The recent case of the little girl forgotten in the car by her father brings to attention a recurring problem linked to what is defined amnesia dissociativa o FSB, «Forgotten baby syndrome».,
L’amnesia dissociativabrought into play in tragic circumstances such as these, is described by psychiatrists as a retrospective gap in memory, a “hole” in memories.
Il disorder is considered quite rare, although its response has increased over the years. In these cases the notions of time and memory are completely lost.
Often the event is related to forte stress or to trauma.
For a true diagnosis of dissociative amnesia associated with stress, however, pathological disorders that could otherwise explain it must first be excluded, such as – just to name a few – epileptic seizures, transient global amnesia syndromehead trauma, or taking psychotropic substances.
In dissociative amnesia due to severe trauma or stress, a “portion” of one’s life comes, even for a short period of time, canceled without having the slightest awareness of it. It can happen not only in relation to people, even if they are the most loved ones, but also to objects, such as money or jewels, which perhaps are forgotten or even thrown away with the garbage.
The reported cases of dissociative amnesia increases for example where there are catastrophic events such as earthquakes. In any case the stress threshold is personal: what is mild stress for one person may not be so for others.
Signs of stress “over the edge” can be a progressive difficulty concentrating and rememberingdisturbed sleep, irritability with respect to changes, tendency to do things “automatically”, without thinking about it.