Anyone know how to know the difference between real and false memory because I don’t know if it’s false but feels real it’s fits in with what happened in the best and it’s just the worst to deal with

I’m going through this now. Go on YouTube and look up Ali Greymonds video on False Memories and how to deal with them. :) It’s helped me so much

Let me know if it helps!

dealing with this now

Thankyou

Will do

Are you your not alone

I wish I knew what it was back when it first happened. I had no idea

@Lewis, do you mean that you wish you knew that the ‘memory’ you had was a false memory when it first entered your mind? I’m just asking as this is what happened to me. Except that I didn’t know that I had OCD, or about false memories as a result of OCD until over 10 years after the ‘memory’ first popped in to my mind. I spent over 10 years ruminating, feeling extreme anxiety and guilt, and i’m only just now in the past couple of years trying to wrap my head around the fact that it may have just been OCD nonsense. I could have saved myself so much heartache. I now look back and know that I’ve had OCD symptoms for as long as I can remember. I just never knew it because due to the nature of the thoughts I was having I was terrified to share with anyone/get help.

I didn’t know I had OCD properly until like 2 months ago. Before that I just thought I was a worrier. The previous year or 2 I had worried about speed cameras and had these ‘what if’ false memories that I had gone over the speed limit. On New Year’s Day a load of ‘memories’ hit me and destroyed my life. I’ve managed to deal with all but one. For the whole month I’ve been seeking reassurance, asking people’s opinions, researching and it makes it 10x worse! This memory is about a Facebook conversation that I don’t remember and it’s honestly destroying me. I can’t even be happy and live my life

Thanks for sharing @Lewis. It’s baffling, isn’t it? How you can live your life without a care in the world (i mean, aside from intense irrational OCD worry lol) and then one day have it all come crashing down because of a ‘memory’ that clearly couldn’t have been that important otherwise you’d have been worried about it before... Mine was triggered by watching a disturbing movie. And it seemed to dislodge a vague memory from 10 years prior. Thing is, while this felt like a memory, I have absolutely ZERO recollection of remembering it or even thinking about it any time before. That’s the thing that has always confused me. I have other memories, and i remember remembering them at times - as a part of my history in a way. This ‘memory’ was like brand new information - but somehow *felt* like a memory. I hold on to the hope that there’s just no way I wouldn’t recall this before, especially given how much i worry about everything in general. Makes your head spin. ? Hang in there. ?

I know. That feels like reassurance that I would have remembered it. I had a few drinks and feel guilty for what I was doing anyway. (But not illegal) However, my mind has spiralled into what if you did or said something and it was illegal?! What if you said this? What if they were this etc etc. I don’t know how it’s messing me up so much! Hmmmm that’s strange! Could have been a dream? How much does it impact your life now?

yeah the ‘what ifs’ are the killers. the thing i ‘remembered’ is legitimately inconsequential, if even real at all. it’s all the ‘what ifs?’ that i’ve attached to it that worry me so much. (none of which i have a memory of - just a concern that they *could* have happened) i read once that a false memory ocd thought is just a standard ocd nonsense thought, just one that’s about the past, not the future. i find that helps me understand my faulty logic about the whole thing. mine impacts my life pretty significantly. i think about it constantly. it’s the one OCD theme that I haven’t been able to move past because it’s in the past, and as a result it’s impossible to obtain certainty. I know i have to move forward and give up the search for certainty, but for some reason this one is harder to let go of. I hope you’re able to move on from this torture. Wishing you well!