HYPERTIMESIA: what is it, symptoms, causes and treatment

We know that the human being has memory, since he can remember past events. Although it is true that we may have some possibility of selecting which situations we remember, we tend to forget moments and/or details over the years.

Do we remember even the smallest detail regarding our last vacation? In some way, the memories that we store in memory are global and general ideas about events of importance to us. However, there are people who have the ability to remember every detail of all the situations that have occurred throughout their lives without the need to appeal to any effort. Despite everything, this particularity can generate various consequences that it is necessary to know in order to address the issue in question. In this Psychology-Online article, we will talk about the hyperthymesia: what is it, symptoms, causes and treatment.

Index

1. What is hyperthymesia
2. Symptoms of hyperthymesia
3. Causes of hyperthymesia
4. Consequences of hyperthymesia
5. Treatment of hyperthymesia

The term hyperthymesia refers to a condition that consists of unlimited ability to remember details of every situation experienced throughout life. In this sense, people who present a picture of hyperthymesia have a memory superior to the of the world's population, since details of memories are usually omitted stored.

How do I know if I have hyperthymesia? People with this clinical picture have certain symptoms that allow to identify this clinical picture. Next, we will show you the most important:

• Ability to remember details of situations experienced throughout life.
• Obsessive personality traits.
• focused attention in only one aspect of the situations.
• Continuous learning of information.
• Anxiety resulting from the difficulty of selecting remembered moments.
• Variations in mood.

It is worth mentioning that the presence of any of these symptoms in isolation does not necessarily represent the presence of hyperthymesia. It is essential that diagnose by a mental health professional to assess the clinical conditions of each patient.

Despite the particularities of hyperthymesia, it is important to know the possible origins of this clinical picture to determine how to approach it. For this reason, below, we will see what are the most common causes of hyperthymesia:

• Genetic factors: one of the causes of hyperthymesia may be a greater development of the frontal lobe and temporal lobe of the brain. In turn, it is possible that there is a predominance of neural connections responsible for processing information from the environment linked to the emotions of each person. This would result in a greater memory capacity.
• neurological factors: although it is not completely proven, there is a possibility that hyperthymesia pictures arise from the continuous and repetitive use of brain areas related to memory. Consequently, this would produce greater learning from lived experiences.

Beyond the fact that hyperthymesia presents some interesting peculiarities, it is important to consider that it can have consequences, both positive and negative. In order to give greater clarity to the matter, we are going to reveal which are the most important:

• positive consequences: hyperthymesia allows you to develop more skills, given the great ability to remember details. In turn, this enables a good organizational capacity, since great importance is given to each moment lived.
• Negative consequences:since hyperthymesia is not related to the intention to remember details, on many occasions, this can lead to to mood variations, since both pleasant situations and traumatic moments can be remembered with a large amount of details. In addition, this can affect work and/or academic performance, due to the constant evocation of memories.

When hyperthymesia alters the daily life of those who suffer from it, it is important to appeal to solutions that provide beneficial results. In this sense, next, we will see what are the best treatments for hyperthymesia:

psychological therapy

Psychological treatments allow treating hyperthymesia, since the memory of detailed and precise information is linked to the emotions of each individual. In this sense, psychological therapy allows cope with stressful and/or anxious situations in a more favorable way. In these situations, you can also resort to the remedies for anxiety and nerves that we recommend in this article.

In the case of people suffering from the negative consequences of hyperthymesia, psychological therapy allows approach to emotions and behaviors involved in memories. In this way, it is possible to reduce anxiety and mood swings caused by hyperthymesia.

psychiatric medication

In cases of hyperthymesia, there are some medications that act on brain chemistry and they favor the appearance of moments in which there is no need to assimilate so much information. However, the use of medication must be carried out under the supervision of a mental health professional.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to Hyperthymesia: what is it, symptoms, causes and treatment, we recommend that you enter our category of neuropsychology.

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• Solis Macias, V.M. (2008). Divergent functions of absolute and cumulative recall in episodic recall of associated pairs. Neuroscience Archives Journal, 13 (1), 13-24.
• Zeibig, D. (2013). A superior memory. Mind and Brain Magazine, 62 (1), 58-62.