Can Trauma Cause Memory Loss? What PTSD May Be Doing to Your Memory
Understanding Trauma & its Impact on Memory
Can trauma cause memory loss?
Yes, trauma and PTSD can affect memory, concentration, attention and the ability to recall certain experiences. However, just because you have have trauma doesn’t mean you have memory loss and vice versa.
Trauma, often associated with life-threatening events such as war, natural disasters or abuse, can have profound effects on mental health. Any life threatening event that you either directly experience or witness can be considered a traumatic event. It’s important to define what traumatic experiences are in today’s climate so it is not overused and becomes a disservice to those affected by it.
Not everyone who experiences trauma develops PTSD. However, for those that do, a traumatic event can affect the way you process information, focus, sleep, and respond to what is happening around you. It change the shape, volume and decrease function in the areas of the brain that are associated with memory: the hippocampus, amygdala and prefrontal cortex. The hippocampus help us learn by comparing past and present memories. The amygdala is crucial for processing fear-based memories, and its reduced size is responsible for hypervigilance, a symptom of PTSD. And the prefrontal cortex impacts our working memory that helps us function day to day. Therefore, memory loss is highly susceptible to trauma and can be impacted in a wide variety of ways.
PTSD can involve difficulty concentrating and remembering important aspects of the traumatic event. Also, sleep problems that co-occur with PTSD can make learning, memory and focus all the more difficult. So, if your memory hasn’t been the sane since your traumatic event, than that symptoms should be taken seriously.
Can Ptsd Cause Memory Loss?
Yes, PTSD can cause memory issues that can vary from person to person. For some people, PTSD can result in dissociative amnesia: forgetting details of the traumatic event. Other examples of memory loss from trauma can result in overall forgetfulness in daily life, even years after the event. This can show up as difficulty concentrating, difficulty recalling parts of the traumatic event, and even dissociation, which can cause gaps in awareness or memory.
If you’ve never healed fully from your trauma and have gone through life ignoring the burden of it, you’re probably not equipped to deal with triggers. If you are not actively working out your trauma through internal work: meditating, praying, journaling or attending therapy or counseling, your body will manifest your triggers physically. The outcome is the symptoms of PTSD, which can include memory loss.
Dissociative Amnesia and Childhood Trauma
Dissociative amnesia often stems from severe emotional trauma, including childhood trauma. This condition involves blocking out critical details of traumatic events to protect the individual from psychological distress. This is a defense mechanism and also a survival tool to protect those impacted by trauma from the psychological pain of reliving the incident until they are ready.
Dissociative amnesia can involve:
Localized amnesia: forgetting a specific event or period of time
Selective amnesia: remembering parts of an event but not certain aspects of it
Generalized amnesia: a much broader loss of autobiographical memory, which is rare
Children, whose brain and bodies are still developing, are less equipped to deal with severe distress, making them significantly more susceptible to dissociative amnesia.
Unfortunately, it is common that dissociative amnesia never resolves, leading to lifelong trauma coping. Although, it may seem like a safer strategy to hide the memory of your pain, it means you are unable to heal from the invisible scars that are affecting your relationships, career possibly, and life. Lack of knowledge of your trauma prevents healing, and may leave you vulnerable to unintentionally repeating the same hurt that has been done to you.
The good news is that having dissociative amnesia doesn’t mean your brain permanantly deletes the experience. Triggers may show up in other ways, especially through the types of relationships you pick. Memory can recover naturally as your nervous system feels safe in life, or through psychotherapy, such as EMDR.
If you have gaps in your memory, especially memories involving childhood or traumatic experiences, be careful about trying to force yourself to remember or assuming that every blank space has a specific explanation. Healing doesn't require you to manufacture memories. Also, every forgotten childhood memory isn’t evidence of hidden trauma.
Emotional Trauma and Memory Loss
Emotional trauma, such as that from abuse or serious accidents, can also lead to different degrees of memory loss. There are many factors that can interfere with your ability to focus on the present. You may be emotionally overwhelmed. You may be dissociating. You may not be sleeping well. Or you may be experiencing intrusive memories that compete for your attention. It’s important to pay attention to your individual symptoms and triggers for memory loss and lack of focus.
Common Symptoms That Can Occur Alongside Memory Problems
Memory problems don’t usually happen by themselves. Depending on the specific person and cause, you may also experience:
Trouble concentrating
Constant “zoning out”
Chronic unexplained pain
Sleep problems
Fatigue
Hypervigilance
Shallow or rapid breathing
Tight muscles
Intrusive memories
Not all people who have gone through trauma experience all or any symptoms of PTSD. However, for those who do experience PTSD, experience a unique coupling of symptoms. Click here to get the full list of symptoms.
Can Exercise Help With Trauma-Related Memory Problems?
Now, what can you actually do about it?
For those who are “doers” and not “talkers,” a physical approach to healing is available. There is now scientific evidence of healing your mind through movement.
Walking for a minimum of 90 minutes per week can lower depressive symptoms, and strength training for at least 120 minutes per week can improve memory loss, when training at a moderate intensity. Techniques to heal trauma-induced memory loss include:
These breathing techniques during different types of exercise is a way to train your nervous system under different loads of stress. Albeit, exercise is a physical stress, it stimulates the same nervous system of increased heart rate, and reduced blood flow to your organs to prepare for fight or flight. Regardless of the type of stressor—mental vs. physical—you are training your body and minds resilience to overall stress.
Learning to control your breathing is learning to manage your heart rate. When you are in control of your physiology, you can influence the calm in your mind.
When Should You Get Your Memory Loss Checked?
Memory changes can have many causes, including sleep problems, medications, depression, anxiety, traumatic brain injury, neurological conditions, substance use, and other medical issues. PTSD and TBI can also occur together, and their symptoms can overlap.
Consider talking with a healthcare professional if your memory problems:
Are new or getting worse
Interfere with work or daily responsibilities
Cause you to become disoriented
Involve significant gaps in your memory
Started after a head injury
Are accompanied by other neurological symptoms
Are causing significant distress
You don't have to figure out the cause by yourself. Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is get evaluated instead of guessing.
Conclusion
Understanding the connection between PTSD, dissociative amnesia, and emotional trauma is crucial for effective treatment. Those experiencing memory loss due to trauma should explore various healing methods, including physical training and mental health support. For more resources on how to heal, read more below:
Therapy providers, support groups, specific therapy providers (at the bottom of page)
Minority specific resources (at the bottom of page)
About the Author:
COACH DEE | Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist, CSCS, ACE—CPT
Deborah Park, known as Coach Dee, is the owner of Drip Training LLC and an ACE Certified Personal Trainer and Health Coach. With a background in architecture and kinesiology from the University of Virginia, she has extensive experience in personal training and athletic coaching in a clinical (physical therapy) setting. Coach Dee combines her scientific knowledge with years of hands-on experience and generational knowledge of food as medicine to create programs that empower clients to regain control over their bodies and minds.
Her journey into personal training was deeply influenced by her personal struggles, including recovering from a life-changing car accident that led to PTSD and pain from scoliosis. This experience gave her a unique understanding of the connection between mental health and physical well-being. Coach Dee is committed to helping clients develop resilience, build strength, and rediscover their confidence—no matter the challenges they face.
