When you think about acquired brain injury cases, you might, like me, think of a person being hit in the head by a baseball bat, and is unable to remember anything since that day onward. While it is not an uncommon case (the amnesia, not the baseball bat), the cognitive difficulties are usually shot-lived. In cases where the person’s inability to form new memory (a.k.a. anterograde amnesia) is caused by physical trauma to the head, such as in a car accident, the person most likely will recover after a few weeks or months, depending on the severity of the incidence. Rarely but true, however, there are also people who never recover.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to not be able to form new memory? Personally, I can’t remember what I had for breakfast or what I did last night before bed, but overall, I have a sense of what I’ve been doing for the past bit (such as going to school, making friends, and remembering who these friends are), and what I might want to do in the future (such as getting a job, maintaining friendship). A person with profound anterograde amnesia, on the other hand, may not have all these information. They may remember everything up to a certain point, and despite continuing to make friends and do things, unable to form new memory. They may not even be able to retain any of these information at all, such as the case of Clive Wearing.
When he was 47 years old, Clive Wearing, an accomplished British musician, was diagnosed of Herpesviral encephalitis. The virus attacked his central nervous system, leaving him with profound retrograde and anterograde amnesia. His memory is about 7-30 seconds long, and he is unable to recall anything from the past as well. He is unable to recognize his own children or his own house. As far as Clive is concerned, he has been stuck in the darkness for years, alone, until the sudden awakening of consciousness. He also fell in and out of depression after his illness because of this belief. The only person he recognizes is his wife.
Watch a 7-minute-documentary of Clive and Deborah Wearing:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmzU47i2xgw&feature=related[/youtube]
I don’t know what your thoughts on this are, but to me, there is a strange sense of happiness in him. Although he feels alone from time to time (no pun intended), and is unable to plan for the future, the way he embraces the present with such a joy is remarkable.
Buddhist monks sometimes try to train themselves, through meditation, to “enjoy the moment”. It has also been shown to be an effective way to improve overall life satisfaction. As much as I love my memory (despite it’s occasional failure), it might worth it sometimes to forget about what has just happened a moment ago and enjoy everything anew.
