can it happen, due event in someone's life, that person loses contact with his past ?

Question

by that, I meant not being able to retrace his past and as a matter of fact, cannot determine who he is ..? can that happen?
is it a sign of sickness ? if yes, what kind ? what can be done to help this person ?

Answer 1

Let me think...it was on the tip of my tongue..could it be amnesia? People who have had traumatic brain injury either through being hit on the head or a stroke sometimes lose memories of their histories, even who they are. This has happened when people have gone through a traumatic event as well. Sometimes memories come back and sometimes they don't. Memories are less likely to come back from severe injury that causes permanent damage.

Answer 2

Stress can be very powerful, like from a bad experience and can cause short term or long term loss of memory. Sometimes people use it though because they don't want you to know their past. Usually by fingerprints, ID on the person, clothing labels, advertising a picture, having the police do a search (as in maybe he's a lost person and someone is looking for him), tracking back thru rental records or cellphone records as to his contacts, or maybe something he's said to you gave you a clue and you missed it. How about his SS number, does he have one? If he does then a request from him to the courts could let him check the records. Surely confirming dna with a lost persons list would help. If he's just not remembering minor things surely there must be something he does remember, any clue. Fright could be anything from a fire or bad accident to seeing something happen to a member of his family, or even to being raped or imprisoned or having been in the military and suffered shock from war. Finding out who he is is one thing, but sending him to a shrink to help him remember, well that memory might unleash something that is better to have forgotten.

Answer 3

Yes, people develop amnesia. Usually it is the result of one of two things.

Either the person has a physical ailment that has caused physical damage in the appropriate region of the brain.

Or the person is under mental stress and is temporarily blocking the memories as a coping mechanism.

A doctor could evaluate the situation and try to determine which is the cause and therefore what kind of help might work.

Answer 4

If you're talking about someone losing their memory due to a traumatic event, yes, it can happen. It's called amnesia. If that's not what you're talking about, then I don't have a clue what you mean.