A lot of my really bad episodes of OCD , as I call them, are false memories of harming someone . It's as if my memory of what i knew really happened starts getting replaced by all of these "what ifs " no matter how crazy they are . What usually precedes them are my fear of another episode happening again almost like a self fulfilling prophecy. I feel so helpless to it .
The famous example is “don’t think of a pink elephant.” Most people will think of a pink elephant in response. Every time you try to prevent another episode or get hyper vigilant looking for the next one, there it is. You have to accept that more will pop up and learn that you can handle them. Next time it happens, name it “there is one of those episodes again.” And then choose a tool from your mental health toolbox. I think mindfulness could be great here, imagining each thought as if it were passing you by on a river as you sit on the banks. Don’t get tangled up in them. Just observe and let them float away.
Does this refer to everyone? I mean I'm have undiagnosed OCD.. recently I'm expireincing false memory and idk whether they are real or fake and I'm in stress it's been months... So I'm be like what if I don't have ocd since I'm undiagnosed and all my memories are real... Cuz my memories seem to be really disturbing.. can you please explain does this false memory happen to everybody regardless of topic? Can it range from minor (forgetting locking door thought/ memories to crime and traumatic event memories?
@Pheww The sign here that you have ocd isn’t the memories, it’s your reaction. You’ve spent months agonizing over what ifs by performing compulsions (reviewing your memories again and again, researching online the same topics over and over, rumination, etc.) Does everyone get “false memories?” I don’t think answering this really helps you. What would help is for you to resist compulsions and stop trying to figure this out. Maybe it happens to everyone. Maybe just some. Maybe just you. You don’t actually need to figure that out right now. I know being undiagnosed is scary and can make us too scared to treat our ocd like ocd. But you need to. And if you can find an OCD specialist that would be the quickest road to recovery.
@pureolife - Actually the thing is I'm a teenager :( and I've been expireincing these things when I was very young i remember repeating sentences in mind , talking to my self repeatedly until it feels fine , doing rituals or else something bad will happen or someone will die , repeatedly getting bad thoughts about someone I love and then saying sorry repeatedly in mind , then religious one idk why I used to say thanks to each and every god and sorry to every god and contamination too I used to wash hands and immediately worry if I didn't touch something... Washing myself repeatedly or roughly etc and now as I grew up it came back with thoughts but I stopped feeding them they are over but now i suddenly remembered something from my past (it was innocent memory) but I got thoughts like what if something bad happened and i forgot ( I forced myself to remember them ) but nothing happened but after spending months on same situation I develop false memories of the thing I was scared of I wasn't accepting it but as soon as i accepted it , and again a false memory popped up where something disgusting is happening to me and I can't even accept it.. I'm scared what if it's real and you won't believe that i spend my whole day yesterday reassuring myself cuz I was scared if I have false memory or not and i ended up getting in confusion :(... I'm fed up I'm scared I can't afford therapy bcz my parents won't give me a penny nor they'll take me to a therapist idk if that sounds pretty ocd to you :( just help
@Pheww It does sound like OCD to me but I'm no doctor. I've had OCD since I was very young and didn't get help until later in life. I wish there would have been groups like NOCD around by the time I became a teen. Even though you may not be able to get into therapy yet you have quite the advantage 🙂 With a bit of work, OCD does reduce significantly. 🙏🏻
@that guy over there - Yea , I just really want guidance regarding this false memory topic :(
ERP therapy can help you a ton! Have you tried it?
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