- Date posted
- 6y
- Date posted
- 6y
Memories whether they’re true or not are still just thoughts. It’s extremely difficult to look at it that way, but it’s the fact. They’re just thoughts. And such must be treated the same as any other intrusive thought. Accept the uncertainty, and don’t do anything when they show up. Sit in the anxiety until it passes and move on. Eventually, your OCD will stop throwing them at you all the time if you stick with it. I’m dealing with this now, some days are fantastic, some are rough. But the better days are starting to be more than the bad days when it comes to it throwing false or true (who knows) memories at me. The important thing is that you can’t control your past, only your present. You’ll make it thought this.
- Date posted
- 6y
I don't have false memory buy I have damn persistent obsessions. They're so persistent because I ran from them for so long so now I'm exposing myself saying it might happen or I want it to happen. It's tough at time but it takes the power and fear away, and funnily enough the more I expose myself the less I feel like a bad person because I'm not anxious and I'm starting to realise it's ridiculous
- Date posted
- 6y
Yeah, I’ve noticed the more I expose myself to it but don’t react the better it is. But it really holds back my life and makes me feel horrible!
- Date posted
- 6y
When you say sit with the anxiety, do you just mean observe it? I usually say something to it in my head, like “that’s an OCD thought” Or I have doubts about this ‘what if’ so it didn’t happen. If it’s true, I’ll deal with it. That takes the fear away for me mostly. I’ve only been working on this for the last 7 days, before that for a whole month I was giving in to compulsions, researching, asking for reassurance, melting down every day! Does it get better over time? I feel a world of a difference 7 days later though
- Date posted
- 6y
Just let yourself feel it. I haven’t had a complete melt down in a little over a month. I’m pretty early in my recovery as well. I have good and bad days. But hopefully better days coming up. OCD will tell you that your methods to get better aren’t working. Don’t listen to that. Keep pushing.
- Date posted
- 6y
Do yours make you feel like a terrible person? :/ I’ll keep strong
- Date posted
- 6y
Absolutely everyday it haunts me. But I tell myself it’s because of OCD. And keep fighting. What other choice do we have? We will beat this and look back and laugh at it all!
Related posts
- Date posted
- 18w
im going to be vague here, but basically i did something in the past that i regret and it became a huge point of my OCD but i have talked to my therapist and i have mostly moved past it. i watched a video by an OCD youtuber that really put it into perspective. anyway, i have been with minimal worry for a few days, but now im having worries related to i think false memory? basically it’s like “oh but what if i said/ did this and just forgot that means i harmed this person im a bad person”. to me it sounds like textbook OCD but im just wondering if anyone else has experienced false memory / real event at the same time. i have a really horrible memory which is making it even more stressful. any responses are appreciated!
- Date posted
- 17w
I know I was here earlier on with a question as well lol but has anyone ever found that when a new false memory takes its place at the forefront of your mind, it's almost easier to disregard the old false memories and say "Yeah that stuff didn't actually happen that way". It feels like OCD giving you a little reward for letting it place a new, shinier false memory in your head. Anyone experience the same thing? Maybe I've asked a similar question before.
- Date posted
- 16w
Hello all, I’ve dealt with various OCD themes and compulsions for pretty much as long as I can remember. In some periods of my life the thoughts and compulsions have been particularly severe, but I’ve also had years where I’m able to keep it under control. This has made me worry I don’t actually have OCD, especially because I haven’t been doing consistent therapy and my therapists have gone back and forth on whether I have OCD. In the past few years, I’ve struggled immensely with false memory ocd, and right now I’m going through probably the most severe episode of my life. I love my boyfriend with all my heart. A few times that I’ve gone out drinking I’ve had the thought before “what if I lost control and cheated tonight” and it’s bothered me severely. Two times before, it’s gotten to the point of convincing myself that because I talked to a man that meant I had cheated on my boyfriend and just couldn’t remember. It has never turned out to be true. About a month ago, I went out with friends and had too much to drink. I was really ashamed of myself the next morning, particularly because I always try to drink cautiously now that I know it can trigger my anxiety. I am ashamed to admit I do not remember the very end of the night getting in my uber and going home. I woke up anxious and extremely worried and immediately started off by worrying if I could have tried to kiss my friend and not remembered. I called him and was immediately reassured nothing had happened, I simply drank too much and went home at the end of the night. I started feeling better, but then remembered a moment I had been in the bathroom. I remembered chatting with people in line about how long the line was, and then being in the bathroom on my phone. I then felt like I remembered people knocking and saying to myself “that wasn’t that long” and leaving. There is nothing concrete that I remember that in any way indicates I cheated, and in fact I have texts with my boyfriend from the whole night telling him I loved him. My friend told me that the only time I was ever apart from him was about 5 minutes and that when he came back I was in the same exact spot he left me in. However, when I remembered being in the bathroom, I thought to myself “what if you cheated on him in the bathroom”/ “oh my god did you cheat on him in the bathroom” and then a series of images of me performing sexual acts popped into my head. I’ve poured over my memory and truly do not remember meeting anyone, talking to anyone, or even finding anyone attractive that night, but the fact that I was drinking makes me worried I’m just forgetting and these images could be real. I’ve been constantly ruminating on these fears for the past month, to the point that the only relief I feel is when I’m able to fall asleep. I’m a law student and it’s becoming extremely difficult to keep up with my classes. I’ve been google searching, asked chat gpt for advice, confessed my fears to my boyfriend, asked for reassurance from pretty much everyone in my life, and even emailed the bar asking for security footage (which I know all sounds insane). I’m a naturally guilty person and feel bad about small things, so I really don’t think I would be capable of cheating and then nonchalantly texting my boyfriend, but these images feel so real that it’s terrifying. I’ve also seen a lot about how I would “just know” and that begins to scare me because then I think “you do just know, you did it” even though I really don’t think I did. I know these posts are not supposed to be for reassurance seeking, I’m just so exhausted and feeling really depressed. I’m wondering if anyone has experienced something similar and has any advice. I’m also wondering if images can feel more real the more you ruminate on them or if it’s a sign of memory. Thank you so much for listening.
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