Washington residents like you suffer from many adverse affects after a serious crash. For example, most crash victims suffer from head, neck or back injuries. If you go through head trauma, you might also suffer from a brain injury.
Brain injuries can cause chaotic cognitive impairment on many levels. But did you know that a crash can also result in memory damage and loss?
Memory loss from trauma
The Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center discusses memory loss related to brain trauma. For example, many individuals will experience a full or partial loss of the memories surrounding the crash. In some cases, this might be a self-protective mechanism. Because of the mental and emotional trauma tied to the crash, your brain might actively prevent you from recalling it. In this case, therapy may help you recover these memories. It is not always possible, though.
Memory loss from brain damage
In other cases, this is a direct result of injury to the brain. When your frontal lobe takes an impact, it disrupts your short term memory storage. This area of the brain stores memories that last 15 to 30 seconds long. When injured, it sometimes does not retain those memories. If the medial temporal lobe suffers damage, then your brain cannot translate short term into long term memories.
While you can work on rehabilitating the health of your brain and memory, you will not regain memories missing from the crash. This is because you did not “forget” them. Your brain did not store them, so they do not exist in your mind in the first place. This is an important distinction to make when going through recovery.