Amnesia Amnesia is a medical condition in which the patients lose some or all of their memories of past events . Physically amnesia is explained by the deletion or damage of memory engram s . Humanoids . Hodin told Odona she would experience amnesia shortly before dying of Vegan choriomeningitis , saying , " " You will see us , but you will not know who we are " " . ( ) Captain James T . Kirk suffered from amnesia after being accidentally hit by a memory beam on the idyllic planet Amerind . His inner thoughts pictured his condition as follows : The Zalkonian John Doe experienced a complete memory loss after having been severely injured in a crash . His memory loss may have been especially related to damage to his brain stem . ( ) Contact with a coalescent organism could provoke a memory loss of the events that happened shortly before with the feeling of " " having one ' s memory drained right out of one ' s self . " " ( ) Dr . Pulaski was afraid the infection with Surata IV microbe s ( or the remedy through triggering memories ) could result in amnesia , she therefore checked Cmdr . Riker ' s ability to remember who he was . ( ) In 2372 , after his appearance and identity were changed to free him from his dishonor , Kurn ( now Rodek ) was told by Doctor Julian Bashir that he was suffering from a form of permanent amnesia . ( ) Diagnostic . Psycho - tricorder s seemed to have a subroutine for amnesia analysis as one was used to help analyze Scotty in 2267 . ( ) Recovery . According to a recreated Dr . Crusher in Riker ' s Barash - generated fantasy , memories are formed by association : it may be possible to trigger them by smells , sounds and images from the present . The idea is similar to being reminded of an old friend by listening to a song . This can be done by associational therapy , which means exposing the patient to familiar surroundings . This could stimulate the brain ' s neural synapse s into regenerating , but the success is not very likely . ( ) The memory of Kirk – suffering from amnesia due to a memory beam – was restored by a short mind meld with the Vulcan Spock . ( ) Counseling was a long but promising way of restoring one ' s memory . In 2367 , Deanna Troi assured Geordi La Forge that they would work together to restore the memories that had been deleted and replaced by the Romulan s as they brainwash ed him . ( ) Telepathic memory retrieval was a process practiced by Ullian researchers . It involved the use of their telepathic abilities to retrieve and expand lost or faded memory engram s of an individual . It could be used to cure amnesia , but the memory could be altered by ill - willed Ullians in the case of a memory invasion . In 2368 , Jev first invaded Deanna Troi ' s memories causing coma and amnesia about the invasion . Then when she awoke , Jev altered the memories she asked him to retrieve in order to blame his father Tarmin for the crime . ( ) Androids . Androids could be affected by memory loss . One possible cause of amnesia was an overload of the positronic net , in such case the memories from before the overload could be recovered but none of those between the accident and the reparation . ( ) Data ' s programming possessed a memory loss fail - safe system to prevent anyone from taking advantage of him if this happened . ( ; ) Dealing with amnesia . The first thing commonly done when persons were amnesic , was asking them about the last thing they could remember , or if they could recall anything from the past . ( ) One method of dealing with amnesia was waiting , hoping the memories would simply return . Especially when there was no other illness or wound . ( ) Persons suffering from memory loss were often given a new name when their amnesia occurred in a place where no one knew them . On Barkon IV , Data was named " Jayden " by two children . The two had considered calling him " Radioactive " , for they mistook the inscription on the case Data carried for his actual name . ( ) Captain Kirk , who was in a similar situation on the planet Amerind , was asked his name by the Natives and managed to remember " Ki . . . Ku . . . " . He therefore was named " Kirok " . ( ) The English placeholder name " John Doe " , commonly used in legal action , case or discussion for a party , whose true identity is unknown was used by Dr . Crusher to name a survivor of a crash . When John Doe recovered consciousness he could not remember who he was and kept this name . ( ) As amnesics had lost their memories of events , they were sometimes considered unreliable even for information not related to their personal memory . When Data was suffering memory loss , he was not believed on Barkon IV when he said that fire was not an element . ( ) Likewise , in situations in which a faked memory loss would be convenient , amnesics were often accused of lying . While investigating on the murder of Keith Rocha , Riker assumed the suspect Aquiel Uhnari was hiding information or had conveniently forgotten details . ( ) Amnesia could also be hard to believe for the patient , in case the loss is not complete but only for some memories or a lapse of time . The first concern of amnesics was how to recover their memory . ( ) Similar conditions . Imagined amnesia . In 2367 William T . Riker was told in a holographic projection , that a virus had caused a form of amnesia , destroying all his memories from the moment he became infected to the present , supposedly sixteen years later . Riker discovered little by little details of his life in those years , without remembering anything . He then noticed things that could not be possible , for example a photograph of a holodeck creation , who was said to have been his wife . Riker then confronted everyone with the lie and the holo - images vanished . ( ) Self - imposed memory blockade . After a traumatic event persons could create a memory block on themselves . The deletion of any traces , log entries for instance , could be practiced . Telepaths such as the Cairn could sense the blocked memories as " a part of [ the person ] that is dark , " meaning they could not see it . Under intense fatigue and stress the blockade could break down , particularly if a similar event was witnessed . In the case of Lwaxana Troi this led to her suffering a coma . She had effectively erased all memories of her daughter Kestra after her accidental drowning and could not stand the sudden recovery of them . Only after facing the truth and accepting those memories , could Lwaxana ' s psyche find peace and have her awaken . ( ) Vulcan s had the ability of drawing out memories with the help of a pyllora : a person who , during a mind meld , acted as guide or counselor within a memory experienced , to assist the subject with repressing the memory . Tuvok repressed a traumatic memory that way , when he was infected with a memory virus . ( ) Memory wipe . A memory wipe was a medical procedure that was used to selectively erase memories from an individual ' s mind . It could also be used to implant new memories . It was generally practiced without that person ' s knowledge however was not effective on all species . ( ; )