Sexual Assault How Can I Tell If My Flashbacks About Sexual Abuse Are Real Or Not?

[goodnoodle]

About a year or two ago I started to have these flashbacks of me being sexually abused. I can remember that I was about 7 or 8. I'm lying in bed trying hard to fall asleep, and then someone walks in. I don't know who it is because I'm pretending to be asleep, but I remember them coming to my bedside and then they begin to touch me. This is the only time I can remember anything like this happening, and I grew up in a very loving home with 6 siblings

I started to experiment with masturbation at a very young age, even before I knew what sex was.

I have dealt with anxiety for a while now, and it seems to be getting worse the older I get.

I really don't want to believe that something this terrible could have happened to me, but this memory keeps consuming me.

 

[UnKnown-Self]

About a year or two ago I started to have these flashbacks of me being sexually abused. I can rememb...

If you haven't already, find a therapist you're comfortable with.

 

[joeylittle]

I started to experiment with masturbation at a very young age, even before I knew what sex was.

This is very, very normal. Try and not attach this to some kind of proof that you were abused. But, I second @Alice.in.Wonderland about getting into therapy. It will help to have someone to work through this with you.

 

[void]

About a year or two ago I started to have these flashbacks of me being sexually abused. I can rememb...

Do you have a solid reason for believing that you chose to 'make up' this memory?

I didn't think so.:)

Trust yourself.:)

It is coming up again and again, because it's time to deal with it and move forward.

 

[KitKaplan]

You cant. Get treatment by an expert anyway

 

[RussH]

How can you tell if they are real or not? the memory could be false, but the flashbacks are real to you, and there must be something that initiated the unresolved trauma.

 

[Lucycat]

I started to have these flashbacks of me being sexually abused.

A flashback is a flash back to a memory. If they are not real they are not flashbacks.
I think you have answered the question for yourself - even though it may not be what you want to hear.
Therapy will certainly help.

 

[theshadowoftheliving]

Trauma memory is most often emotionally accurate but not always 100% accurate to the facts themselves as trauma distorts things over time (plus dissociation and the like contributes).

There's probably no way to ever know about the specifics of the memories in regards to factual truth, but I would trust your gut - if you think it happened, it probably happened. What would the impetus to make it up?

And yes to having a good therapist.