# Children with amnesia **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 27, 2019, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-with-amnesia/844077 "2019-11-27T17:27:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nansbread1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Nansbread1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nansbread1)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2019, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-with-amnesia/844077/1 "2019-11-27T17:27:38Z")
Is there any condition where children suffer acute amnesia and cannot remember anything from one day to the next. If there is, what is it called? Childhood amnesia search results show adults who cannot remember their childhood so is not what i am asking about. I suspect the effect on the child and its growth might be severe. Is there any literature on it? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2019, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-with-amnesia/844077/2 "2019-11-27T17:48:36Z")
Amnesia is not a specific diagnosis or medical condition, it’s a vague term describing a very wide variety of disturbances of memory. If you want to study memory loss in the pediatric population, you’d need to focus on diseases or diagnoses associated with the specific type of memory problem you want to know about. You’d need to look at such things as seizures (and seizures come in a variety of types each with a variety of causes, or no discernible cause), head trauma/concussion, stroke, migraine, psychological trauma/PTSD, brain infections, diseases of the neuron itself, etc. etc. etc. Just what is it that you desire to know? ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2019, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-with-amnesia/844077/3 "2019-11-27T18:05:54Z")
Hopefully someone who knows how to search the scientific literature will provide advice on the best approach. For example I did a Google search for: “children with amnesia” The 8th result basically led to: The Essential Handbook of Memory Disorders for Clinicians [http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.411.4562&rep=rep1&type=pdf#page=539](http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.411.4562&rep=rep1&type=pdf#page=539) Developmental Amnesias and Acquired Amnesias of Childhood by Christine M. Temple So read this chapter and read the references and use search terms like “developmental amnesias” and “acquired amnesias of childhood” as search terms in Google and Google Scholar. When you use Google Scholar read the list of “Cited By” and “Related Articles” ---
**Author:** ![Nansbread1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Nansbread1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nansbread1)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2019, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-with-amnesia/844077/4 "2019-11-27T18:26:47Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Amnesia is not a specific diagnosis or medical condition, it’s a vague term describing a very wide variety of disturbances of memory. If you want to study memory loss in the pediatric population, you’d need to focus on diseases or diagnoses associated with the specific type of memory problem you want to know about. You’d need to look at such things as seizures (and seizures come in a variety of types each with a variety of causes, or no discernible cause), head trauma/concussion, stroke, migraine, psychological trauma/PTSD, brain infections, diseases of the neuron itself, etc. etc. etc. > > Just what is it that you desire to know? Just curious to know if there is any genetic condition that results in amnesia in Children. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2019, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-with-amnesia/844077/5 "2019-11-27T19:11:28Z")
> [@Nansbread1](#): > > Just curious to know if there is any genetic condition that results in amnesia in Children. You need to define further what you mean by “amnesia”. As I noted before, it’s a very vague term and not a true diagnosis. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2019, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-with-amnesia/844077/6 "2019-11-27T22:34:21Z")
When i grow up, I’m going to have so much amnesia! [/cubert] Me too. I mean, I have it now, but I forgot[/dwight] ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2019, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-with-amnesia/844077/7 "2019-11-28T03:14:07Z")
> [@Nansbread1](#): > > Just curious to know if there is any genetic condition that results in amnesia in Children. You seem to mean a complete inability to form memories. My first question would be “does that exist outside of movies?” And if it was genetic. complete and active from birth it would likely be labeled as some sort of acute developmental delay: that kid wouldn’t be able to learn anything. ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2019, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/children-with-amnesia/844077/8 "2019-11-28T15:55:26Z")
Is this the kind of thing you’re looking for? [Severe anterograde amnesia with onset in childhood as a result of anoxic encephalopathy](https://academic.oup.com/brain/article-pdf/120/3/417/17863533/1200417.pdf)