Diagnostic indicators of dissociative amnesia: a case report.

Dissociative disorders (DD) are described and defined both in the diagnostic system of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM IV-R) and in the World Health Organization (ICD 10). Regarding the particular case of cognitive processes related to memory, it is possible that memories are not integrated properly, resulting in a condition called "dissociative amnesia" (DA). This illness has been described as a functional disorder of memory, which presents a difficulty in recovering, and in some cases, in consolidating information from life events (episodic memory), without structural organic brain damage (Staniloiu et al. 2010). There are currently a large number of publications on clinical studies that have sought to characterize DA; however, most of these are in relation to DA of the retrograde variety. Clinical cases of anterograde dissociative amnesia are rare (Kumar et al. 2007, Markowitsch et al. 1999). Case reports on DA (both retrograde and anterograde) are clinically relevant in order to better understand the characteristics of symptomatology and better diagnostic differentiation with respect to other psychiatric disorders involving dissociative symptoms (panic disorder, acute stress disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and borderline personality disorder (BDP) and factitious disorder (FD). The following describes a case of a woman who presents a significant inability to acquire and consolidate information regarding some daily life events, specifically those related to the handling of money and other valuable objects.