- Date posted
- 6y ago
- Date posted
- 6y ago
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 ago
I have false memories
- Date posted
- 6y ago
Hales I know exactly what you are going though. It’s horrible, but it’s improving!
- Date posted
- 6y ago
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 ago
I have false memories and recently they made me believe that I sexually molested someone.
- Date posted
- 6y ago
Thanks halespineapple I started therapy. Jelpk that sounds horrible I'm sorry
- Date posted
- 6y ago
Was it therapy that helped? I'm just confused how false memories are treated and what if my therapist believes them.
- Date posted
- 6y ago
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 ago
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 ago
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 ago
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 ago
Rollt1805 sorry you have them too
- Date posted
- 6y ago
Thanks Pluto, it’s getting better slowly❤️
- Date posted
- 6y ago
My fear exactly jelpk
- Date posted
- 6y ago
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 ago
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
- 11w ago
I went to bed one night in November, and I can't quite say what happened, but I believed that I had a "memory" from childhood. I won't discuss what, but I had "remembered" doing something sickeningly awful. This thing came to me almost as clear as a real memory. I remember thinking something along the lines of 'How could I forget doing something like that?' followed by a feeling of complete horror and terror. I have moments of "clarity" where I can't believe that I'm questioning doing this thing, and it appears obvious that it's false. But now, I'm more than often believing that I did. I am spending 24/7 fighting my head, and it's taking me to dark places. I know this is the worst thing to do, but you don't understand, if this is real then I am a monster and I can't just adopt the 'maybe I did, maybe I didn't approach'. I just can't. I have to know. I'm so scared. My entire life is on the line. I don't have anyone to talk to about this. Literally no one. I feel like I'm insane, like I'm a monster, like I'm hiding my true identity from everyone I love. Does this sound like False Memory? Or am I in denial, trying to convince myself this didn't happen? Why does it feel so real? And why do I have moments of clarity? I also had my first nightmare about it last night. Please someone help me.
- Date posted
- 6w ago
So, I know my capacity to get fixated on things. And it's normally something that's relatively remote but, my latest issue is really getting to me and I was wondering if people have any advice. I'm avoiding getting too into specifics, as I don't want this to get reassurance-y but, in essence.. I came to the realisation recently that people who I'd been "friends" (feels like the wrong term now) when I was younger were not very nice people, and normalized a lot of very unpleasant behaviour towards other members of the group. They really normalized it, sold themselves as figures of authority, as older and more responsible and grown-up than others, and looking back, they acted horribly. And coming to this realisation, that I'd been manipulated into just accepting their behaviour has just... broken me. My OCD has latched onto it and I can't stop feeling irreversibly tainted by it. I've talked to others about it, and they've reassured me, told me it's not a big deal and that I hold myself to too high a standard, but none of that sticks. I feel better for a bit, then think 'Maybe when you told them you were skewing it to make yourself look better' or 'Did you leave out a crucial detail'. I keep ruminating over and over, trying to remember exactly how everything played out, trying to figure out if I fed into the behaviour, if I did something bad myself (because y'know, I feel like I was accepting of it at the time, so what does it say about my own values?). I know I need to stop doing all this if I want to improve, but then some part of me keeps saying 'So, you're just going to let yourself off the hook then?' Normally, I can rationalize my own fears to some degree, assure myself something won't happen, but the realness of the situation, and the fact I only came to understand the reality of it because the thought had been bothering me means it feels so much more all-encompassing. I know confessing in itself is a compulsion, but I keep feeling that if I'm not I'm somehow concealing what I 'really am' from others around me, and any positive interactions are me deceiving them in some way. I feel like I can't enjoy anything in life right now, and a good part of me feels I should not enjoy it ever again. If anybody has any advice on it, I'm all ears. Or even hearing if you relate to these feelings, I might appreciate the solidarity at least.
- Date posted
- 29d ago
So hard to not engage the thoughts because even though it's from the "past" (i don't even know if im remembering things correctly and it kills me) and i can't change it, I just NEED to prove it to myself that it didn't happen this way. If you'd asked me questions maybe a few months ago, I would have been able to lucidly explain things. Now I just feel like I'm in a constant swarm of thoughts, not knowing if anything is real. If my brain is to be trusted. Wish I could just get hypnosis to forget
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