Forgotten Therapy

[loui50]

I saw a therapist when I was 14 years old. I dont remember a single conversation I had with him. I believe I saw him for a year. Why cant I remember? I know I was treated for depression. But I want to know what we talked about. Is there anything normal about this. There is so much in my childhood I dont remember.

 

[Abstract]

I think there can be many reasons. Depression if severe enough can stop us laying down memory properly. Dissociation can stop us laying down memory properly. Also, what is most important in our minds at the time is what we tend to remember.

 

[somerandomguy]

I saw a therapist for about a year at the same age and I remember F.A. from those sessions. I do remember that we just sat there in silence several times. I was too intimidated to say anything, and he was too lousy of a therapist to say anything. So I learned nothing and got nothing out of it - no wonder I remember nothing.

 

[Teamwork]

I have no clue what we talked about back then either. I was in 8th grade at the time. All I remember is being asked to focus on a spot on the ceiling, I believe it was in regards to calming down somehow. Otherwise no, I dont know much about what we said to each other. I think though I do recall that he was warm, friendly didn’t scare me, but the psychiatrist i saw at the same age I recall nothing about other than she loved to prescribe drugs and was stern, not recalling her as friendly at all. Maybe try that instead and see if you can recall how they made you feel?

 

[blackemerald1]

@loui50 - if you were experiencing a trauma at the time or severely depressed it is quite possible you will not remember.

How do you know you have forgotten all about it? (I know that's a curly one!) What I mean is how do you know you went to a T at that time - who gave you that knowledge and why?

 

[ILoveLife]

I also had a T around that same age who I remember barely crap about.
I think I lied a lot because I was there as punishment not as a way of healing.

 

[MyWillow]

I only started T a few years ago - ostensibly for pain management. Pretty much forgot the next 6 months of sessions. Took me that long to realise. Couldn’t remember that I couldn’t remember. Dissociated through them...what I now realise were flashbacks with no memory. Had to google dissociation and that’s how I found this forum. But I’m perfectly fine lol

 

[Ronin]

Maybe if you saw him casually, it just was not that deep, or something you were not interested in.

I can think of so many reasons (and memory normal, with that time difference) about why you would not remember... that do not involve mental illness or hardships of the time, but instead are just about how long you saw each other, that it was bit of a time ago, and that it may not be the deep kind of therapy digging into trauma is (so would not stay remembered much, either.)

I mean.... forgetting is normal. It is those memories NOT being forgettable, at all, and relived, and all, that is the difference. Just because remembering vividly is this disorder normal does not mean some times, healthy people standards will not still apply. :sneaky:

 

[ILoveLife]

I mean.... forgetting is normal.

Depends, Ronin.
I have chunks missing and remember chronologically pretty well, with spots in the middle.

Dissociative Amnesia and all that.

 

[Ronin]

Depends, Ronin.

Yup :)

Just saw from skimming the replies most centered around dissociation and chunks missing like that, so figured I would add the possibility that was not yet mentioned to that depth, just as a possibility.

 

[ILoveLife]

It's a good possibility! :)

 

[loui50]

How do you know you have forgotten all about it? (I know that's a curly one!) What I mean is how do you know you went to a T at that time - who gave you that knowledge and why?

I remember that I saw him, just nothing we talked about. I remember the day he told my mom I didnt need to see him any more. I remember being crushed and feeling abandoned. It just really bothers me that I dont remember anything about him. Other than him leaving me. I have a lot of gaps in my childhood. I just didnt realize how many I guess.