In this condition, there is a disruption in the balance of neurotransmitters that regulate the blood vessels and heart rate, causing a temporary decrease in blood flow to the brain. This is a common cause of fainting that may even occur as a reaction to stressful or frightening situations. This awareness has led to the development of very effective trauma-focused treatments. During PTSD, your hippocampus cells are destroyed by an increase in glucocorticoids (stress hormones). This makes the hippocampus less effective at its job of keeping your fearful memories in check.

Risk factors

Medication options may also be considered as part of a treatment plan. It’s crucial to work closely with a mental health professional to determine the most appropriate medication regimen, as individual responses can vary. Head trauma, illness, stroke, and other head injuries can also damage memory processes ptsd blackouts in human beings, and all of these conditions could be at the root of memory loss.

Anger and Trauma

For example, you may hear a car backfire and relive combat experiences. Or you may see a report on the news about a sexual assault and feel overcome by memories of your assault. Most people who go through traumatic events may have a hard time adjusting and coping for a short time.

Navigating PTSD: Meeting With a Psychologist or Psychiatrist for Trauma-Informed Care

Treatment can take place one on one or in a group and usually lasts 6 to 12 weeks but can last longer. This includes combat veterans and people who have experienced or witnessed a physical or sexual assault, abuse, an accident, a disaster, or other serious events. People who have PTSD may feel stressed or frightened, even when they are not in danger. If you have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), you may notice that you have trouble concentrating or that you have issues with your memory, such as memory loss. When you experience traumatic stress or anxiety, problems with pattern separation may affect your memory response. Rather than memory loss, you may develop an overgeneralized fear response to multiple memory stimuli.

Learn more about NIMH newsletters, public participation in grant reviews, research funding, clinical trials, the NIMH Gift Fund, and connecting with NIMH on social media. Fortunately, there are a few things that you can do to improve your memory and boost your concentration skills when you have PTSD. Dissociation is a disconnect or distance from your thoughts, feelings, or behaviors, as if you were watching yourself from the perspective of someone else. If you know someone who’s in danger of attempting suicide or has made a suicide attempt, make sure someone stays with that person for safety. Or, if you can do so safely, take the person to the nearest hospital emergency department. Research in 2022 has shown that PTSD can affect memory in two primary ways.

• Department of Veterans Affairs, about six out of every 100 people will experience PTSD at some point in their lives.
• Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBTI) is recommended as a first-line treatment for chronic insomnia.
• Once you connect with a mental health provider, they can support you in processing your trauma.
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can give rise to a multitude of symptoms, one of which is blackouts.
• The severity of dissociative amnesia often corresponds to the severity of the underlying cause(s) or contributing factor(s).
• Short-term memory allows us to hold information temporarily, while long-term memory stores information for extended periods.

Living with complex PTSD

Fortunately, several treatment options can help manage symptoms, offer support, and improve your quality of life. Your exact treatment plan will depend on the severity of your symptoms, but healthcare providers often recommend psychotherapy, medications, and support groups. While memory loss might seem more like a convenient plot point in a suspense film or police procedural, it is a legitimate coping mechanism that may be enacted by the brain. Like a fog descending over cherished moments, PTSD quietly erases the contours of memory, leaving survivors grasping at the fading edges of their own stories.

Causes of complex PTSD

The symptoms also must be unrelated to medication, substance use, or other illness. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a disorder that develops in some people who have experienced a shocking, scary, or dangerous event. Memory loss is a complex symptom and can be experienced as a result of a number of trauma-related mental health conditions. While the challenges of PTSD-related memory issues can be significant, it’s important to remember that help is available.

Ways People With PTSD Can Prevent Memory Loss

• For instance, some people might find themselves constantly on edge and feel as they are perpetually two seconds away from screaming at the first person to cross their path.
• Seeking treatment from a mental health provider as soon as you develop symptoms of PTSD or experience a traumatic event can be one of the most beneficial ways to keep PTSD symptoms at bay.
• Treating the symptoms of PTSD can help mitigate memory loss and difficulty concentrating and pave the path toward a healthy, bright future.
• While traumatic memories may be deeply ingrained and difficult to forget, other long-term memories, especially those not directly related to the trauma, may become harder to access.

Getting treatment after PTSD symptoms arise can be very important to ease symptoms and help people function better. One of the most common questions individuals with PTSD and their loved ones ask is whether the condition can cause forgetfulness. The short answer is yes, PTSD can indeed make you forget things, but the mechanisms behind this phenomenon are complex and varied. Therapy and medication are two of the most common treatment options for PTSD. For a brief moment, you may become trapped in the past or separated from reality. You may feel like you are looking at yourself from above or a different person entirely.