- Date posted
- 1y
False Memory OCD
my mind telling me i had sex or did anything sexual when i KNOW i didn’t…especially when i’m drinking this is a problem. i wish i could just enjoy a drink with friends or family.
my mind telling me i had sex or did anything sexual when i KNOW i didn’t…especially when i’m drinking this is a problem. i wish i could just enjoy a drink with friends or family.
I had the same problem in my last relationship. He touched me while I was sleeping once in the beginning of the relationship and then after that I would get really paranoid sleeping next to him in bed and so one day I started wearing tampons to make sure I knew forbsure if he raped me in my sleep or was it just something I dreamt about. Once he realized what I was doing and he began getting really angry about it because obviously I ruined his plans.
I am going through something similar right now as well, even though I didn’t have too much to drink. OCD will latch onto absolutely any situations that are easy targets for uncertainty. Drinking and sleeping are big ones for me personally, or really any time I don’t think I’m giving perfect attention to my surroundings. Sometimes it helps to remind myself that ocd is predictable and it’s not surprising at all that it would take advantage of these opportunities to cause more fear and doubt. It only gets worse when we ruminate, especially in the case of false memory. The more you try to replay a moment in your head to prove the intrusive thoughts aren’t real, the more familiar they will seem, and ocd will try to trick you into believing that if it feels familiar it must be true! You’re definitely not alone in this, just keep trying to move forward and accept that you will never get certainty about anything that happened in the past, and trust that in any given moment you were doing the best you could :)
@cr2857 Also, something that helps me is to move forward with my life as I would if my ocd wasn’t a factor. If I didn’t have ocd, I would not be concerned about having a few drinks with my friends and family out of fear that I would lose control and do something bad. You deserve to live your life and do what makes you happy, no matter what ocd tells you :)
Has false memory OCD affected you so badly that you feel that a lot of your memories period are unclear, vague, fuzzy and can’t recall correctly?
First I must say I love children and harming one sickens me. So if you don’t understand pocd please don’t commment. Ive only ever been drunk around children once at a house party , my ocd then convinced me I could’ve assaulted them the next morning as my memory was patchy…I haven’t let this go for YEARS. I didn’t even know what I did? 6 years later I have this whole story, based off an intrusive image I had but still don’t really know what I did? Every waking day of my life I’m trying to figure this out but I’m getting more and more confused. I’ve found clues, coincidences , things I believe could be evidence but isn’t really? I’m mixing in reality and false images….My therapists (I’ve had 3) all say this is false memory ocd? But mine feels different? Mine feels worse? Anyway I need a break.
I basically can’t stop thinking about the false memories and I’ve been thinking about them non-stop since I’ve woken up today. I keep picturing the images / the false memory and I focus and fixate on the images and they feel so so real and realistic and when I think of them I get a feeling of “clarity” and a genuine sense of knowing and belief that deep down I know these memories are true and have happened and that I’m just in denial and lying to myself and you by saying that they’re false memories when in actuality I know they’re real which is also really frustrating and makes me feel uncomfortable. On top of that as I’m writing this message my stomach won’t stop turning and it really hurts and I just want to cry and my brain says that I’m experiencing these physical feelings because I know I am lying and just in denial and that these physical symptoms are proof that I am lying and just in denial and I just don’t know what to do or how to calm down. I really don’t want these memories to be true and I want them to be false more than anything in the world and I am not lying when I say I don’t know whether or not they’re real and I’m not lying or pretending they’re false memories but the more I say that to myself the more it feels like a lie and I’m just terrified at the thought and idea of them being even 1% true because why wouldn’t they be? Is it really possible to fabricate entire memories or doing sexual things to and with another person that are that detailed and realistic :/ My brain says things will only get better once I admit to the false memories and stop lying to myself and stop being in denial and stop using false memory ocd as an excuse and just admit to them because I know deep down I have done them and that they’re true which is why I feel a deep sense of clarity about them and that I am just continuing to lie to myself, to my girlfriend, to my therapist and to my family when I say I don’t know whether I have done anything sexual to or with this person because deep down I know I have I just don’t want to admit it so I’m continuing to be in this heavy state and cycle of denial because I don’t want to accept what I have done. I just want this to end. I just want confirmation that I have never done anything sexual to or with this person and that these memories are entirely fabricated by my ocd and have no basis in reality but I don’t even think that’s possible. I’m so done.
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