OCD Action

JJ
Member

Hi,
I've had OCD since I was about 11(now 20)and I often worry about past events, sorry, I mean actually obsess over past events for months and months. I worry about things that could have happened in my past, then actually imagine it happening. When I do this, the image is actually very vivid and almost seems real, then I start to really wonder if it's true or not, even though I know I just made it up in my mind. Is this a false memory? Real memories are often very hazy, especially ones from a long time back, however these mental images I get are extremely vivid.
I then really worry as there is no way of proving if these images are true or false.

Thanks

Thu 6 Jan 2011 14:55 #
Tess
Member

HI JJ
I don't know what is meant by false memory either but what you describe sounds like an excellent description of OCD.

Thu 6 Jan 2011 18:51 #
Unregistered

Hi

My understanding of false memory relates to false memory debate mainly in the US where some consider that some cases of memories of childhood sexual abuse were false and were indirectly implanted in the mind of a person by a therapist that has sought to uncover memories of the past. The style of questioning by the therapist leads to false memories. There is research in psychology that asking leading questions and the general wording of a question of a person leads to a false memory. For example 'how fast was the car going when it crashed' and 'how far was the car going when it collided' - with the former wording giving rise to higher speed than the latter. The most famous researcher about false memory is Dr Loftus - I suggest putting the name and false memory into a serach engine. Most of the research on false memory is how the interaction between two persons can lead to falsities. Best wishes David

Thu 6 Jan 2011 19:18 #
Tess
Member

Hi David
This really rings bells with me, in fact I seem to remember posting fairly recently about it. I went through years of psychotherapy in my 20's in which I was repeatedly assured by psychiatrists that my OCD was the result of sexual trauma as a child. I had no memory of anything like that ever happening but I was so convinced that unlocking my repressed memories would cure me of the OCD that I spent hours and hours trying to remember - then one night in hospital I had such a vivid dream that I actually felt the intense pain of sexual abuse and I started to believe it had actually happened. Unfortunately it didn't cure my OCD but it left me very apprehensive about my upbringing and fueled uncertainties about the integrity of my parents and relatives. 40 years on I now believe that abuse did happen but it was not sexual abuse of a young child, or anything to do with parents or relatives, it was legal abuse of an innocent young woman by the NHS.

Thu 6 Jan 2011 19:44 #
JJ
Member

I'm not even sure If what I do is false memories. I just imagine bad events and get a vivid mental picture of it happening, then my OCD plays hell on he trying to tell me it did happen when all logic says otherwise.

Thu 6 Jan 2011 20:41 #