Does anyone else struggle with the fear of forgetting things and compulsively writing everything down?

Hey everyone. I’m new to the NOCD community and looking for some advice, support, and experiences from people who have dealt with something similar. Only over the past few weeks, I’ve developed what feels like an overwhelming urge to write down or look up random words, names, songs, phrases, and pieces of information that I encounter throughout the day. It can happen while watching TV, movies, commercials, playing video games, listening to music, watching football, or even having normal conversations. The strange thing is that a lot of the information isn’t even important to me. I’ll hear an unfamiliar name or see a random word and suddenly feel like I NEED to document it because I’m afraid I’ll forget it or won’t be able to remember it later. If I don’t write it down, search for it, or figure it out, I experience anxiety and an uncomfortable feeling that I can’t seem to shake. When I give in and look something up or write it down, I get temporary relief, but then something else triggers the same urge. It’s gotten to the point where I’m struggling to enjoy things I used to love because I’m constantly noticing information and fighting the urge to document it. I’m also struggling with remembering conversations correctly and feeling like I need to save notes so I don’t forget what was discussed. I’m currently pursuing an OCD evaluation and trying to get started with ERP therapy. My questions are: * Has anyone experienced this particular fear of forgetting or needing to document random information? * Does this sound similar to memory-related OCD or just-right OCD? * What ERP exercises helped you stop writing things down and looking everything up? * How did you learn to tolerate the feeling of forgetting something? * Does the urge eventually become less intense with consistent ERP? I really want to get my life back and be able to enjoy everyday things without feeling like I have to remember or document everything. I struggle with anxiety before this happened so I’m not sure if it’s stemming from that. I’d appreciate hearing from anyone who’s experienced something similar. Thank you!

Anonymous

Date posted: 5d

First of all, you are not alone in experiencing this. I definately have had many moments like this where I want to write everything down or do some research, in part because I value learning. The ERP comes in handy when this love of learning stems from anxiety over just pure curiosity which happens when I feel it is urgent or related to my triggers. You will find ERP helps with this as you learn more and more to lean into uncertainty. Give yourself grace, this is a journey and not a one and done fix. It takes time to learn to be not in control. Which was a helpful realization for me that I ultimately am not in control of every word or thing I want to research and it is ok sometimes to just let it go. Hopefully this is helpful :). You got this ❤️

MichelleV

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: Yesterday

Welcome to this community :) I hope you’re able to find the therapy that works best for you. When I was a child, and way before I was diagnosed (I was diagnosed at 31), j would struggle with this when I wrote in my diaries. I think it’s called memory hoarding, and I felt like I needed to write down every single memory/event from the day, or I would forget and that would be bad. I still do this sometimes, when I see a new word or random piece of trivia, like I need to commit it to memory. I think this is because I play trivia weekly, and I feel like these pieces of information might come up in the trivia games and it could be bad if I don’t remember. I didn’t do ERP exercises for this specifically, but something that could help would be to identify what exactly your fears are if you don’t write something down/if you don’t recall a conversation/etc. are you afraid you’ll be embarrassed, you’ll be seen as a bad friend for forgetting a conversation, other fears? And then targeting that fear. The urges and compulsions will be less intense with ERP. you can absolutely get your life back. It takes time, but you can do this

nklezun

Date posted: 14h

@MichelleV Hi there. Thank you for the response. I’ve pretty much already identified the fear if I don’t write something down. It’s the fear of forgetting and the panic I will feel when I try to think back. Like the tip of the tongue feeling. I’ve struggled with anxiety in the past and these new compulsions I guess just started a little over 2 weeks ago. I will catch myself writing down in my notes app topics from conversations, advertisements, etc. It’s frustrating.

MichelleV

User type: OCD Conqueror

Date posted: Yesterday

https://www.treatmyocd.com/blog/what-is-memory-hoarding-in-ocd This article might be relatable to you too

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