Dissociation : Vol. 5, No. 2, p. 073-079 : Psychogenic amnesia: a clinical investigation of 25 cases

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Date

1992-06

Authors

Coons, Philip M.

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Publisher

Ridgeview Institute and the International Society for the Study of Multiple Personality and Dissociation

Abstract

Although there have been eight descriptive studies on patients with psychogenic amnesia between 1935 and 1962, this is the first such study in thirty years. Using an extensive clinical history, mental status examination, collateral interviews, neurological examination, electroencephalogram (EEG), intelligence testing, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), and the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES), the authors examined twenty-five consecutive psychogenic amnesia patients diagnosed with modified DSM-III-R criteria. In most cases the amnesia was selective, chronic, and not of sudden onset. A few cases were repetitive. There were multiple stressful psychological precipitants. There were many similarities to patients with multiple personality disorder, providing further proof that dissociative disorders occur along a dissociative spectrum. Psychogenic amnesia is probably the most common dissociative disorder diagnosis. It is frequently overlooked because the symptoms are subtle, and other primary diagnoses are often present.

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p. 073-079

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