psychogenic amnesia

Psychogenic amnesia is a memory disorder not caused by detectable brain injury or disease. It can arise spontaneously due to stress or conflict, or be induced by suggestion under hypnosis. This type of amnesia is reversible and explained psychologically, though organic factors can sometimes be involved.123

It often affects specific memories or periods, differing from organic amnesia by being sharply bounded and motivated by the patient's needs or conflicts. In rare cases, it can involve a loss of personal identity. Fugue states, where individuals wander and adopt new identities, are a form of psychogenic amnesia, sometimes with underlying organic causes like epilepsy. Hypnotic amnesia, where memory loss occurs during or after hypnosis, is also psychogenic and can be reversed with further hypnosis or interrogation.123