There are numerous stories (maybe urban legends) about people suffering from aforementioned psychiatric issues after waking up amidst surgery but being not able to remember it afterwards. Curious if it is true or not, cause that casts a shadow on “no memories no problem” idea.
I couldn't find any stories about people that couldn't remember waking up, but still had psychological issues. How would they even know they had woken up?
The cases I could find were either people under general anesthesia (unconscious) that woke up and can remember at least parts of the procedure, or people under conscious sedation who probably didn't get a high enough dose of memory blockers.
I don't know enough about memory to say for sure, but I suppose it seems plausible to internalize a fear at an unconscious level even if the conscious memories are blocked. Similar to how some people have arachnophobia without ever having a bad experience with spiders.
