Research Can Someone Answer Questions About Ptsd And Memory Loss?

[j68112]

Hi, there. I saw that researchers looking for information are allowed to post, so I hope this is close enough. I'm a writer, and I'm looking for people to tell me about their memory loss/flashback experiences so that I can have some insight for my novel. I'm concerned with accurately depicting this.

The main character in my novel gets into a car accident that's his fault, and wants to make it so that he believes it was the other person's fault. But the amount of re sorting of memories he would have to do in his head is complicated (replacing memories, making certain memories happen later in his life, etc.). This is because the main character is a male with an eating disorder, and the reason why he got into the car accident is because he was hungry and unfocused while driving. His anorexic behaviors were fairly new, and so I want to go as far as to making him believe he didn't even develop an eating disorder until after the accident, to help him further dissociate himself from the blame.

Questions:
- How plausible is this?
- How difficult is it to trick yourself into believing false memories/placing them at different times in your life?
- How voluntary is amnesia?
- How difficult would it be for him to retrieve the real memories/reorder them? (Which I need to have happen)
- How would he go about retrieving these memories? Example, would driving to the location of the crash help?
- Is his case too complicated? I'm wondering if for this much distortion, would he have to have some other hallucinatory mental illness or something? (which I don't want)

Also, if anyone has experience with memory loss/retrieval and are comfortable with sharing their stories with me, that'd be much appreciated. I'd love to PM someone who isn't shy.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

Is your character going to have PTSD?

 

[j68112]

Is your character going to have PTSD?

Yes, of course. I want the memory repression to happen as a result of it.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

Can I ask what country you are from?

 

[j68112]

Can I ask what country you are from?

USA.

 

[Friday]

It doesn't sound like PTSD. It sounds like (a possible series of) different disorders.

If you'd like to learn more about PTSD, I would suggest you look under the PTSD & Diagnosis tabs on the homepage, and read those articles.

 

[hodge]

I agree with Friday. I don't see how your character has PTSD unless he gets it from the accident. Which could be possible if someone died or was seriously injured. But, yeah, read the articles under the PTSD tab.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

re sorting of memories he would have to do in his head

We don't really have control over this. We can't rearrange or alter memories at will. I believe there are some types of therapy that have clients re-create a positive ending, but I think that's a bit different than what you're getting at.

(replacing memories, making certain memories happen later in his life, etc.).

I haven't really heard of people rearranging memories at will. My timeline is fuzzy as I can't remember in what order certain things happened, but I have zero power in terms of switching things around at my own will.

This is because the main character is a male with an eating disorder

I don't understand how the eating disorder fits in with it all. Is this necessary?

How plausible is this?

It feels a little confusing?

How difficult is it to trick yourself into believing false memories/placing them at different times in your life?

I can't really explain this one....people can indeed go into a state of extreme denial and fool themselves into believing all sorts of things. I am not one of those people.

How voluntary is amnesia?

Its not. We can't simply choose to not remember things. (At least not in the sense of true "amnesia".....maybe this isn't the correct term for what you mean?)

How difficult would it be for him to retrieve the real memories/reorder them?

Memory retrieval isn't a recommended sort of thing. That is, sufferers oftentimes come into the forum and ask how to retrieve memories because they think that remembering will solve their problems. Nobody ever recommends forcing memories to come forward because it can indeed cause more damage than good. It is recommended that one work on healing and when the mind is ready, memories can be released from the mind.

How would he go about retrieving these memories? Example, would driving to the location of the crash help?

Returning to the place of trauma sometimes does jar memories to come forward. Then again, almost anything can cause those memories to come forward. Sights, sounds, tastes, physical sensations, etc.

Is his case too complicated? I'm wondering if for this much distortion, would he have to have some other hallucinatory mental illness or something? (which I don't want)

I think your story line may need to be streamlined.


I understand that you want your character to have PTSD, but unless you want to completely re-vamp your story line, I would leave the exact diagnosis out of your story, with no mention of "PTSD" or "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder" or anything that definitively points to this. I am not trying to be rude, rather, your story line doesn't seem to fit well with what PTSD actually is, and a story like yours could lead to more mis-information about the disorder.....which is something we definitely do not need.

I encourage you to take a long time to research the disorder. Read through the forum so that you can see our struggles. Read whatever you can find online (from reputable sites!)

I can see using actual PTSD/trauma symptoms in your story, but since there is more of a fantasy element to it all, that's why I want to discourage you from mentioning the actual disorder itself.

 

[Mallaky]

Is this for real? Shake my head.

Questions:
- How plausible is this?
- How difficult is it to trick yourself into believing false memories/placing them at different times in your life?
- How voluntary is amnesia?
- How difficult would it be for him to retrieve the real memories/reorder them? (Which I need to have happen)
- How would he go about retrieving these memories? Example, would driving to the location of the crash help?
- Is his case too complicated? I'm wondering if for this much distortion, would he have to have some other hallucinatory mental illness or something? (which I don't want)

Answers:
- As plausible as the moon turning out to be cheese after all.
- As difficult as flying by throwing yourself to the ground and missing.
- As voluntary as cancer.
-As difficult as dividing by zero.
-It could help, but only if he avoids crashing his car.
-It is bananas.

 

[ground crew]

Stream line that plot. And an eating disorder?

 

[Justmehere]

The main character in my novel gets into a car accident that's his fault, and wants to make it so that he believes it was the other person's fault.

Your main character wants to intentionally create delusional (not real, true, actual) thoughts and memories in order to engage in blaming the victim of a traumatic event? I would have a hard time reading a whole story about someone who is intentionally trying to create delusions for any purpose, but especially that purpose - unless you had a lot of redeeming qualities about the character or made him very easy to relate to in other ways.

But the amount of re sorting of memories he would have to do in his head is complicated (replacing memories, making certain memories happen later in his life, etc.). This is because the main character is a male with an eating disorder....

Memories can't be re-sorted. If they are re-sorted, then they are not memories. They are delusions or something else. Going through trauma and developing PTSD or an eating disorder doesn't suddenly make someone able to re-sort memories at will. Or at all. Not any more than someone without PTSD can suddenly re-order memories around.

Many people with PTSD and many people with eating disorders tend to overly blame themselves. Excessive guilt and shame is common for people struggling with either condition. So the actions and mindset of this character don't line up with issues that PTSD sufferers or eating disorder sufferers typically face.

- How voluntary is amnesia?

I've never heard or read of amnesia that is voluntary. The choice to take drugs or jump off a cliff and injure your brain might be voluntary, but the resulting amnesia is not typically voluntary.

It is possible to suppress memories, emotions, etc, with or without PTSD. But is is not really "voluntary" in such a specific and intentional way.

- How difficult would it be for him to retrieve the real memories/reorder them? (Which I need to have happen)

Re-ordering real memories is not a PTSD symptom. It is perhaps one of a delusional disorder.

PTSD does not include the symptom of "tricking yourself to believe false memories." That's a different problem entirely.

- Is his case too complicated? I'm wondering if for this much distortion, would he have to have some other hallucinatory mental illness or something? (which I don't want)

Too complicated of a case? Not if it is a very long story. Novel length. If this is a short story, make it much much more simple.

I am glad you are here asking these questions. Seeking to become more educated about a subject before writing about it is admirable. Keep up the good work on researching more about memory and PTSD.

 

[Meadowsweet]

I agree with others here. PTSD doesn't work at all with what you're trying to create,