Memory Confabulation

Memory confabulation is a phenomenon of short-term false memory in which the patient describes in false detail what happened in the past or future.

Diseases associated with confabulation can be accompanied by both confusion between the present, past and future, and general amnesia of events. It got its name thanks to Conrad Schmidt, who first observed confabulation in the 20th century. This phenomenon looks funny: for example, the patient thinks that he has a law degree, although in fact he did not study anywhere, but somewhere deep down there is a deep conviction of the opposite. In other words, nothing is truly known about the event that arose during the process of confabulation. The most well-known symptomatology is delirium tremens - alcohol withdrawal (Korsakov's syndrome), when the patient imagines that after drinking alcohol he finds himself in the distant past or far from the places where he actually is. This is called retrograde confabulation. Also, retrograde confabulation is a common diagnostic error in obsessive-compulsive disorder - at the time of a special memory, intrusive thoughts do not disappear. With normal memory, an obsessive memory accompanies a sick person, regardless of how long ago the past incident occurred. Sometimes confabulating patients frighten themselves or others by uttering fantastic words or using a large number of words.