Memory Improvement Courses

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Before I was diagnosed with ADHD Inattentive, I went out of my way to take a look at memory improvement courses.

This was due to holding a strong (and wrong) opinion about myself then that I could not possibly have a neurological condition, it must be that I had overlooked or not discovered a way to learn almost anything.

So I did a little looking around and finally purchased:

You Can Remember - A home study course in Memory and Concentration by Dr. Bruno Furst:

http://www.happychild.org.uk/acc/tpr/bkr/1099brun.htm

Did the memory course cure my memory difficulties? Absolutely not. Did the memory course open my mind to trying to use the imagination to improve aspects of memory? Yes.

When I slowly began to realize that the memory course helped in small ways, I became acutely aware that it did not help me in major ways. That caused me to start with the standard, let's run the memory topic by the local family doctor approach.

Eventually (five years) the large picture became far clearer. Since that time, I read several books like: Nerves In Collision by Walter C. Alvarez, M.D., a How To (understand) Hyperactivity book (1981) about ADHD Inattentive by C. Thomas Wild, and A Remarkable Medicine book by Jack Dreyfus which helped fill in parts of the picture.

What I've noticed, even today, about some memory courses, is that the memory courses often will omit the idea that there can be a neurological glitch behind memory difficulties. Some of the books will tend to imply that techniques can solve almost all memory difficulties. That, of course, is not the case.

I suppose that some of the memory courses do not want to mention that there is a cluster of neurological challenges which is known to have memory aspects to them: from the many epilepsies to the ADHDs to the auditory processing disorders to the autism spectrum to side-effects from brain injuries, concussions, encephalitis and so on.

It's pretty clear from some of the posters' messages at WP that memory difficulties (short-term memory/long-term memory) can be perplexing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_and_the_brain
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroanatomy_of_memory
http://www.sfn.org/

Thank you posting this pgd!! !


You bring up many very important issues in this post and this is all EXTREMELY relevant for me.


I will respond to this post in detail in a little while. I still need to respond to you and other posters in my "short term vs. long term memory problems" thread. I will respond to this one first though. As much as I want to talk about issues related to memory, they are very complicated and I require several hours of uninterrupted time to do so.

I should have said amount of time in about an hour or so. Hope you will be around later to read my response and reply with your own comments/questions if you wish.

Google the term n-back. This free game (and it's many variants) is proven to increase what is termed "working memory". I personally like Brain Workshop.

Otto

pgd wrote:

I have never been diagnosed with any kind of ADHD. According to all the neuropsychological evaluations i've had, my attention/concentration is actually pretty good. I did score in the impaired range on one test of sustained attention on ONE of these neuropsych evals. This was not enough to make a dx of ADHD/ADD though. Therefore....based upon both my own self-observation and my neuropsych evals, I have no reason to suspect I have any significant issues with attention/concentration. Such things likely have nothing to do with the memory impairments I believe I have. I doubt that even NLD does considering most people with NVLD/AS don't complain of the type of memory problems I believe I have.

The only theory I have in this respect is that my memory problems COULD have something to do with the fimbria region in my Hippocampus. As you probably know, the hippocampus is largely involved in memory, particularily episodic memory I believe. The fimbria region is made up entirely of white matter and white matter abnormalities are thought to be the cause of the NLD/NVLD syndrome.

Also....Dr. Byron Rourke....a leading researcher into the NLD syndrome made the following claims about NLD and memory:

"Tertiary Deficits

Memory. Memory for tactile and visual input is poor. Relative deficiencies in these areas tend to increase over the course of development, except for material that is programmatic and overlearned (e.g., spoken natural language). Memory for nonverbal material, whether presented through the auditory, visual, or tactile modalities, is poor if such material is not readily coded in a verbal fashion. Relatively poor memory for complex, meaningful, and/or novel verbal and nonverbal material is typical. Differences between good to excellent memory for rote material and impaired memory for complex material and/or that which is not readily coded in a verbal fashion tend to increase with age."

http://www.nld-bprourke.ca/Content_Dynamics.html


Based upon these statements from Rourke, I suppose it is possible that NLD is directly related to the memory problems I believe I have. Again...these memory problems do go beyond issues with visual memory. I DO have objective confirmation for my deficits in visual memory, but said deficits are seemingly mild. Visual memory problems are common among those with NLD/AS anyway. I DO NOT have objective confirmations for any other memory problems, but I believe I have some nonetheless. Still....I haven't heard too many people with NLD complain of the type of memory problems I believe I have. Therefore...I have doubts that the kind of non-visual memory problems Rourke is describing are common among those with NLD.





Your experience here is pretty much the opposite of my own. I have believed I was afflicted with a neurological condition since I was seven years old (or maybe even earlier) and no one else ever believed me. Not even any of the psychologists I saw believed me until I was given an actual neuropsychological evaluation at 23. For all intents and purposes...I was self-dxed with NLD when I was 14 y/o. I also was self-dx-ed with Schizoid Personality Disorder a long time before I was officially dxed with it back in June. Up until then....the psycholgists felt Schizotypal pd was my Axis-II personality disorder dx based upon my self-report and the neuropsychological tests (like the MMPI in this case) they administered. I always believed I fit the DSM-IV characteristics of schizoid PD better and finally the neuropsychologist who just evaluated me in June agreed with my and officially dx-ed me with Schizoid PD. I sure have dx-ed myself correctly with many disorders for a person with exaggerated/imagined memory impairments. That is the claim of my family and friends. The psycholgists, at least, claim it's conceivable there could be a neurological basis for the memory difficulties I believe I have. To their credit....they admit this is possible even though they've never discovered any non-visual memory deficits in me whatsoever via the neuropsych tests of memory they've given me.






I have saved your post here to favorites because i'd like to check out this out. I don't have alot of money at the moment, but I can order it when I do. I'm not expecting it to "cure" my own memory difficulties, but any significant improvement would be welcome of course. It might just work out better for me than it did for you.... one can never tell.

I am also interested in aquiring the book mentioned in this post from another forum. This is from a fellow NLD-er who also claims to be a psychologist with a PhD. He is one of the few NLD-ers i've ever encountered who complains of memory problems (or at least they are implied in his post) which seem similar to my own:



"dr. rick hughes says:
September 8, 2007 at 10:30 pm
nvld has been a thorn in my side for years, flunked geometry, any science class, but teachers passed me because I was a great basketball player, still get lost in traffic, can’t fix anythingt mechanical, can’t find my car in a parking lot, it’s a pain…was lucky I was taught mnemonic devices which got me a PhD in psychology…have dedicated my life to teaching others these memory stratgies…a professor who liked Jerry Lucas’ book, THE MEMORY BOOK, simplified the strategies for me, I have assessed many kids with nvld, they had better get in a job that’s verbal, many flunk out and are miserable, even though they are bright…I still cry when I read about people with nvld working in a low pay job that doesn’t fit…I would drive 100 miles or more to help someone who’s struggling".











I am REALLY glad you brought this up!! !! I have noticed the exact same thing over the years. My guess is that much, if not all, of this has to do with money. Desperate people with neurologically-based memory problems are probably more unlikely to purchase memory improvement courses/books if they don't think they'll benefit from them. Thus....those who peddle these courses/books make it seem like everyone's brain is wired the same and everyone can benefit from the techniques they offer. As you said....this is simply not the case.

That's not to say I don't believe even memory problems which have a neurological origin can't be improved upon, or even, "cured", in some cases. Mnemonic devices such as some of those put forth in the memory improvement courses/books may work for many. The same may be true for substances (like acetyl l caritine for one example) which can potentially enhance cognition. A combination of these may be even be more effective. Proper diet, exercise, sleep, etc....can also help to improve memory and other aspects of cognition.

Still....there are some people who will never be able to improve their memory no matter what they do. The memory "gurus" simply stay silent about all this. While I abhor this form of exploitation since it preys upon the miseries of others....that's capitalism for you and i'm not the one who believes it's such a wonderful system.






While some may be merely ignorant of such problems, I doubt that's the case for most. Even many psychologists don't know much about memory and the ones who do will probably admit that our sum total of knowledge about human memory leaves much to be desired.

My own personal memory problems (providing they are not just products of my undeliberate exaggeration or imagination and do have a genuine neurological basis) are a good illustration of this.

Nothing has been confirmed in this respect aside from my aforementioned problems with visual memory. Both the article that I posted (from the Oxford Journal of Neurologly) in my recent thread ("Short-term vs. Long Term memory problems") and the neuropsychologist who recently evaluated me made it very clear that significant memory problems can exist while remaining undetected by the standard neuropsycholgical memory tests.


Anything else I could say here was mostly covered in my ST vs. LT memory problems thread. I will respond to your post there and the posts of the other respondents ASAP.







I am pretty sure you are aware of the fact that I am one of those posters since you replied in my aforementioned thread. These difficulties are very perplexing and what's worse is they seem equally debilitating. I am bound and determined to do everything humanly possible to go as far as the science can take me where learning more (their origin, nature, extent, etc...) about these difficulties is concerned. If that proves impossible, i'm even more bound and determined to overcome, or at least, improve upon the memory deficits I strongly believe I have. I think it is reasonable to want to know more about them though as well. After all....that way maybe I could develope a tailor-made strategy for dealing with them instead of shooting in the dark for years with only a chance of stumbling upon something that works for me. I would be prefer to avoid the trial and error approach as much as possible in other words.

I value all aspects of intellect and cognition above all else in infinity. Therefore....any limitations I may have in this area are wholly unacceptable to me and they will remain so until the day I die.

Anyway....i'm extremely pleased about the things you've posted here. Other than my own posts about it on WP, I don't believe the topic of memory difficulties (maybe aside from the ones more common to those with AS, NVLD and other neurological disorders like working/short-term and visual memory issues) have been adequately discussed on WP.

I realize this is likely because most with these disorders don't have the kind of memory problems that I do. Still....I can't imagine i'm the only one and considering how complicated and disabling these difficulties can be, I believe they should receive more attention even if a tiny minority of people with ASD's suffer from them. Nor does it matter if these problems are in any way related to autistic spectrum disorders at all. Obviously they are neurologically-based problems and have the potential to be every bit as disabling and immiserating (if not more so in some cases) as autistic spec disorders can be in their worst manifestations.

I am living proof that not everyone with ASD's has some remarkable, or even, eidetic, memory. This is yet another damaging myth about ASD's. Even if most don't have the kind of memory problems that I believe I have, there are obviously plenty with either SOME memory issues or perfectly ordinary memories at least. I've become tired of people who think everyone with AS/ASD's is some glamorous and sexy "geek chic" genius like Dr. Spencer Reid of "Criminal Minds" fame.

Such people do exist no doubt and they are quite blessed IMO. Far more so than most NT's as far as i'm concerned. Yet....these types appear to be ones who get all the attention and sympathy simply because they can't get a date or something