Medicine | Jenlisa

Chapter 18: Remember Me

Dissociative amnesia is a type of dissociative disorder that involves inability to recall important personal information that would not typically be lost with ordinary forgetting.

The amnesia appears to be caused by traumatic or stressful experiences endured or witnessed (eg, physical or sexual abuse, rape, combat, genocide, natural disasters, death of a loved one, serious financial troubles) or by tremendous internal conflict (eg, turmoil over guilt-ridden impulses or actions, apparently unresolvable interpersonal difficulties, criminal behaviors).

Most patients are partly or completely unaware that they have gaps in their memory.

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"It's mostly because of guilt and stress. You mentioned earlier about the hate comments online and the fact that they were blaming Lisa for the accident. I know she's a public figure but right now, it's better if she avoids any social platforms. What we saw earlier was the early stage, we need to prevent it to become severe, or else her attacks won't only be a few minutes long."

Chaeyoung looked at the doctor, her eyes were shining with tears. "You mean, it can last for a long time?"

The doctor nodded. "It can happen, yes, there were severe cases that could last for weeks or even months."

"But... she'll get better, right? She's a strong woman, she won't let it happen."

"You need to understand that Lisa's been through so much. For now, we need to examine her. It is important to know what exactly triggers her episode and for how long it lasts."

A deep, sad sigh escaped Chaeyoung's lips. "Earlier, she saw the ring on her finger and asked me about it. She forgot she was married to Jennie. I don't understand, though, I thought she would only forget the traumatic memories and not the happy ones?"

"Hmmm, to make it simple, let's just say that instead of dealing with the trauma or stress, her mind built a defense mechanism and that is to forget the accident and the people or events that come along with it. In Lisa's case, she needed to let go of her memories with Jennie in order to save herself from too much stress. It's not voluntary though, Lisa's not aware of the gaps in her memory and it's important to not overflow her mind with emotions. The people around her must be very cautious with what they say around her, every word could be a trigger."

"But if... if she saw Jennie, would that be okay? Will she remember again?"

"It's hard to give an answer as of this moment. Dissociative amnesia is very complex, unpredictable. But we can hope." The doctor smiled sympathetically at her. "I just need you to get ready, Chaeyoung. There's a 50 percent chance that things could go in the way we don't want it to be and dealing with it won't be easy. But Lisa needs support and I want you to stand beside her, and your family too. Especially, Jennie, she needs a lot of patience. "

A tear fell down on Chaeyoung's cheeks as she slowly processed all the information she just learned.

Across the room, Lisa sat on a wooden chair, looking through the glass window to a garden just below her room. There were patients outside, all of them looked a little weak, some even had wheelchairs and canes. Her thumb ran around the circular steel on her finger as she wondered why a brunette woman with feline eyes was staring at her.

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The sun was slowly peeking up at the sky, the blue turned into a mixture of orange and pink, making the wonderful colors of the dawn.