Daily Name Amnesia; A Disassociative Symptom

[Seasounds]

I have trouble remembering people's names, because I was ordered to not remember, and it was to painful to remember, who abused me. Even though I have gone through the remembering process, my brain still 'minds' the original request of my abusers. Certainly, I have different tools to help me, and am making some progress. I am just so embarrassingly slow to learn and remember names; it isn't an automatic, safe process.

Does anyone else notice that they deal with this dynamic, this time of amnesia? What has helped you?

 

[greenleaf]

Hello @change. I don't have exactly that issue, but perhaps an issue that's a tiny bit similar. I remember deciding not to remember details of abuse that was commonly occurring, when I was a kid; I decided it was more helpful to look for patterns, and remember a few incidents as examples. I realized recently that I do that a lot in all sorts of situations now. Unfortunately I cannot remember a lot of details about a lot of events over the years, but I like looking for patterns and concepts to use in events and situations. It's hard to know how much of all this is because of that early practice.

The issue of how to work on it... can you notice yourself forgetting the names? I have noticed myself pushing details away. I have not solved it yet; just got a new therapist and am hopeful, but perhaps noticing what you are doing in more detail could help? One can't work on what one doesn't notice very well.

 

[Deleted member 12723]

When my brain becomes overloaded, I lose information and I have to really focus on the one thing that I am doing so I can remember.

I am not good with names and it takes me awhile to get the hang of it. I am not good at remembering so many things. So you are not alone.

I would not worry about it though.