Possible, though generally stress also caused very clear memories, called traumas...
acute vs. chronic stress
Long-term stress erodes memory
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Re: Long-term stress erodes memory
#12Sadly I can confirm this from personal experience.
I was under a lot of stress for the past three years.
Before stress started I had almost photographic memory. I was not very smart software developer. But ability to recall patterns and documentation fast, made me very productive. I worked at CS semi-research position and spoke at conference every other month.
Now it takes mental effort to recall what I did 4 hours ago. I can only program if I strictly follow my TDD routine and design notes. Recently I could not even pass job interview for trivial entry level position :(
Stress is mostly gone now, but it will take about one year to recover. It is very weird period. People, who do not know me well, think I actually improved over past three years. I fixed my health, lifestyle, social interactions...; I took every advantage I could to compensate for damage caused by stress.
Now, I can feel improvements every week, and I am basically starting from scratch. Once I get my old memory back and combine it with new things I learned to cope, I will be unstoppable :)
Re: Long-term stress erodes memory
#13>>Mice that were repeatedly exposed to the aggressive intruder had a hard time recalling where the escape hole was in a maze they’d mastered prior to the stressful period This sounds like an extreme level of stress, of course the poor mouse has memory issues. I don't think you need to worry if you have ordinary levels of stress from traffic, mortgage, kids etc... But if you live in Syria and your city gets destroyed…
This goes back to another discussion that has been had on here though. It's how the stress is PERCEIVED. To someone who has a family to feed, the idea of losing their job may be PERCEIVED by them as being just as bad as the guy in Syria worrying if his house will be bombed.
I don't disagree that the guy in Syria is more justified in his perception of a greater stress, but the soccer dad's body doesn't really care about the guy in Syria or their relative justifications for level of stress.
Re: Long-term stress erodes memory
#14Oh what a vicious cycle this is. As someone battling with depression, I tend to take on a lot of side projects and extra work in order to keep my mind busy and avoid those thoughts.
Then I get stressed because I have so much to do.
Re: Long-term stress erodes memory
#15Sadly I can confirm this from personal experience. I was under a lot of stress for the past three years. Before stress started I had almost photographic memory. I was not very smart software developer. But ability to recall patterns and documentation fast, made me very productive. I worked at CS semi-research position and spoke at conference every other month. Now it takes mental effort to recall what I did 4 hours a…
May I ask what stressed you out like this?
Re: Long-term stress erodes memory
#16So what can you do? How can you escape it?
Re: Long-term stress erodes memory
#17Sadly I can confirm this from personal experience. I was under a lot of stress for the past three years. Before stress started I had almost photographic memory. I was not very smart software developer. But ability to recall patterns and documentation fast, made me very productive. I worked at CS semi-research position and spoke at conference every other month. Now it takes mental effort to recall what I did 4 hours a…
Would you mind elaborating a bit on the "took every advantage I could to compensate for the damage caused by stress."
In a similar position and would be good to learn what worked for you.
Re: Long-term stress erodes memory
#18i wouldn't be surprised to learn that this is not universal, that there are some individuals whose reaction to this sort of stress does not cause the sort of brain damage described in this paper.
Re: Long-term stress erodes memory
#19Oh what a vicious cycle this is. As someone battling with depression, I tend to take on a lot of side projects and extra work in order to keep my mind busy and avoid those thoughts. Then I get stressed because I have so much to do.
that sounds like manic-depression or similarly, but more modern, a bipolar disorder. IANA Doctor, just sympathetic.
Re: Long-term stress erodes memory
#20Sadly I can confirm this from personal experience. I was under a lot of stress for the past three years. Before stress started I had almost photographic memory. I was not very smart software developer. But ability to recall patterns and documentation fast, made me very productive. I worked at CS semi-research position and spoke at conference every other month. Now it takes mental effort to recall what I did 4 hours a…
Same here. Photographic memory; could draw lifelike depictions of people I'd met a single time hours or even days later, could recall what position on a page a paragraph was on months or years after reading something, etc. However, after a coworker killed himself and dumped a RPG/AS400 job on my lap several months before a major calc/billing, I couldn't even recall the beginnings of sentences by the time I'd completed them.