It has been recognized as a treatment-responsive syndrome congenial to anti-epileptic drugs. Semantic amnesia affects semantic memory and primarily expresses itself in the form of problems with language use and acquisition. Semantic amnesia can lead to dementia. Pseudodementia (otherwise known as depression-related cognitive dysfunction) is a condition where mental cognition can be temporarily decreased. The term pseudodementia is applied to the range of functional psychiatric conditions such as depression and schizophrenia, that may mimic organic dementia, but are essentially reversible on treatment. Pseudodementia typically involves three cognitive components: memory issues, deficits in executive functioning, and deficits in speech and language. Specific cognitive symptoms might include trouble recalling words or remembering things in general, decreased attentional control and concentration, difficulty completing tasks or making decisions, decreased speed and fluency of speech, and impaired processing speed. People with pseudodementia are typically very distressed about the cognitive impairment they experience. With in this condition, there are two specific treatments that have been found to be effective for the treatment of depression, and these treatments may also be beneficial in the treatment of pseudodementia. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) involves exploring and changing thought patterns and behaviors in order to improve ones mood. Interpersonal therapy focuses on the exploration of an individuals relationships and identifying any ways in which they may be contributing to feelings of depression. Treatment
Many forms of amnesia fix themselves without being treated. However, there are a few ways to cope with memory loss if treatment is needed.
She was able to remember how to read music and the techniques used in art. She had preserved skill-related declarative memory for some things even though she had deficits in other declarative memory tasks. She even scored higher on skill-related declarative memory than the control in watercolor techniques, a technique that she used in her professional career before she acquired amnesia. Semantic Information
The loss of semantic information in amnesia is most closely related with damage to the medial temporal lobe or to the neocortex.Some patients with anterograde amnesia can still acquire some semantic information, even though it might be more difficult and might remain rather unrelated to more general knowledge. H.M. could accurately draw a floor plan of the home in which he lived after surgery, even though he had not lived there in years. There is evidence that the hippocampus and the medial temporal lobe may help to consolidate semantic memories, but then they are more correlated with the neocortex. While lesions of the hippocampus normally lead to the loss of episodic memory, if there is any effect on semantic memory, it is more varied and usually does not last as long. Episodic Information
One reason that patients could not form new episodic memories is likely because the CA1 region of the hippocampus has a lesion, and thus the hippocampus could not make connections to the cortex. After an ischemic episode (an interruption of the blood flow to the brain), an MRI of patient R.B.