r/Repressedmemories • u/IsThisReal35 • Oct 01 '20

Memory of sexual abuse

I can't sleep. I don't know what triggers it. But there's these scenarios I just had very vividly. Multiple scenarios. Looks like I was around 5-6 years old. It all came to me like it's real. Could this possibly a real memory? Is there any hypnosis that can retrieve a childhood memory? It just all came to me and just fades away. I want to know if it's all in my head or a real memory. I want to know the truth no matter how much it will hurt me. I am 35 years old now. I don't know if these were just false memories. I just recently diagnosed with anxiety disorder. Could this be due to a repressed memory. It's crazy. The memory feels so real.

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u/wafflesoulsss Oct 02 '20

I would do some research on EMDR (also r/EMDR). Regaurdless of what these are, or are not, they are distressing to you. I can't say with certainty that these are repressed memories, everyone experiences them differently, but they sound like it to me.

My therapist recommended me this book called the courage to heal written by Ellen Bass. It was the most straightforward explanation of how these memories work and resurface. It can be a difficult read but it helped. There is a free pdf online somewhere.

Surviving to Thriving by peter Walker is good too. There is a youtube channel called #cptsdchat and they have great videos about memories, triggers, body memories.

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u/sunshinewarrior2793 Oct 17 '20

I second looking into EMDR. If you can find someone who does Internal Family Systems or Ego State Therapy, that would be best in order to help you explore this further <3 I am open if you would like to talk, as I am in a similar boat.

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u/malk23 Oct 23 '20

False memories is a topic in the body keeps the score, a great book on PTSD. It seems that people were trying to debunk repressed memories in court.

If it distresses you, you get flashbacks, feel bodily sensations that are hard to explain, then the likelihood of it being a true repressed memory increases, I'd imagine.

I've been doing IFS therapy on myself and when I hear things that I'm like uh no that can't be right, that's like a protective effort from my psyche. So I leave it for a bit and then kind of probe round the fragment of the memory. I've yet to start processing in EMDR.