Organic and psychogenic retrograde amnesia: Two sides of the same coin?

Abstract

This article describes various forms and etiologies of retrograde amnesias. It questions the validity of the classical distinction into two major forms, organic and psychogenic retrograde amnesia. It emphasizes that there is a continuum, perhaps even a principal similarity, between organic and psychogenic amnesia, which derives from a common brain mechanism underlying both phenomena. The neuronal basis of this continuum is a blockade, disruption or disconnection mechanism affecting access to (or the ‘ecphory’ of) stored engrams. The disconnection is attributable to a disintegration of widespread network systems in the brain. This disintegration may be a consequence of ‘mechanical alterations’ in the brain of organic amnesics. For psychogenic amnesics, it may be induced during autobiographical information processing by desynchronization of access processes to memory patterns, resulting in the reduction of discomfort for the subject. in the widest exegenesis, both forms of retrograde amnesia may be viewed as related to the patient's wish to avoid confrontation with his or her past autobiographical memories.