Functional amnesia: the mnestic block syndrome

Markowitsch HJ. Functional amnesia: the mnestic block syndrome. REVUE DE NEUROPSYCHOLOGIE. 2000;10(1):175-198.The roots of the expression "functional amnesia" are discussed with particular reference to the old concept of hysteria. The more recent assessment of the existence of memory subsystems is used to demonstrate contents-related selective amnesias. The increasing number of patients with lasting amnesic conditions, particularly in the domain of episodic or autobiographic memories without concomitant brain damage provoked the postulation of the existence of a syndrome called "mnestic block syndrome". This syndrome can be visualized as a kind of disconnection which undermines the access to the engrams or storage places. As long as there are no clearer or more straightforward possibilities to explain the multitude of suddenly occurring and globally acting amnesias without manifest brain tissue damage, the assumption of a mnestic block condition can be taken as a preliminary model to attack the multitude of manifestations of functional amnesia