

that, he succumbed to the disease and died. I also found this interesting

because people with anterograde amnesia can live a long life as opposed to

people with dementia or Alzheimers. This is because people with dementia

or Alzheimers have degenerative brain cells. This is why this disease can

alter their personality, intellect, speech, etc. However, with anterograde

amnesia, somehow (either by a brain injury or surgery) there is damage to

the hippocampus or temporal lobe, which is where the memory part of the

brain is located.

In conclusion, I discussed amnesia and how it related to other things in

psychology. I also discussed some things that represented an accurate

representation of amnesia in the movie 50 first dates and I discussed

something that were not accurate. As far as the future for amnesia, some

people have found that things such as hypnosis, psychotherapy and even

electroconvulsive therapy can be useful in recovering lost memories and

they may develop these techniques more in order to better help amnesia

patients recover their memories. However, in Lucys case there might never

be a treatment because there are many aspects of the brain that are still a

mystery.