1 Tip for Finding Out If Traumatic Memory Real

Have you ever asked yourself questions like: "Is what I remember real or did I make it up? Is my memory a false memory?" 

If you have asked yourself would a tool be really a benefit? The would a test help? Yes, it would. A test to help you determine if a memory you're experiencing is the truth or really happened?

As a survivor myself I asked myself these questions all the time. I had suffered abuse and trauma my whole childhood and did not start having memories or flashbacks of the experiences until I was my 20th birthday. When they started, I thought I was crazy. When I asked professionals, no one could tell me if my memories were real or not. I thought I must be making them up. Now I know I was not.

Professionally as a trauma coach, I have been asked this question regularly by survivors with flashbacks they were experiencing. The problem is always, “How do I know that my abuse or trauma really happened?” And before I can give them an answer, they would say, “Because I think or feel that I made all of it up in my head. Does that makes me a bad and horrible person?” No, it does not.

So how do you know any of your non-traumatic or traumatic memories are accurate or actually happened? Below is a test I developed that will allow you to figure out if your memories are made up or actual truth.

Traumatic Memory Test

You know that memory is real by the following;

      1) A flashback does not stop surfacing no matter what 
           you try to do to stop it.

      2) The intensity of the flashback increases with every episode.

      3) You experience triggers everywhere you turn which causes flashbacks to surface again.

      4) You find yourself thinking how you can fix those 
           past situations.

      5) You attempt to rationalize those horrible times even though they were not rational.

      6) Every time you have a flashback, it hurts emotionally, and you feel like you are "reliving" the situation all over again.

I believe that #6 is the most vital telling sign. Think about this ... memory is made up of three subfiles: audio, emotion, and content. The most crucial subfile of each recorded memory is the emotion associated with each situation recorded and when the memory replays you feel the first emotions all over again because it has not been processed.

1 Tip:

Emotions are the Truth Indicator of Truth in Memory

Why you might ask? Do lies, false statements, or made up excuses have no emotion connected to them? No, they do not.

Go ahead and make up a lie in your head and then say it out loud. Does your statement arouse any feelings? I bet your answer is no. 

So if you make up a lie and say it, the first thing you will openly recognize is that there is no emotion or feeling attached to it. Lies, false statements or excuses are something you create, you form on purpose, or makeup to get you out of a situation. You know the comment you are uttering is false.

Memory is an actual recording of a situation you experienced. The content may degrade over time, but the emotion charge never does. All your real or true experiences evoke emotions manifesting actual true feelings. Any true experience converted into a memory always has an emotion attached. Excuses, fraudulent statements or lies never have feelings associated with them. 

Conclusion

When memory is replayed in your conscious mind, all subfiles should play together. When all subfiles replay together, audio, (sound, what you heard), content (what you saw) and the most critical subfile of all is emotion (what feeling was aroused). If no emotion is evoked during the memory replay, then it is not real. It is the emotional charge in memory that makes the emotional hurt real and makes the "reliving experience" happen. It is the emotional response which validates a memory as real.

                              
                              No emotion, no truth

Hope this test has helped you to relax some of your worries and uncertainties about your memories. 

If you need more help at eliminating the emotional charge in memory and keep it from destroying your ability to have a happy life then visit my website. While you are there download my free eBook gift to you.
         Coach Bill