Memory distrust syndrome

[MandySlade]

Yes, I googled. :(

I constantly have a fear of "going crazy" in one way or another. Well, recently I've been thinking back to weird events in my life and saying to myself "what if that didn't really happen?" eventually I'll bring it up to someone else who was there like "hey, remember that time..." and they've always validated it for me.

Then, while searching the death of billy mays today... which lead to searching about head injuries... which lead to searching about amnesia.. I found "Memory distrust syndrome"

Memory distrust syndrome is a term coined by Gudjonsson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gisli_Gudjonsson) and MacKeith (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=MacKeith&action=edit&redlink=1) in 1982, to describe those who distrust his or her own memory and who be motivated to rely on external (non-self) sources to verify the accuracy of memory.
Memory distrust syndrome is associated with source amnesia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_amnesia), which prohibits full recollection of how one acquired a specific memory. Additionally, memory distrust syndrome involves confusion concerning the content or context of events, a highly attributable factor to confabulation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confabulation) in brain disease (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brain_disease&action=edit&redlink=1).


so now i'm worried that this is what i have and that it will be a process of decline in my memory and brain function in general now. *sigh*

[MandySlade]

I see a therapist (for the first time ever) tomorrow. I hope it goes well. I also hope he gives me some sort of affordable plan for future therapy, since I do not have insurance.

Anyone else do this "memory checking"? Do you also lack confidence in your memories? Worry about having false ones? etc?

[LisaLisa]

Hi Mandyslade

You know that memory thing i think is quite important in the health anxiety problem. But my psychologist has likened it more to obsessive compulsive disorder than brain disease. The checking and rechecking then checking again of glands, blemishes, spots etc... the constant reassurance seeking about the same thing over and over. Feeling okay about it one minute then not beleiving the next and having to write stuff down or feeling like you need to re read stuff that tells you you are not ill, its jsut the same. Like a lack of confidence in your memory.

Lisa
xxx

[MandySlade]

*sigh* dealing with this a lot lately, still... :(

[randomworry]

yep sounds just like ocd to me as i myself has ocd
ocd/health anxiety essentially same thing but health anxiety is only about health ....should be called health ocd really lol

[doodah]

I find that when my anxiety is high my memory goes right out of the window!:blush: I've been checking and double checking a spreadsheet of accounts I've been working on - and still I don't trust that I've entered everything properly on it - grrr!

I'm pretty on edge at the moment as I have to be a witness in a court case on 3 August:ohmy: - I'm petrified that I'm not going to remember a thing! It's to do with something that happened to my daughter 4 years ago - I feel absolutely terrible because I SHOULD remember everything, detail by detail, but I can't!! I'm sure I'll be posting some SOS messages on the forum before too long. I have an underactive thyroid that the doctors are trying to level out and am also on "the change" so I guess there's not much hope for me at the moment, memory-wise! :blush:

I really don't have any confidence in my memory at all :(

Wendy xx