- Date posted
- 6y
- Date posted
- 6y
I have false memories too. I think that a lot of people struggle with this but it’s not the majority of ocd most people have intrusive thoughts and compulsions. For me a lot of my compulsions is based on false memories. Please don’t despair there is treatment for this as well. I’m receiving treatment right now and medication has helped me a lot. May I ask what theme you have? Mine is pocd and it feels like the worst but I know others can be very hard as well
- Date posted
- 6y
I have false memories
- Date posted
- 6y
Hales I know exactly what you are going though. It’s horrible, but it’s improving!
- Date posted
- 6y
So sorry ?? well I’m really new into therapy right now I’m just tracking my thoughts/ compulsions but it has been super relieving just to be able to talk to somebody about my false memories (hope they are false) and fears. I definitely recommend therapy xx
- Date posted
- 6y
I have false memories and recently they made me believe that I sexually molested someone.
- Date posted
- 6y
Thanks halespineapple I started therapy. Jelpk that sounds horrible I'm sorry
- Date posted
- 6y
Was it therapy that helped? I'm just confused how false memories are treated and what if my therapist believes them.
- Date posted
- 6y
Also your therapist isn’t going to believe them. False memories is a key part of ocd and can seem so real. If you knew they were real you wouldn’t be on this app you wouldn’t be checking to see if they were real or ruminating about them. You would trying to figure out how to deal with the consequences. That is what I tell myself anyway and some days I’m not sure if my memories are real or not. Your therapist can’t tell you whether or not they think your memories are real or not because that would be reassurance but they can “normalize” your behaviors and let you know what they consider is behavior characteristic of ocd and false memories are
- Date posted
- 6y
Yeah I know trauma can play a role but not always. My ocd has tried to tell me I’ve been abused but i know I haven’t. Some non ocd specialists try to do talk therapy and convince sufferers they’ve been abused and it’s causing their ocd but it’s not always the case. In any case, ruminating is always a futile search :) Best wishes to you!
- Date posted
- 6y
Thanks everyone. Halespineapple I have harm, pocd and sometimes afraid I'm attracted to or done things with family members. It kind of jumps around and gets confusing. Harm was the main one for a long time
- Date posted
- 6y
Also did therapy help? I'm thinking of trying meds but SSRIs made me worse because turns out I probably have bipolar also
- Date posted
- 6y
Rollt1805 sorry you have them too
- Date posted
- 6y
Thanks Pluto, it’s getting better slowly❤️
- Date posted
- 6y
My fear exactly jelpk
- Date posted
- 6y
I believe you can like write scripts about your worst feared false memory and you exposure yourself to that fear. It’s called ERP. Also most ocd specialists will teach your acceptance commitment therapy which is accepting your fears. I know that sounds crazy but you have to accept- ok maybe I did that maybe I didn’t and it’s the only way to move forward. The phrase “confidence over certainty” really helps me. Like I don’t know for certain that I didn’t harm a child, but I’m choosing the confidence that I didn’t because I don’t want to do that and I don’t think I’m capable of such an act. I’m not certain of that but I’m confident that I wouldn’t have the guts to do it.
- Date posted
- 6y
Thanks this helps! I'm doing ACT but not ERP yet so I'll talk to her about that. My therapist thinks I might have trauma which may be true, but now I'm ruminating about that and having fears that aren't true about that. OCD is so tricky like that.
Related posts
- Date posted
- 14w
I have so many pocd real events, and false memories that im so tortured by mere existence of life... I genuinely have no one who can comfort me... because giving people reassurance is... unhealthy... and even then my false memory situations cant even be reassured because i dont know if its true or not... im so alone...
- Date posted
- 14w
I would really appreciate it so much if someone took the time to read this and help me. I don’t know what to do anymore. I haven’t posted here in awhile. I had my OCD managed pretty decently for a year or so on medication, but I had to stop taking it, and after around 3-4 months, the OCD has become unbearable again. It used to be much more surrounding existential themes, eating, and others, not really real event/false memory stuff. But now it’s gotten really out of hand and I don’t know how to do it anymore. It’s surrounding a time of my life a long time ago. It was a dark time. I wasn’t myself and I was going through a lot of things, and I did a lot of things I regret. I self-destructed, embarrassed myself, and wasn’t good to the people around me. I was able to get my mind off of it for a long time, even though I would still think about it a good amount. I was able to be in the present, at least moreso than now. But now that I’m off medication, the guilt has become my obsession again. I can’t move on. I can’t do anything without thinking about all of these memories. I’m obsessed. I’ve started hating myself again, so much so that it’s hard to do anything anymore or believe I deserve anything good. The people around me tell me it wasn’t even that bad, but to me it was. To me, I failed myself, lost myself, and failed everyone around me. I can’t stop thinking about every person I said something wrong to or every time I screwed up. I’ve now started to convince myself I did terrible things I can’t remember, and that my mind just can’t deal with it. And that’s why I feel so guilty. There’s nothing to really support this though. But I’m starting to really convince myself that’s true. I’m trying not to listen to it, because I’ve convinced myself I have hit people with my car before and haven’t remembered when I absolutely didn’t and I know I never have. I drive back over and over to check there’s no one, even though I never heard any bang or felt myself anything. I can convince myself of some crazy false memories. So I know that I shouldn’t listen. But it’s hard not to when I have this guilt gnawing at me constantly. I come to conclusions that this guilt must be because I did something terrible that I don’t remember, even though I already think the things I remember were bad enough. But I would know by now right? If I did something bad I don’t remember? I don’t feel like this all the time. But it’s a lot of the time. But maybe that should be reassuring, that I only start obsessing like this when I think to. The past haunts me though. And I can never be in the present. I’ve started to resort to some unhealthy behaviors to distract myself or help me work towards something. I am starting to hate myself so much and feel like there’s no way I’ll ever be able to get out of this loop. I feel like I just can’t do this anymore. Maybe I need to go back on medication. But I don’t know. I don’t really want to. But will I ever fix this without it? Why do I feel SO guilty, all of the time? I do all these things for people because I feel indebted to them, because I feel undeserving of everything. I feel awful about myself. I don’t know what to do. Does anyone else deal with this?
- Date posted
- 12w
I experience crippling, debilitating false memory OCD. It started with a “what if” thought 6 days ago and has spiraled into a never ending loop. My mind is telling me that “maybe you did this terrible, awful, unforgivable thing years ago and you don’t remember it and it’s only a matter of time before it catches up to you and your life is over” I’m really needing some coping mechanisms and support. I’m really scared and my body is exhausted. I just want it to stop. It is full panic attack all day, every day. Please if anyone can relate or help me.
Be a part of the largest OCD Community
Share your thoughts so the Community can respond