Can't Remember Childhood Abuse

I remember my physical/mental abuser but have a hard time remembering the things that actually happened. it's a very common coping mechanism the brain does

❤️ 🙏

I have a family friend that went through sexual abuse at 4 years old. She didn't remember it until later in life she had a huge trigger and asked her parents if she had ever been abused, and they said they thought she knew. So yeah, things being foggy and not remembering parts or even the person that did it, is perfectly normal. Also part of what the body does with trauma is find anyway it can to protect you from it. I blocked out so much of mine that I thought it happened all within a year. It went on for 3 years. With probably over 100 times that I don't remember. There are exactly 4 times that I remember with perfect clarity, and one of them was the first time it. I underwent EMDR therapy to uncover that one, and that's when I figured out that it had been happening for 3 years instead of 1.

It's very possible that you were so traumatized that you completely blocked it out of your mind. I really think you need professional help and support to get to the bottom of it.

I have sexual trauma from a cousin of mine and I feel the same way but I can remember details of the event but like the next time I saw them they acted like it never happened and have never brought it up since. So like it’s like they wanted that to be erased but it left a mark on me. And now like 20 years later I’m here still friends with them wondering if it was reality or not because you really do question things when the other person acts like it never happened for so long. I don’t even remember what age it happened at anymore. My childhood feels like a blur too.

My own father sexually abused me & my grandfather saw it happen thru the window, he went back home, he later told my mother & made her Divorce him!!She Hated me & would Beat me & make me clean the house etc.I was only about 5 yrs old.🥺

I believe I was sexually abused as a child by one of my brother's friends. I can only remember he had dark curly hair and came over a lot. He would take me in the bathroom and talk me into doing homosexual things with him. I can't talk to my parents because they don't remember a boy that looked like that, and my brother gets mad when I try to talk to him about it so I tend to just keep quiet about it. It still causes problems with me even now at 53, but I just can't remember his face, only a blur.

I have a tbi. It gave me memory issues. I don't remember my childhood at all. I have huge gaps in my life I just don't remember. I've learned to live with it. It's been hard. But I've been at this for 28 years

When experiencing an intense trauma (especially in a tender stage of development) the brain has the ability to just…forget it… the brain cannot process the events that happened so it acts like it never did. Sometimes as you grow and become mentally stronger, the memory’s may come back bc the brain is ready to deal with it but it’s completely possible one will never remember. I recently remembered being sexually assaulted when I was in the 4th grade (it very much messed me up) I forgot it even happened. I had taken a sleeping pill from my parents -looking back it could have been anything- but I knew what had happened immediately when I woke up and at some point my brain stored it away bc of how young I was. There are specific types of therapy that can help bring repressed memory’s back, if you are wanting to know for sure about what happened. Trust your instincts, your body knows what happened to it, even if your brain doesn’t.

This happened to me after my ex did that. I think its a way of keeping yourself safe by "forgetting" what happened until your body is ready to process it. I know I was really frustrated trying to explain what happened to me to my therapist, because I blocked it all out.