Functionalism
Biological psychology concerns fundamentally the correlation between psychological processes as well as the underlying physiological events otherwise known as the mind-body phenomenon. It focuses on the braining functioning and the entire nervous system involving actions such as feeling, perceiving, learning, sensing, and thinking that are acknowledged as characteristics of human being and other animals (Kalat, 2015). Concerning information processing, it is described that the brains complete the functions that can be compared to how a computer execute functions. Functionalism perceives mental behavior and life in terms of active adaption to an individual’s environment. It offers the general foundation for coming up with psychological theories that are not easily testable using controlled experiments like applied psychology (Lad et al, 2019). The functionalist approach by William James on psychology did not cover the composition of the human mind but explored ways on which the mind adapts to situations and changes in the surroundings. From the functionalism approach, the evolution of the brain was based on the sole goal of survival since its carrier responding to the information processor (Staniloiu et al, 2020).The challenge of memory loss tentatively described as amnesia continues to instigate various studies that explore causes and diagnosis of differential diagnosis of amnesia. This paper explores the differential diagnosis of functional amnesia and explores how it has transformed over the years through research and how it impacts behavior and functioning.
Functional Amnesia and recent research
Biological psychology can be defined as the scientific study of all biological processes influencing or underlying mind and behavior. A theory concerning the association between the bond and mind, which dates back to the time of Aristotle, who declared that these two survived as one entity since the mind was one of functions of the body. According to French Philosopher Descartes, both the soul and the mind comprise of spiritual body that live independently from the normal functioning of the body (Jafra eta l, 2017). Any trauma to the brain influences human behavior. The early functional and structural psychologists held that a look at conscious thoughts were important to comprehending the mind (Kalat, 2015). Approaches on exploring the functioning of the mind were founded on rigorous and systematic observation, providing the basis of contemporary psychological experimentation.
The functional amnesia meaning has changed over time. Previously it was described as an antipode of “organic” amnesia. This submission was changed to the amnesic disorder occurring with no evidence of any significant brain harm as outlined by traditional structural imaging procedures as well as possesses of an uncertain etiology (Staniloiu et al, 2020).Although some authors apply the terms dissociative, psychogenic or functional amnesia interchangeably, indirectly recognizing that various functional amnesias having psychological basis; some various differences among a hypothetical scaffolding of the terminologies are present (Jamjoom et al, 2017). According to Lad et al (2019), dissociative amnesia describes another category known as psychogenic amnesia that is motivated by psychological mechanism of dissociation, because it belongs to the dissociative disorders. These disorders subjectively show signs and are perceived as disturbances linked to composition memory, perception, identity or emotion as well as is considered as causally attached to psychological stress.
In functional amnesia, memory impairment is often in a retrograde nature; however it can also be anterograde (Lad et al, 2019). The key sign of psychogenic amnesia is impaired memory of autobiographical events, particularly in retrieval of individual data and incidence of general semantic knowledge (Lad et al, 2019).Varying degrees of anterograde memory deficits can characterize retrograde amnesia. Nevertheless, the majority of patients having functional amnesia, anterograde mnemonic processing is recorded as being preserved to a large extent. Usually anterograde amnesia happens first but it comes mild eventually. Zeman et al (2018) argue that the gap between functional amnesia as well as the time of neuropsychological study can occasion a deficit in the downgrading of anterograde memory, which is early symptom of functional amnesia condition.
In comparing retrograde amnesia and anterograde amnesia, incidents of functional anterograde amnesia are characterized by retrograde episodic, which include autobiographic recall or incidents of functional amnesia characterized by anterograde memory impairments beyond proportion have been less reported or acknowledged (Jamjoom et al, 2017). Functional amnesia might impact memories from across an entire life-span or those from a particular time period having specific content (Thomas-Antérion, 2017). For example, patients may fail to remember events that happened within a stipulated time frame, let’s say 6 or 10 years. In relation to the information, amnesia can affect memory of some autobiographical content or limit to a particular information. Retrograde psychogenic amnesia can involve suddenly abandoning the customary environment as well as compromised knowledge concerning personal identity.
On the other hand psychogenic amnesia is described as category of amnesic disorders that is etiologically linked to a wider range of psychological means. Zeman et al (2018) affirm that the Functional amnesia concept was recommended to be appropriate phrase of classifying patients with memory disorders that could not be traced from the psychological or organic effects. Numerous instances of functional amnesia are traced from a backdrop of psychological pain or stress. Additionally, it can be in conjunction with physical factor that are re-occurring (Lad et al, 2019). The physical factor is often of mild severity like electrocuting accident or traumatic brain injury. Dissociative amnesia also referred to as psychogenic amnesia that portrays a memory disorder exhibiting a sudden retrograde of an episodic memory loss, which occurs for some time happening for hours, or even years (Zeman et al, 2018). Dissociated amnesia is described as part of a dissociative disorder showing memory gaps on second thoughts. These gaps entail the inability to recall individual information mostly in traumatic or stressful nature (Milner & Klein, 2016). To medicate such condition, DSM-5 dissociative fugue is commonly used for dissociative amnesia.
In general, amnesia refers to the loss of memories or failure to form new one and is usually triggered by damage in the memory-forming parts in the brain, referred to as the limbic system (Jamjoom et al, 2017). It is usually linked to causes like a severe blow to the head, drug or alcohol abuse, oxygen deprivation, or degenerative brain disease. On the other hand, there is another type of memory loss that is rare known as psychogenic amnesia that seems to be independent of injury or brain disorder and is associated with psychological factors (Harrison et al, 2017). A typical clinical syndrome underlying a memory disorder is that an individual having a psychogenic amnesia, making it hard to recall own information. The absence of self-knowledge impacts on self-knowledge like remember who one is. But, psychogenic amnesia is different from the later, organic amnesia since the cause is nonorganic, for instance, there is no brain lesion or structural damage save for psychological stress that triggers the amnesia. Mostly, this concept of psychogenic amnesia as a memory disorder is so confusing (Staniloiu et al, 2020).
Remembering the past is one of the core characteristics of humans that enable them to maintain a sense of identity and wholeness as well as preparing them for the pressures that awaits them in future (Milner & Klein, 2016). Forgetting revolves within the active neural correlation with recall hence permitting the exclusion of irrelevant or unnecessary information or possible overload while reducing intrusion. Traumatic experiences along with stress can influence this connection hence occasioning memory lapses such as functional amnesia (Milner & Klein, 2016).There are challenges that emerge in making a clear distinction of discrepancy in the prescription for functional amnesia since it might affect the limits for neurology and psychiatry. Milner and Klein (2016) posit that several mechanisms contributes in functional amnesia like recovery disturbances, merging problems; inspired forgetting; weaknesses in merging as well as re-collecting details in the precedent, challenges linked to forming personal information, as well as the loss of information.
In some patients, there is synchronization abnormality between a frontal lobe system that is critical for autonoetic consciousness as well as the temporo-amygdalar system that is crucial in the emotions as well as evaluation offering an experiential support to establish the underlying system for dissociation. The amnestic blockade describes amnesia triggered through psychological or environmental stress (Zeman et al, 2018). Interestingly, bulimia nervosa forms part of the comorbidities for the dissociative amnesia. Binge eating along with obesity were also recorded as comorbidities associated with psychogenic amnesia (Lad et al, 2019).
At the commencement of the functional amnesia, there are changes that are recorded like eating habits. One reason is that there is a reflection of personality dimensions and alterations in the sense and smell. Following mild brain injuries or trauma, changes in olfaction tend to be common but sometimes are not perceived by patients (Milner & Klein, 2016). A significant change in taste happens due to changes in olfaction. Another explanation to this change depends on several composition involved in processing of the memory system, particularly in the episodic-autobiographical that have been recorded within the processor (Jafra et al, 2017). The growing data in this area points towards relations between psychological stress and compensation system (Jamjoom et al, 2017). Changes have been noted not only in eating preferences, but also changes in drinking and smoking habits at the onset of functional amnesia. A study shows that there was lost allergies in one person with a variant of dissociative amnesia and asthma at the beginning of the retrograde amnesia (Jafra et al, 2017). This is an interesting observation in a wake of information indicating that immune activities can be modulated or changed through learning processes that are associative.
Depersonalization or conversation signs can go with some options of functional amnesia as well as supplement the personality loss feeling. Different impairments of time processing are recorded among the sick people having functional amnesia. The social informational processors can be impaired in patients experiencing the functional amnesia (Milner & Klein, 2016). Some abnormalities can be displayed in an emotional processor within patients having functional amnesia, which are common and unusual. Whereas the description of episodic memory rarely refers to emotion, some scholars have reiterated to the close association between emotion and episodic-autobiographical memory (Lad et al, 2019). Comorbidities having affective disorders with some exhibiting subclinical depressive signs that are prevalent within patients having dissociative amnesia creating a foundation for shared neurobiological mechanism.
Little is known about psychogenic amnesia than what is known about neurological amnesia. But new research on psychogenic amnesia also termed as ‘dissociative amnesia’ or “functional amnesia” will transform this. On one of the most comprehensive and largest study researchers described this kind of memory loss in more explicit terms than before and established that individuals who suffered from it were likely to recover that it was ever thought (Jafra et al, 2017).Having a mild health injury previously but not severe enough to trigger memory loss was common amongst individuals with functional amnesia and this surprised the scientists. These findings’ indicators could assist health care providers to quickly make a distinction between functional amnesia and neurological amnesia hence necessitating early and targeted treatment for any underlying causes like depression (Butler & Zeman, 2016). Following early treatment; the prognosis of this kind of amnesia has improved as compared to previous literature. Very little is acknowledged relating to the epidemiology linked to functional amnesia due to the fact that functional had no diagnostic entity.
Human beings are in nature forgetting beings and the word forgetting is usually used to be reminded not to forget anything. Forgetfulness is more primordial as compared to remembering and there is emphasis on the aspect of poor memory. There are advantages of the right balance involving recall and forgetting that can be traced to Ribot’s era in Greek mythology (Zeman et al, 2018). Forgetting the past is seen as a danger to the personality of individuals or groups, particularly in societies that are extremely individualized. The condition brought through recalling everything was illustrated through Borges’ character that attains a state of inactivity (Jafra et al, 2017). The memory loss is described as a key challenge to a person and repeatedly likened to dementia. Media usually describe societies affected by extreme fear of not remembering or a fear of unknown as athazagoraphobia.
Studies conducted before showed that certain factors could predispose an individual to develop functional amnesia such as crisis or severe stress; a history of suicidal tendencies or depression, or a history of some neurological amnesia. In the new study, the authors noted that most of the pre-existing research explaining functional amnesia comprised of individual case studies. As established by the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, functional amnesia is rare and is believed to affect about 1% of male and about 3% of female (Jamjoom et al, 2017). Owing to the scarcity of this condition, there were no large studies consisting of cases, and hence scarce published data concerning shared characteristics amongst cases that would assist experts evaluate and deal with this kind of memory loss (Jafra et al, 2017). During the investigation scientists studied 53 patients ranging from the age of 21 to 66 who had gone for the appointment at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London from 1990 to 2008, and duly given the diagnosis of psychogenic amnesia (Jamjoom et al, 2017). The scientists also included twenty-one individuals who had neurological memory disorders as well as fourteen individuals who did not have any history of memory loss.
Through analyzing individuals who were suffering from functional amnesia, the scientists came up with the first-ever groupings for the condition coming up with 4 diagnostic states that described various components of long-term and short-term loss of sense of personal identity or autobiographical information (Thomas-Antérion, 2017). In the four categories, patients in two of the categories were more likely to understand who they were, while individuals within the other two categories failed commonly to acknowledge members of their families as established by researchers (Milner & Klein, 2016). Individual with functional amnesia as compared to individuals with neurological amnesia (across all the categories) were more likely to have exhibited depression, problems with alcohol or drugs, post-traumatic stress disorder or struggled with family conflicts or employment issues as observed by researchers.
Characteristics of transient amnesia include a temporary loss of conscious access to knowledge of the past as well as the inability of laying down consciously accessible memories (Jamjoom et al, 2017). The content of the memory loss clinically involves information of a personal nature integrally interwoven with psychological trauma experience (Butler& Zeman, 2016).Memory consolidation process can lengthen to the years hampering accurate identification mechanisms. Retrieving events and facts need the engagement of 3 intimately interacting networks like activation of part of brain stem involving section of the reticular activating system, where major information of the personal information enclosing neocortical network is stored.
Conclusion
Biological psychology is a realm where human behavior is studied through psychological processes. Memory loss can be beneficial and also a reason for worry since it leads to loss of personal identity in societies that are highly individualized. Memory loss has been understood into various categories that are broadly referred to as amnesia. While psychogenic amnesia still remains controversial, functional amnesia has evolved through a wide range of studies by scientists with the aim of understanding the functioning of the human mind. Memory loss is important in allowing more new events to be stored while episodic-memory loss can be challenging. Behavior change has been noted in some patients at the onset of functional amnesia like change in drinking or smoking habits. Comprehensive research has been carried out of functional amnesia leading to differential diagnosis that distinguishes it from other types of amnesia like psychogenic amnesia that still needs more research to be done. The functioning of the brain with regard to retention or forgetfulness of events will continue to evoke interest leading to further research. The impact of functional amnesia on human behavior cannot be underestimated.