traumatic amnesia

Traumatic amnesia is a memory disorder resulting from traumatic brain injury. Following such an injury, individuals may experience a post-traumatic confusional state, during which they are unable to form new memories. This often leads to complete amnesia for the period of altered consciousness.

Affected individuals may also exhibit retrograde amnesia, forgetting events that occurred before the injury. The duration of this memory loss can vary depending on the severity of the trauma. While memories may return chronologically, they often resurface haphazardly. Typically, the remaining amnesia is limited to events shortly before the accident, though severe cases might show residual impact for up to a year prior to the trauma. Short-term memory usually remains intact in amnesic individuals.12