HOW'S POSSIBLE TO FORGET A CHILD?

David Diamond a professor of psychology at the University of South Florida explain to us that
“Forgetting a child is not a negligence problem, but a memory problem. It’s a matter of circumstances. It can happen to everyone”

 

Automatisms and Routines

How many times a day do we mentally repeat the “to do” list”? Going to work, taking children to kindergarten, making appointments, paying bills and cleaning the house. Everything is organized on a minute basis, thus generating a daily routine and automatisms. The repetition of these conditions, making the same gestures, the same journeys by car, lower the state of consciousness making us less vigilant, not at all focused on what is happening. By relying on this “autopilot” we increase the risk of distraction and we could easily skip some stages of our routine, this is what experts call “blackout of memory” or “dissociative amnesia”.

Dissociative Amnesia or Forgotten Baby Syndrome

These automatisms combined with an accumulation of stress such as lack of sleep, worries or a mentally demanding job, can directly affect memory, causing temporary gaps that in some cases can lead to terrible consequences.

Unfortunately, during this temporary disorder, the mind physically divides from the body, convincing the brain that it has performed an action that has never happened before., such as leaving its child in kindergarten. Dissociative amnesia is a phenomenon that each of us, even with no dramatic consequences, has experienced at least once in his life.

Below are some of the sources from which the information was taken:

https://www.consumerreports.org/car-safety/anyone-could-forget-kids-in-hot-car-forgotten-baby-syndrome/