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Health Check: The Woman Who Can’t Remember Her Own Past

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How Memories are Made – and Lost

2018/08/15 GMT

The Woman Who Can’t Remember Her Own Past

BBC World Service - Health Check, The Woman Who Can’t Remember Her Own Past

When memory fails – and you can’t bear grudges

The mysteries of memory; The nurse looking after the mind as well as the body; Brain scan to help tailor psychosis treatment; Is yawning catching?

Today’s programme focuses on the mind.  A curious memory problem has emerged – where people don’t have amnesia, but can’t remember their own past. We hear from a woman with Severely Deficient Autobiographical Memory syndrome – she knows that events have happened but has no recollection of being there herself.  We hear from the Canadian memory scientist who thinks it’s more common than we realise. 

When patients have treatment for a physical problem should healthcare professionals also focus on psychological care? We hear from a nurse supported a patient during her bladder cancer treatment.  The intimate nature of the treatment triggered memories of childhood abuse – along with severe anxiety which she helped her to overcome. 

A scan of the brain could help to take the guesswork out of prescribing medication for psychosis. Anti-psychotic drugs can help alleviate hallucinations or delusions – but they only work for about three quarters of people with psychosis.  New research uses a PET scan - to detect whether the dopamine system is overactive – a neurochemical which is associated with the brain’s “reward” system. 

And is yawning really as contagious as we think it is - or does it depend on who is doing the yawning?

(Photo caption: Healthy brain, 3D magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan and wire-frame artwork. Credit: © Zephyr/Science Photo)

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