Anterograde Amnesia

 Address the content of this post  and must include a discussion of current treatment options for the disorder . The review must be  supported by at least 1 peer-reviewed article. 
   
Anterograde Amnesia is the loss of the ability to create new memories, leading to a partial or complete inability to recall the recent past, even though long-term memories from before the event which caused the amnesia remain intact (Mastin, 2010).  Some of the symptoms individuals diagnosed with Anterograde Amnesia experience: memory loss, confusion, the inability to recognize familiar faces, things, or places, emotional stress, and sometimes the use of alcohol and drugs. 
Some of the common causes for anterograde amnesia are drug and alcohol related injuries or simply the use of drugs and alcohol.  Traumatic brain injury or concussions can lead to the disorder as well.  Other causes are heart attacks, lack of oxygen, high fever, severe illness, and emotional stress.  Shockingly, even brain surgery can lead a patient to experience anterograde amnesia if something goes wrong in the surgery, primarily in the hippocampus of the brain.  Lastly, medial temporal lobe damage is another cause of anterograde amnesia.
The severity of the symptoms experienced sometimes depend on the cause of the disorder.  For example, according to Cavaco, Feinstein, Twillert, and Tranel (2012), patients diagnosed with this disorder due to bilateral medial temporal lobe damage have demonstrated a remarkable ability to continue to perform certain types of activities that they learned prior to brain injury such as play a musical instrument and drive.  They also suggest that these patients can continue to learn new skills after they have been impaired.  Also, treatment for the diagnosis also depends on why the patient was diagnosed and what caused the disorder.  In some cases, the individual might simply just need rest, love, and support, in other cases they may need psychiatric therapy or rehabilitation. 
References
Cavaco, S., Feinstein, J. S., Twillert, H. V., and Tranel, D. (2010). Musical Memory in a Patient with Severe Anterograde Amnesia. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 34(10), 1089-1100. http://dx.doi.org.proxy-library.ashford.edu/10.1080/13803395.2012.728568 (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. 
Mastin, L. (2010). Anterograde Amnesia. The Human Memory. Retrieved from http://www.human-memory.net/disorders_anterograde.html (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.