Wednesday, January 10, 2001
Piecing it together
Amnesia suffered by former
ACU worker a ‘rarity’
By Jason Gibbs
Reporter-News Staff Writer
Barre Cox will probably never recall the
life he lived before he was found 16 years ago in the trunk of
a car in a Tennessee wrecking yard, severely beaten and comatose.
After living with amnesia that eclipsed
his memory of the wife and child he left behind, Cox’s chances
of regaining memories of his former life are “probably not
very good,” said Dr. Rex Anderson, an Abilene neurologist.
Not until he auditioned for a ministerial
position Dec. 10, when he was recognized by a parishioner, did
the former Abilene Christian University administrator learn of
his true identity. In the interim, he had lost 16 years of his
life to amnesia.
Then 34, Cox disappeared in July 1984. His
car was found on a farm road in Jones County. It was ransacked
and a small motorbike that had been in the trunk was missing.
He was found days later in the trunk of
a car in Memphis, Tenn., severely beaten and in a coma. When he
awoke after being comatose for two weeks, he had no recollection
of his former existence — his family, vocation or even his
name.
Amnesia is usually the result of a brain
injury, although it can be caused by degenerative diseases such
as Alzheimer’s. Strokes, mental anguish and medication can
also cause memory loss.
Recovery from such a brain injury can take
hours or months, depending on the severity, Anderson said. Cox’s
memory loss likely resulted from severe brain trauma, psychiatrists
said. His case is unusual in that his amnesia has lasted so long
and apparently affected only portions of his memory, Anderson
said.
“He’s a rarity,” the doctor
said.
The 49-year-old Cox, whose new name has
not been revealed, has been unavailable for comment.
After he recovered from the coma, Cox could
not recall who he was or any detail of his former life, but seemed
to remember information he learned in college and seminary, a
development that puzzles neurologists and psychiatrists.
“When you have a head injury, the brain
vibrates and a lot of connections are broken,” Anderson said.
“Typically, someone gets his ‘bell rung’ at a ball
game and can’t remember the game. Their ability to remember
things is gone for a short period of time and then reestablishes
itself. Take that (type of injury) to the extreme and the connections
just don’t come back.”
Cox’s injuries were nothing if not
extreme. That type of severe head injury commonly causes some
degree of amnesia. While amnesia can be faked, Anderson said it
takes a sophisticated person to pull off the deception.
Psychological testing revealed Cox had intelligence
and knowledge equal to at least a person holding a bachelor’s
degree. He had a bachelor’s degree in art education and a
master’s in art and music.
That Cox retained knowledge gained during
his education and ministry, but couldn’t recall his name,
is hard to explain, said Dr. Norman Relkin, a neuro-psychologist
at Cornell University.
“That is very unusual,” Relkin
said. “The loss of self memory — of who one is and one’s
past — is not a common feature in any but the most severe
forms of amnesia.”
Relkin added that such loss of memory usually
indicates considerable damage to all of the brain.
“In most cases where people lose themselves,
it (damage to the brain) is global and catastrophic,” he
said. “It is unusual for someone to lose all of their memory
and retain a level of function without some shred of recall of
past self.”
In Cox’s case, Relkin and two other
physicians speculated the memory loss could be psychological —
born of a desire to forget his past life. None of the three have
examined Cox and the Reporter-News has been unable to contact
any doctor who has.
“This sounds like what we call a dissociative
fugue state,” said Cornell University psychologist Dr. John
Markowitz.
A dissociative fugue state is characterized
by sudden travel away from one’s home or workplace with an
inability to recall his past. It also involves confusion about
identity or assumption of a new identity, Markowitz said.
“Although it is possible that some
of this had to do with head trauma, this sounds more like a psychological
than a neurological event,” Markowitz said. “One might
speculate that he was overwhelmed with his current wife, new child,
studies, and felt unable — given his religious beliefs —
to cope with his uncomfortable feelings about this and unconsciously
found a way to restart his life without these burdens.”
Mike Middleton, who was Jones County sheriff
at the time of the disappearance, said officers speculated that
Cox took off on the small motorbike and intentionally disappeared.
Other witnesses who last saw him before he disappeared reported
that he was acting oddly.
Cox’s wife discounted that possibility
during the investigation of his disappearance. She has been unavailable
for comment.
“Did he wish to escape?” Markowitz
asked. “No one can answer that without talking to him.”
Contact medical writer Jason Gibbs at
676-6734 or gibbsj@abinews.com.
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Copyright ©2001,
Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps. Publications
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