amnesiacs
People without recall
Amnesiacs are people who suffer from amnesia, a condition involving partial or total loss of memory.
The term applies whether the memory loss results from brain injury, psychological trauma, or disease.
In popular culture, amnesiacs often appear as characters who've forgotten their entire identities, though real cases more commonly involve gaps in memory rather than complete erasure.
The support group brought together amnesiacs struggling to rebuild their sense of self.
Failing to retain memories
- blackoutComplete power loss
- fugueContrapuntal musical form
- dissociativeCharacterized by mental detachment
- retrogradeMoving in reverse direction
anterograde · cognitive impairment · brain injury · concussion · encephalopathy · neurological · rehabilitation · neuroplasticity
Unconscious blocking of thoughts
- dissociationMental separation from surroundings
- PTSDChronic reaction to horrific events
- psychogenicCaused by the mind
- stress-relatedCaused by mental strain
therapy · hypnotherapy · recovered memories · blocking · coping mechanism · emotional · triggering · subconscious
Unfilled spaces between
- blanknessState of being empty
- voidWithout legal effect
- lost timeDuration spent unproductively
- blank slateUnmarked starting point
fragments · hazy · disorientation · confusion · waking up · uncertainty · bewilderment · fog
Losing sense of self
- self-recognitionPerceiving oneself as distinct
- disorientationLoss of spatial awareness
- confusionMental disorientation or bewilderment
- strangerPerson not yet known
mirror · unfamiliar · who am I · past life · biographical · personal history · reconnection · rediscovery
Something unexplained or unknown
- thrillerSuspense-driven narrative genre
- plot deviceStorytelling element advancing action
- unreliable narratorStoryteller whose credibility wavers
- whodunitCrime fiction identifying perpetrator
twist · revelation · Memento · noir · suspense · clues · piecing together · detective
forgetting
Failing to retain memories
- blackoutComplete power loss
- fugueContrapuntal musical form
- dissociativeCharacterized by mental detachment
retrograde · anterograde · cognitive impairment · brain injury · concussion · encephalopathy · neurological · rehabilitation · neuroplasticity · hippocampus
repression
Unconscious blocking of thoughts
- dissociationMental separation from surroundings
- PTSDChronic reaction to horrific events
- psychogenicCaused by the mind
stress-related · therapy · hypnotherapy · recovered memories · blocking · coping mechanism · emotional · triggering · subconscious · protective
gaps
Unfilled spaces between
blank slate · fragments · hazy · disorientation · confusion · waking up · uncertainty · bewilderment · fog · scattered
identity loss
Losing sense of self
- self-recognitionPerceiving oneself as distinct
- disorientationLoss of spatial awareness
- confusionMental disorientation or bewilderment
stranger · mirror · unfamiliar · who am I · past life · biographical · personal history · reconnection · rediscovery · reconstruction
mystery
Something unexplained or unknown
- thrillerSuspense-driven narrative genre
- plot deviceStorytelling element advancing action
- unreliable narratorStoryteller whose credibility wavers
whodunit · twist · revelation · Memento · noir · suspense · clues · piecing together · detective · secrets
- patientspatient, inpatients, inpatient, outpatients, outpatient
amnesiacselephants
Tusked, trunk-bearing mammals
savants · memorizers · historians · archivists · chroniclers
- selective amnesiaUnconsciously blocking specific memories
- anterograde amnesiaInability to create memories
- retrograde amnesiaInability to recall past events
- cultural amnesiaSociety forgetting its past
- traumatic amnesiaMemory gap from trauma
- childhood amnesiaInability to recall early life