Dissociative Amnesia and Nathan Dickson

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Dissociative amnesia is a mental illness that involves disruptions in memory, consciousness, or identity. Dissociative amnesia occurs when a person blocks out certain information, usually of a stressful or traumatic event; it may be localized or selective. Localized amnesia occurs when the individual is unable to recall information during a period of time. Selective amnesia takes place when a person is unable to recall some information about a period of time. To be diagnosed with dissociative amnesia, a person must have one or more episodes of severe memory loss that is not due to another disorder or a physical condition. There must also be distress and impairment in important areas of functioning of the individual.

In April 2008, eighteen-year-old Nathan Dickson shot and killed four members of his family. He confessed to the murders, but two weeks later, he claimed that he did not remember it. Dickson said that morning he found a shotgun in a pile of clothes in his brother's closet. He went upstairs and shot his stepmother, Maritza Dickson, and then his stepsister, Jiliam Salazar....

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