- Date posted
- 3y
- User type
- NOCD Alumni
- Date posted
- 3y
Hi Nothingtosay, my false memories are mostly tied to real events, but sometimes they may of an event that I’m not really sure if it truly happened or not. The ones tied to real events, have been either where I’m not exactly sure of the details, outcomes, individuals involved, etc…but I pretty much know the overall gist, or like you said it may be that there’s a hazy or missing part of the memory. The latter are usually the worst for me, because my mind can come up with some doozies and I have no foundation to keep it grounded. I have found that with either case for me, real or possibly never happened at all event, that the more I think about or try to revisit the event, the more distorted and foggy it becomes as my OCD keeps adding more and more lenses of doubt over the original memory. The best way I deal with it is ERP and remembering that no amount of dwelling on these events will change them, whether they happened or not, and continue to dwell only feeds the OCD bully the doubt it wants. Try to hang in there, stay strong and best wishes.
- Date posted
- 3y
Physical symptoms or mental symptoms?
- Date posted
- 3y
Mental symptoms
- Date posted
- 3y
@Nothingtosay My major fear is inflicting harm on my mother. I love her so it's pretty sad to think I could harm her. It makes me cry over and over again. My head hurts, it's like a worm moving all over my brain. Today for example my anxiety has decreased a lot using a little bit of mindfulness.
- Date posted
- 3y
When I have dealt with fears of false memory, its when I imagine a very distressing scenario of something bad I may have done. I then get confused over whether I just made the bad memory up or if it's actually real and I'd just been ignoring it. It wouldn't make much sense for me to act in a way that would really go against my values, but I still worry that I may have done the bad actions. It's all kind of confusing really. To get over it I try to not excessively ruminate over the question, and just go with the memory that I actually believe is real rather than the one I'm afraid is real.
- Date posted
- 3y
It's really sad. When I finally ignore the thoughts my OCD is sneaky and tells me: "so you're ok thinking that? You're evil."
- Date posted
- 3y
@elkis503 - I can feel gulity too when I trying to avoid compulsions. It feels like I'm ignoring something that I shouldn't be avoiding.
- Date posted
- 3y
@Wes8 Any tips that worked for you?
- Date posted
- 3y
@elkis503 - I resending my reply, didn't work right the first time: Hmm....over time many of my specific false memory fears decreased in intensity, which I'm sure was due to the fact that I tried to not interact with the thoughts with rumination or mental checking. I'm affected by a couple different subtypes of ocd, but they all are usually involved with mental ocd compulsions. Once I figured out I had ocd and learned about erp, I tried to stop ruminating with any of my ocd fears. I still definitely fall in some of the compulsive behavior but others have gotten easier to resist over time. So yeah, my tip would be to use erp strategies like resisting rumination. It's hard, but it does help.
Related posts
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 23w
Can it feel like you literally remember a false memory happening? And it feels like the memory has always been there and you vividly remember it happening that way? Because I don’t even know if I’m experiencing a false memory or not but god it feels so fucking real. Like I literally remember it happening. But what’s weird is the original memory was kind of different. 2 years later, the memory is not the same, but it feels like I literally remember it happening. And in this memory, I’m fucking snapping. I’m acting on my thoughts. I feel like a fucking psycho. I hope this is just OCD
- Date posted
- 23w
How do you know the difference :( I genuinely cannot keep living in this torment. it all started with an ‘intrusive thought’ where I had like a hazy flash of something reading an article. and I remember thinking ‘what if’ and ‘what is this’ and then that intrusive thought turned into me ‘remembering’ something else. which caused me panic. then I started trying to find evidence because it contradicted what I remembered this entire time. this was last year in like september. fast forward to march this year, it came back up- but this time stronger and with more ‘details’ and what nots. and I’ve been ruminating on it since then trying to remember and connect and It’s like I’ve added all of these details. but are they real? or is this just my OCD? I just feel like if it were real I would have never been able to keep it to myself. but also what if it was so traumatic that I blocked it out? because it all makes NO sense for me to do something like that. but it also fits what I was thinking at the time. idk
- Date posted
- 23w
I’m reaching out for educational and self-awareness purposes, hoping to better understand something I’ve been mentally struggling with for several years. Around five years ago, I began having a deeply distressing memory involving the fear that I may have acted inappropriately toward my younger sister when I was around 13–14 years old. The details are vague, fragmented, and unclear—but ever since this thought first appeared, I’ve treated it as if it were a real event. I’ve carried immense guilt, fear, and anxiety for years, convinced that I must have done something horrible. Despite asking my sister (who remembers absolutely nothing, has never shown signs of discomfort, and has told me more than once that she would’ve spoken up if anything had happened), the doubt and guilt never went away. The memory feels real, yet there is no external confirmation, no direct recall, and no evidence beyond my own mental images and fear. I’ve also struggled with obsessive thoughts in other areas, such as health anxiety since childhood—frequent doctor visits, checking my pulse, obsessing over illness—and only recently learned about false memory OCD, which aligns with my experience. I’m not currently seeking therapy but would greatly appreciate your professional opinion from an educational perspective: Does this sound more like a real memory, or more likely a false memory created by OCD or anxiety-related mechanisms I am stuck between a normal person or a s*xual abuser
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