Memories and False Memories With OCD

People with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) often feel like they cannot trust their own memories. They may fear they're failing to remember things, modifying their own memories, or fabricating memories altogether. The feeling that their memories are false or incomplete can become obsessive, leading to compulsive behaviors intended to neutralize the possibility of wrongdoing.

Here, Taylor Newendorp, MA, LCPC, discusses this aspect of OCD and what people can do about it. Taylor is an OCD specialist and one of our NOCD Therapists. He works primarily with exposure and response prevention, or ERP, the most effective form of therapy for OCD.

Research shows that ERP helps 70-80% of people with OCD improve significantly. ERP involves exposing oneself to obsessions, and learning to deal with distress without using compulsions to escape it.

[chrissanchez]

Dealing with POCD and False Memory is one of hardest topics I’ve dealt with and I’ve dealt with “Harm OCD, Suicide OCD, Health OCD, 😩

[nabilsalha]

I think i just had a mental breakdown. I remembered a “false ocd memory” that proves i did something horrible, then i got a memory where i was int he kitchen and o told myself, thats okay, ill just tell myself its false memory, now i went back to check the stuff that was in the memory and i felt the same feelings of that memory and the unwanted feelings i feel so confused i vomited 10 times

[isabellamarinilli]

I have severe OCD and false memories and it’s terrifying. I had no idea my false memories were connected to OCD I just thought it was a completely different mental disorder

[jakearts]

I have always had OCD (Mostly checking and some magical thinking) I had this false memory problem once after drinking too much and it was terrible. I was also under a lot of stress at the time, which I think exacerbated it. Anyways My OCD started telling me what if in that time you can't remember and something terrible happened. To make it worse I became very hyper aware suddenly and started seeing coincidences everywhere (or what my mind was telling me were signs) that would trigger the false memory OCD.

[mell.m]

Is getting worse and I don’t know what to do :(

[Persei]

I have false memory ocd about fear that I did something but also false memory ocd that something happened to me or someone did something to me which never happened.

[DogMommy.]

My boyfriend thinks I'm going crazy now because all of this has been happening to me, which makes me feel sad . I feel lost 🥺 it been going on for 1 month now

[FF-hvkj]

Is it just me or someone else finds exposure therapy a bad idea and terrifying? Like just to think about it makes me anxious. How can I repeat a memory that causes me so much stress over and over saying it aloud and writing it many times? I don't see myself doing that! What I really want is to convince myself I didn't do anything wrong that the memory is telling me I did. A part of me knows I didn't do it but then later comes the doubt bothering me again. To the point I doubt about myself and often ask myself, am I really a bad person? Or it's just my mind lying to me and I'm being an idiot by paying attention to the doubt? This is a nightmare

[theredbeard]

My question is, if I am going to reapet a memory over and over isn't this going to produce more false details or more doubt? I had unwanted physical arousal created by ocd and I keep recalling this memory so I can figure out why and how that happened, I am also making sure to remember how this happened and why, I also fear that recalling this sąd memory over and over can create false details, so how can I overcome this?

[jendjoyce]

Can someone have many false memories as in a few years of early life? Such as remembering from age 3-5 then being told that that is not what happened? People, places, and things I could not have been. Everything from dance and swimming classes, preschool, trips to ocean, finding out the difference between male and female, learning to tie shoes, along with many other typical early memories that I could not have had.

[johnbonamigo]

I am going through this with one memory about something that might have happened or not or maybe totally different than I thought 9 years ago and it never bothered me till I was going through a health OCD phase then this popped up and I think the ocd even added more details and who knows what. I do my best to not examine or give interest to it but man its a tough thing cause sometimes it feels so real and sometimes it doesnt. What a son of a bitch it is lol

[shehansoysa]

Sir heres my issue. Why did my false memory target one particular person? I don't remember asking myself about whether or not I have harmed him?

[djays]

does u learn the truth tho? i mean after ERP can u tell which memory is real? cuz mine is killing me...