- Date posted
- 2y
- Date posted
- 2y
Ime, real event is when an actual event happened and I inject false memories in to it trying to remember exactly how it happened. Or false memories can be when an event just happened and you try to recall it and the fear of what might have happened feels so real, even though there is no evidence to support it.
- Date posted
- 2y
@TT2022 ^ I agree. My last rumination that lasted a couple months was a real event that I had placed one of my past intrusive thoughts into. When in reality after a lot of grounding, it finally clicked and everything seemed clearer. I know this isn’t the best way but I thought about it hard and the real event happened over a year before I ever had that intrusive thought! Crazy how our minds play tricks on us like that
- Date posted
- 2y
No but they can mix. I’ll give some examples below. Real event ocd example - you wiped your child while changing their nappy & later on you obsess about the way you wiped them , if it was ‘wrong’ etc. False memory - you get a intrusive thought about hitting your friend on a night out a few years ago and now debating it’s true. False memory mix real event - This is basically a concoction of both of the above, so for example you go to a party and remember thinking a girls skirt was nice and now you wonder why you were looking in the first place, are you a creep? Did you maybe assault her? Etc. Another example of this is you could have real details mixed into a false memory so a real event (the party) but false actions being that you may have assaulted someone. Hope that helps you.
Related posts
- User type
- OCD Conqueror
- Date posted
- 22w
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
- 21w
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
- Date posted
- 18w
I got pure o. I don't think that's really the correct term but you get what i'm talking about. I would say that i have it because my ocd just picks and chooses what subtype it wants to bother with me today. Right now, i'm suffering with real event ocd and, hopefully, false memories. But i think i might have cracked the code on it. So my real events and false memories are pretty much private related, which makes it worse because there's no evidence or proof. There are some memories (real events) i can think about and accept that they happened. I still feel guilt and shame but i have closure from it. And there's the other memories (hopefully false memories) that i look at and just cannot wrap my head around. They feel so real like they actually happened and it gives me so much stress, but i sit there and think and think and think on it to see if it actually happened. Btw, these false memories come from my real events but in different situations and times. Like if it was true, i would accept it. Whether or not it made me feel guilt or shame, i would still accept it happened. This is what i think i figured out. I can look at a memory and know for certain it happened. I don't need evidence or nothing. The false memories make me question myself if it did happen. It's still very vivid and looks so real like a real memory, but i just can't be for certain if i did that. It makes me feel like i'm in denial of my past. Sometimes they both work together. A real event can happen but false memories can use its work to detail out the event, tryna make it much worse than it was. Or you can be thinking of a false memory but real events can try linking with that false memory to making you think you did do that. If this makes any sense or if what i’m saying is correct or i’m just crazy, please tell me. All advice is welcome. Thank you
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