Stress and Bad Memory

[shakey1961]

Hi all. I'm just curious if anyone knows any informative article or has personal experience of any link between being in a stressful situation (especially if it's over a considerable period like weeks or months) and the effect it can have on your brain's capacity to remember information that it had been recently told (also over the preceding weeks or months).

I'm especially interested in the ability to NOT remember being told about something, and you would swear that you had not ever been told.

To give an example - You could be under stress as you have a major operation to face but you've been told your new cooker is arriving on a certain date but you have no recollection of being told that.

Just looking for people being told something verbally, not having it in writing.

I hope that makes some sort of sense.

Thanks

[Buster70]

Hi , sounds like most of my days , I've been under a lot of stress for several years and my short term memory is terrible, I sometimes think people are wrong in saying they have told me somthing because I have no recollection of it at all , I forget where I'm going on short trips , it scares me sometimes how quickly I will forget somthing, I'm 47 so I guess dementia is not likely , now what was I saying ? :D

[MyNameIsTerry]

Shakey,

Serotonin is used in various cognitive functions including memory. I would imagine if you search for something like "Serotonin" + "Memory" you will find plenty of papers. It's not the only neurotransmitter involved but it does have an executive function in some types of memory.

[cattia]

I thought that I'd forgotten a colleague's birthday and apologized for it, turned out I had put money in for the present and signed the card! It was during a time when I was experiencing major anxiety and panic attacks at work so I just think I wasn't taking in anything that was going on around me.

[shakey1961]

Thank you to everyone who's replied. It's obvious that when under extreme stress your memory suffers.

I just have a problem that I have been forced out of a voluntary group, after the leader says I was told something and I went against that advice.

I believe the leader failed to tell me, though if he did, I was under extreme stress at the time and have no recollection of being told.

Had I been told this information before hand, or had it in writing, I would not have gone against this so catastrophically.

I just need it for my defence if I ever get the chance to put my point across.