[Guest]

I continuously have the feeling Im forgetting something.
Forgetting to Do something, but I dont know what. Then I check
to see if I forgot anything (in my mind) and then nothing shows up.
Then later I remember I forgot something..lol.
I forget a lot of things.

What is that? Maybe Im afraid to forget things.
Anyone has a clue or similar experience?

Thanks.

 

[Guest]

this sounds a little like OCD, where people are convinced they have forgotten something important (like unplugging the toaster) and they check over and over again to see if they actually did it.

what specifically do you think you've forgotten?

 

[terri*]

Hi Wendy,

Is the feeling a haunting, nagging feeling? Is it different from say everyone's feeling of thinking they left the iron or the oven on?

I forget a lot of things. I contribute it to meds and old age. :shock:

Now you are certainly not old...what about meds?

terri

 

[bat]

i get the feeling that i've forgotten something but never find out what it was!

 

[Guest]

Its since Im in therapy remembering things has gotten worse.
Its not obsessing about if I left the oven on, its a more general forgetting
of everything.
The meds I take are only for sleep, I doubt it they are responsible for it, Terri, but who knows?
I dont know, maybe loss of control? Im more stressed out and anxious for sure.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[Matt210]

Yeah i know the feeling. Although I also have a laundry-list of other memory problems that I can't figure out, that most likely come from my obsessions about it.

It's DP/Anxiety related. I'm assuming your constant focus on what you are forgetting actually makes you forget things, as you are not thinking clearly, instead your full attentiton is devoted to your obsessive fear.

 

[Guest]

This is a very common feeling for the dp/obsession states. But I think each person?s experience of it is unique, and ?means? something different depending on the person. My hunch is that for you, Wendy, the feeling of worrying that maybe you?re forgetting something, or will forget something, or have forgotten something, etc. is about the following:

When we go through intense therapy, and are exploring the past, reliving memories, etc. there is a fear that develops: what if there is some horrible secret in my memory that I don?t recall or that is so traumatic I am afraid to ever face it? The odds that there IS such a memory are almost non-existent.

But?.the odds are good that there is lots of stuff we both know and don?t know at the same time?.memories of loving and hating somebody important to us, memories of being selfish, bad, memories of being ?aroused? by something that we judge as inappropriate, etc. We?ve all got ?Secrets? from ourselves, ALL of us?.but those secrets are not horrific at all (only to the ?Self? we were at the time those thoughts might SEEM dangerous, etc.).

If we?re dp/dissociative types to begin with, we?re really good at the skill of ?knowing and not knowing? things at the same time (called Disavowal, for my psych student friends, grin). So as we start uncovering parts of ourselves and doing the work in treatment, and often as we start ?venturing out? a bit more, and reaching out, as we start trying to make some changes/growth?we freak out (humans hate change).

And we develop this undercurrent of creepy feelings that there is something under there in our minds that we do not want to know?.it?s a nagging feeling of ?I?m about to remember something that might be TOO much for me..? and then of course, we start dancing near the thoughts, teasing ourselves, scaring ourselves?like a little kid in a scary movie who puts her hands over her face and then peeks out through her fingers to see anyway.

We?re saying ?I don?t want to know what I?m afraid of knowing but if I?m going to have to know it, I want to sort of ?know? it before I totally know it?I want to ?see it coming? to assess if it?s too much or not?.?

So we?re left with a nagging fear that there is something in our minds that is about to be ?uncovered? and we try so hard to SEE what it might be?to prepare ourselves?then we try to not see it at all, then we freak out more and TRY to forget/bury thoughts away, then of course, we have an even greater feeling that there is something we?re refusing to see.

By this point, we?ve driven ourselves a little nuts, grin?.and it?s just an average day in the mind of a self-tormenting obsessive mind.

I am NOT saying that you actually have some trauma memory in there?only that you have lots of LITTLE trauma memories that center around ?who am I?? or ?does this fit with who I know myself to be??

Was this too confusing to even be interesting? LOL?.

It?s hard to explain, but I went through a lot of those feelings myself during therapy, so I think I recognize what you?re talking about here.

Peace,
Janine

 

[Guest]

Can you sum it up for me? :?

hehe...

 

[Guest]

oh, so sorry Ms. Wendy....that WAS the summary.

 

[Guest]

Damn, you're good. LOLOL

 

[Guest]

So we?re left with a nagging fear that there is something in our minds that is about to be ?uncovered? and we try so hard to SEE what it might be?to prepare ourselves?then we try to not see it at all, then we freak out more and TRY to forget/bury thoughts away, then of course, we have an even greater feeling that there is something we?re refusing to see.

Yes thats true Janine, I was actually doing it just now when reading this part.
I do it constantly actually. Hmm, new insight, able to connect it to the here and now.
I get the part of Knowing/not Knowing at the same time, thats what this is.
Further, your post was a bit too much to take all in, halfway I already forgot what I just had read...hehe.
Thanks.

 

[Misty]

I have such a hard time remembering things. Simple things that I should know. Like a friend that I was there for the birth of both their kids and can't remember their names, ages, and their parents name. But I've known them for like six years. I can't remember things in my past....memories, or even appointment. And that's not like me at all. I am such a organized person I NEVER was late for anything. But like I was planing a birthday party for my daughter at her daycare, I had been planning it all week. I had even talked about it earlier that morning, but when the time came around, came around I completely forgot what I was doing. Like I was lost or something. I hate it, cuz I'm such an organized person. I can have a convertation with someone and in the middle of it forget what we were talking about. Or I'll be reading something and it goes away like I never read it before. It's really hard in school but I'm trying.... :?
But just know your not alone when it comes to forgetting.

 

[nemesis]

My problems not only involve issues with memory, but also with disassociated events in time. For instance today I was walking back to my apartment and noticed that my roommate had made it home before I had. I walked up to the front door and proceeded to fumble for a remote and disarm the house alarm system - a completely pointless act because it had already been disarmed by my roommates? arrival earlier.

This is just a small example of how many connected events during the day can seem like completely separate and unique situations to me. These problems may be the result of a lack of focus / connectedness to my environment thanks to some level of anxiety or disassociation, or just by sheer forgetfulness, Im not sure. What is for certain is that the 'spaced out' feeling of never being quite there is really running me down and destroying any self confidence I have left in my capabilities to run my own life.

 

[shadowness]

the only memory issues i have are feelings of forgetting how to understand or forgetting who my family and friends are or forgetting who i am and where i live etc...

suppose all that is the anxiety...#

bloody scary though!

 

[Guest]

My problems not only involve issues with memory, but also with disassociated events in time. For instance today I was walking back to my apartment and noticed that my roommate had made it home before I had. I walked up to the front door and proceeded to fumble for a remote and disarm the house alarm system - a completely pointless act because it had already been disarmed by my roommates? arrival earlier.

This is just a small example of how many connected events during the day can seem like completely separate and unique situations to me. These problems may be the result of a lack of focus / connectedness to my environment thanks to some level of anxiety or disassociation, or just by sheer forgetfulness, Im not sure. What is for certain is that the 'spaced out' feeling of never being quite there is really running me down and destroying any self confidence I have left in my capabilities to run my own life.

Take an ADD mixture of fish oil/Evening Primrose Oil from the chemist/health food shop.

That sounds like ADD.

It's sounds like you SEVERLY cant concentrate, and it's freaking you out, like your anxiety is blocking out your memory.

Watch some PORN. Get a little more "animalistic", you're turning into a lab specimin.

I took a mixture for "behaviour" for ADHD kids with therapeutic levels of Fish oil/EPO, and it was... good. They say we dont have proper fish oils in our diet, in the way we once did.

It sounds like severe depression, memory loss, ADD and anxiety, blocking out your cognition, attention span and memory. You need DISTANCE from your head.