- Date posted
- 6y
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 6y
Yeah I've done the same and it went on for 3 years, unsure how bad it was, but at the time I could see it as, not my best moment but no big deal. I'd come up with a solution only to find a "what if" after a while. There'll always be, what ifs. The only solution I've found is to let the fears worries be there and not to answer them but take the anxiety. Checking the memory will keep you locked into ocd. With time, the fears will fade, once you stop giving in and checking.
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 6y
Yeah my compulsions(ruminating) caused my false memory ocd. Once I stopped trying to prove the thoughts were wrong, just let them lie, despite the anxiety, they start to lose their power. Takes practice and time, and don't give in to checking memories on the subject or you just end up back on the hamster wheel.
- Date posted
- 6y
I don't struggle as much with false memory (just occasionally). In my case I do know that it happened (Even though it was 20 years ago) but i feel the urge to check what that makes me, to see how bad it was, to justify and sooth, to compare with other people, to self-punish, to confess and to try to imagine what people would think of me.
- Date posted
- 6y
My OCD started with that and then it shifted to false memory OCD which hit hard because I was already anxious.
- Date posted
- 6y
Eventually I accepted I'm imperfect and people make mistakes. But don't say it to seek reassurance. Cause my compulsions actually caused my false memory OCD.
- Date posted
- 6y
Good to know I am not the only one. What exposures did you do for the real events?
- Date posted
- 6y
I struggle with this as well, and I think it has started to lead to some false memories, too. It's like I start to question sometimes which memories are true. I think Garrett has good advice. Not always easy to follow, but I have to stop reliving these memories. My OCD tells me that maybe this time I'll remember some little detail that will somehow make things ok. But that never happens, and I suspect that even if it did, I would question whether that was a real part of the memory, or a false memory that I made up as a part of my compulsion to try to soothe my anxiety.
- Date posted
- 6y
My false memory OCD convinced me I somehow killed someone without knowing. As you can imagine, that almost drove me to insanity.
- Date posted
- 6y
I even called the police because I felt I needed to confess. But there was nothing to confess. False memory OCD is one of the worst.
- Date posted
- 6y
I hear you
Related posts
- Date posted
- 18w
im going to be vague here, but basically i did something in the past that i regret and it became a huge point of my OCD but i have talked to my therapist and i have mostly moved past it. i watched a video by an OCD youtuber that really put it into perspective. anyway, i have been with minimal worry for a few days, but now im having worries related to i think false memory? basically it’s like “oh but what if i said/ did this and just forgot that means i harmed this person im a bad person”. to me it sounds like textbook OCD but im just wondering if anyone else has experienced false memory / real event at the same time. i have a really horrible memory which is making it even more stressful. any responses are appreciated!
- Date posted
- 16w
Hello all, I’ve dealt with various OCD themes and compulsions for pretty much as long as I can remember. In some periods of my life the thoughts and compulsions have been particularly severe, but I’ve also had years where I’m able to keep it under control. This has made me worry I don’t actually have OCD, especially because I haven’t been doing consistent therapy and my therapists have gone back and forth on whether I have OCD. In the past few years, I’ve struggled immensely with false memory ocd, and right now I’m going through probably the most severe episode of my life. I love my boyfriend with all my heart. A few times that I’ve gone out drinking I’ve had the thought before “what if I lost control and cheated tonight” and it’s bothered me severely. Two times before, it’s gotten to the point of convincing myself that because I talked to a man that meant I had cheated on my boyfriend and just couldn’t remember. It has never turned out to be true. About a month ago, I went out with friends and had too much to drink. I was really ashamed of myself the next morning, particularly because I always try to drink cautiously now that I know it can trigger my anxiety. I am ashamed to admit I do not remember the very end of the night getting in my uber and going home. I woke up anxious and extremely worried and immediately started off by worrying if I could have tried to kiss my friend and not remembered. I called him and was immediately reassured nothing had happened, I simply drank too much and went home at the end of the night. I started feeling better, but then remembered a moment I had been in the bathroom. I remembered chatting with people in line about how long the line was, and then being in the bathroom on my phone. I then felt like I remembered people knocking and saying to myself “that wasn’t that long” and leaving. There is nothing concrete that I remember that in any way indicates I cheated, and in fact I have texts with my boyfriend from the whole night telling him I loved him. My friend told me that the only time I was ever apart from him was about 5 minutes and that when he came back I was in the same exact spot he left me in. However, when I remembered being in the bathroom, I thought to myself “what if you cheated on him in the bathroom”/ “oh my god did you cheat on him in the bathroom” and then a series of images of me performing sexual acts popped into my head. I’ve poured over my memory and truly do not remember meeting anyone, talking to anyone, or even finding anyone attractive that night, but the fact that I was drinking makes me worried I’m just forgetting and these images could be real. I’ve been constantly ruminating on these fears for the past month, to the point that the only relief I feel is when I’m able to fall asleep. I’m a law student and it’s becoming extremely difficult to keep up with my classes. I’ve been google searching, asked chat gpt for advice, confessed my fears to my boyfriend, asked for reassurance from pretty much everyone in my life, and even emailed the bar asking for security footage (which I know all sounds insane). I’m a naturally guilty person and feel bad about small things, so I really don’t think I would be capable of cheating and then nonchalantly texting my boyfriend, but these images feel so real that it’s terrifying. I’ve also seen a lot about how I would “just know” and that begins to scare me because then I think “you do just know, you did it” even though I really don’t think I did. I know these posts are not supposed to be for reassurance seeking, I’m just so exhausted and feeling really depressed. I’m wondering if anyone has experienced something similar and has any advice. I’m also wondering if images can feel more real the more you ruminate on them or if it’s a sign of memory. Thank you so much for listening.
- Date posted
- 10w
Hi, I’m new to the app as of today. I’m 20 years old, and wanted to get some stuff off my chest about the types of OCD I’ve been experiencing over the years. I’m not entirely sure how or when my OCD was brought up, but I’ve been a perfectionist for as long as I can remember. Anywhere and everywhere I go, if I see things placed in an order/angle that my brain doesn’t approve of, next thing I know I’m “fixing” it to be in the placement I feel looks better. I’m not aware of why I feel the need to do that, but until an object is in the “right” placement, I won’t take my eyes off of it. My eye will even twitch. Another form of OCD I have is in relationships. I spend each day overthinking and over-analyzing every one of the relationships that are important to me. Friends, family, significant other. Another one is what’s considered “Pure OCD” . When I get an intrusive thought of something devilish, whether it’s randomly seeing my great aunt naked bc my grandma considers her “fat” even though she’s not, or it’s seeing something demonic and traumatizing, I immediately tell myself, “I don’t wanna see/think about that” over and over and over until the thought is gone. Or I’ll try to replace one mental image with another. One other form of OCD I face every day, is religion. I got baptized for the first time in my life earlier this year in January. I had finally started to repent for my sins, and now I’m constantly feeling afraid that I’m letting God down due to my depression/lack of motivation and vaping/smoking. I also fear excessively that He’ll banish me from His kingdom, or just turn a cold shoulder. I know that what I’ve just typed up is probably all over the place. That is my brain unfortunately. How do you go from being a mentally disorderly and seemingly erratic young woman, to a more well-established, successful woman? I’m all ears!
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