ANOSOGNOSIA: temporary forgetfulness, NOT Alzheimer’s
In the following analysis, French Professor Bruno Dubois, Director of the Institute of Memory and Alzheimer’s Disease (IMMA) at La Pitié-Salpêtrière – Paris Hospitals, addresses the subject in a rather reassuring way:
“If anyone is aware of his memory problems, he does not have Alzheimer’s.”
- I forget the names of family members…
- I do not remember where I put some things…
It often happens in people 60 years and older that they complain that they lack memory. “The information is always in the brain, it is the “processor” that is lacking.”
This is “Anosognosia,” temporary forgetfulness.
Half of people 60 and older have some symptoms that are due to age rather than disease.
The most common cases are:
– forgetting the name of a person,
– going to a room and not remembering why,
– a blank memory for a movie title, actor or actress,
– a search for where we left our glasses or keys…
After 60 years most people have such a difficulty, which indicates that it is not a disease but rather a characteristic due to the passage of years…
Many people are concerned about these oversights, hence the importance of the following statement:
“Those who are conscious of being forgetful have no serious problem of memory. Those who suffer from a memory illness or Alzheimer’s, are not aware of what is happening.”
Professor Dubois, reassures the majority of people concerned about their oversights:
“The more we complain about memory loss, the less likely we are to suffer from memory sickness.
