I have a false memory that I sexually assaulted my little brother while he slept and the anxiety makes it feel like someone stabbed me in the stomach. How do you deal with something this horrific? I really need help right now.
I’m so sorry to hear that you are going through this, I had a horrible thought earlier on and I used it as an exposure by writing my fear as if it was real, I cried and the anxiety level increased but in time it reduced massively and I will probably do the same exposure again tomorrow until I am no longer afraid of it - exposing yourself to your fear is key - hope this helps
Yeah I know how to do ERP but like it seems impossible to accept something like this. Like how can I just go "I might have abused my brother or I might have not". I hate this.
@lcc1999 I understand what you mean about it being impossible to accept this! I think the goal is to trust yourself more and to recognise when your ocd is lying ❤️
I’m so sorry that you’re going through something so horrible :( When I was dealing with false memories, it got so stressful I could barely even focus in school. Then one day, it just clicked. I am never going to know for sure, I won’t ever be sure about it, so why would I spend my time worrying about it? I know it’s hard to accept the uncertainty, but trust me it’s so worth it. My OCD didn’t get bad for a long time. And now it’s not nearly as horrific as it was before. I hope this helps you and I’m sorry you’re struggling so much. Remember you are super strong 💪 You got this! 🩷
I've had a similar false memory and it happened this past week. I woke up and went about my day then out of nowhere, I thought about the night before when I was up in the middle of the night changing my 5 month old daughter. When she wakes up in the middle of the night, I try to keep her from getting fussy and playing with her toes always keeps her distracted. Well....., this time, my mind decided to say that I did something else to something else. It makes me feel disgusting and leaves a pit in my stomach. Worst past is, in my heart of hearts, I know i did nothing but play with her feet but my mind is like, well if you can't fully remember then you don't know. Being a massive overthinker doesn't help.
I'm sorry you're going through this. It's worse when these things target the people around us and the people we love. Makes us not wanna be near them due to the anxiety and thoughts.
Are you me? I’ve been literally having the same one except he was in the bath when we were both kids. This seems to be a super common one. Currently my brothers going through a rough time because he’s a teenager, and I’m taking needless responsibility for his issues, in my brain is like “he’s unhappy because you did something awful, it’s all your fault.” I know deep down in my gut Ik it’s not true because 1. It wasn’t on its own, I watched a presentation on how people become serial killers and one thing was listed as sexual abuse. And a specific example was given on how a mother fondled her own son in the bathtub and my brain for weeks was like “what if you did that?” Until it became a reality in my head. 2. I was high as shit when I first had the thought. Like I was gone. But still that “what if” is so extraordinarily powerful. It’s literally what’s causing our problems.
Does anyone else’s false memory intrusive thoughts of what could have happened feel very, very real?
This situation just happened and I can definitely remember how it went but my brain is telling me otherwise and I know you guys said to sit with the uncertainty but what if the intrusive thought is so bad like disgusting, I can’t sit with that. Maybe it’s false memory but this just happened. I don’t even know how to live with this
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
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