Sallie Baxendale - Coping with Memory Problems

Dr Sallie Baxendale is a consultant clinical neuropsychologist who has worked with people with memory difficulties in the NHS for over twenty years. She is the author of over fifty academic publications on memory function. Her work in this field ranges from the development of rehabilitation strategies to studies of the ways in which memory problems are misrepresented in the media. She currently works for the Institute of Neurology, University College London.

Selected titles

The A to Z of Eating Disorders

Emma Woolf

Autism and Asperger Syndrome in Adults

Dr Luke Beardon

Chronic Pain the Drug-free Way

Phil Sizer

Coping with Aggressive Behaviour

Dr Jane McGregor

Coping with Diverticulitis

Peter Cartwright

Coping with Headaches and Migraine

Alison Frith

Coping with the Psychological Effects of

Illness

Dr Fran Smith, Dr Carina Eriksen

and Professor Robert Bor

Dementia Care: A guide

Christina Macdonald

Depression and Anxiety the Drug-free Way

Mark Greener

Depressive Illness: The curse of the strong

Dr Tim Cantopher

Dr Dawns Guide to Sexual Health

Dr Dawn Harper

Dr Dawns Guide to Toddler Health

Dr Dawn Harper

Dr Dawns Guide to Your Babys First Year

Dr Dawn Harper

Dying for a Drink: All you need to know

to beat the booze

Dr Tim Cantopher

The Empathy Trap: Understanding antisocial

personalities

Dr Jane McGregor and Tim McGregor

Everything Your GP Doesnt Have Time to Tell

You about Alzheimers

Dr Matt Piccaver

Everything Your GP Doesnt Have Time to Tell

You about Arthritis

Dr Matt Piccaver

Gestational Diabetes: Your survival guide

to diabetes in pregnancy

Dr Paul Grant

The Heart Attack Survival Guide

Mark Greener

The Holistic Guide for Cancer Survivors

Mark Greener

Hope and Healing after Stillbirth

and Early Baby Loss

Professor Kevin Gournay and Dr Brenda Ashcroft

How to Stop Worrying

Dr Frank Tallis

IBS: Dietary advice to calm your gut

Alex Gazzola and Julie Thompson

Living with Angina

Dr Tom Smith

Living with Multiple Sclerosis

Mark Greener

Living with Tinnitus and Hyperacusis

Dr Laurence McKenna, Dr David Baguley

and Dr Don McFerran

Mental Health in Children and Young People:

Spotting symptoms and seeking help early

Dr Sarah Vohra

The Multiple Sclerosis Diet Book

Tessa Buckley

Parenting Your Disabled Child:

The first three years

Margaret Barrett

Sleep Better: The science and the myths

Professor Graham Law and Dr Shane Pascoe

Stress-related Illness

Dr Tim Cantopher

Taming the Beast Within: Understanding

personality disorder

Professor Peter Tyrer

Therapy Pets: A guide

Jill Eckersley

Toxic People: Dealing with dysfunctional

relationships

Dr Tim Cantopher

Treating Arthritis: The drug-free way

Margaret Hills and Christine Horner

Treating Arthritis Diet Book

Margaret Hills

Understanding Hoarding

Jo Cooke

Vertigo and Dizziness

Jaydip Ray

Wellbeing: Body confidence, health and happiness

Emma Woolf

Your Guide for the Cancer Journey:

Cancer and its treatment

Mark Greener

Lists of titles in the Mindful Way and Sheldon Short Guides series are also available from Sheldon Press.

First published in Great Britain in 2014 by Sheldon Press
An Hachette UK Company

Sheldon Press

Carmelite House

50 Victoria Embankment

London EC4Y 0DZ

www.sheldonpress.co.uk

Copyright Dr Sallie Baxendale 2014

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

The author and publisher have made every effort to ensure that the external website and email addresses included in this book are correct and up to date at the time of going to press. The author and publisher are not responsible for the content, quality or continuing accessibility of the sites.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 9781847092755

For Jane, the best of friends and the very best memories

Youd forget your head if it wasnt screwed on.

Ive got the memory of a goldfish.

My memorys a sieve.

Memory lapses are such a part of everyday life that the English language is peppered with clichs to describe them. They are almost as much a feature of British conversation as the weather. When people share their embarrassing anecdotes about a failure to recognize a work colleague in the street, or describe the convoluted steps they had to take to avoid using the elusive name of an acquaintance in a chance encounter, they are almost always met with the reply, Oh I know... The same thing happened to me this morning/yesterday/last week. And so these tales of memory difficulties appear to be universal and, perhaps, nothing to worry about. But for some people, these memory lapses happen too often and the resulting consequences are too problematic and embarrassing for them to just be dismissed as part of everyday life.

Confiding in close friends can often make us feel better about our problems. Even if there arent any practical solutions to be had, we can usually derive a great deal of comfort from the feeling that somebody understands and empathizes with our situation. But when people try to express their concerns about memory problems, the frequent response of Oh that happens to me all the time can leave them feeling even more isolated and anxious than before. You may suspect that your memory lapses are out of the ordinary, but getting other people to understand the worrisome extent of the problem can be very difficult indeed. When you are left to your own devices, all kinds of terrifying thoughts may run through your mind as to why your memory might be going downhill, with the frightening spectre of dementia often hovering on the horizon. Some people may find that they slowly withdraw from friends and family members as they lose confidence in their ability to remember and discuss past events, further increasing their isolation. The resulting anxiety, low mood and depression this generates often exacerbates the original memory difficulties and so a downward spiral of deterioration begins.

If you are struggling with memory problems yourself or are caring for someone who has memory difficulties, this book has been written to help you cope. It is divided into two sections. The first half of the book explains how memory works. Once you understand how something works, its easier to see where and why the process may be breaking down and, if it is broken, how it might be fixed. Although people will often use the blanket phrase my memory is terrible the brain uses many different mechanisms to store and retrieve information and, even in people with far-reaching memory difficulties, not all systems are affected to the same extent. Each chapter in the first part of this book describes a different aspect of memory. examines the ways we retrieve information from our long-term memory store and looks at some of the things that can get in the way and block this process. Its a lot to do with the way that the information was stored in the first place. This chapter also examines one of the most frustrating and ubiquitous memory complaints we hear in the memory clinic: word-finding difficulties or the tip of the tongue phenomenon.