Hi, I just wanted to throw out a general question here as I've recently discovered on here about the effect of anxiety on our memories.

Is it possible that my anxiety and constant ruminating (maybe OCD related) can twist memories from past childhood/teenage memories of painful experiences and make them feel worse then what they actually were ?

I been dealing with a painful memory of something that I know I did and feel extremely remorseful for. Not to go into detail but its related to some minor sexual experimenting/playing with a younger sibling. I was a stupid curious kid that didn't know any better and now looking back at it with my adult mind its causing me so much pain.

Now, I can only recall a small portion of the event as something I KNOW for a fact that I did but I can't remember 100 % of other details of the memory and its making me think that it might be worse then it actually was. I get random fragments but Im not sure if they actually happened or my anxiety is feeding these and almost creating 'false memories' based on my negative thinking. The whole "what if" kicks in and makes it so much worse. This was over 10 years ago btw if that helps.

Can anxiety do this ? Can it essentially play tricks on our brain ? And if so, how is there a way to know what is "real" and what is "false" ? Feels like I'm a prisoner of my own mind. It is terrible

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys !