abuse leading to my memory loss?

[VictoriaGotaSecret]

I've been told by a few people I know and have heard that my memory loss of my childhood and onward can relate to abuse or other things. My sub for creative writing told me "its my brain protecting itself." To me it makes a lot of sense why I don't remember much. The few things I do are just 3 or 4 fights my dad has started with me and my family, one which I can remember in detail but other than those I have almost no memory.

Is that true?


*sorry if its in the wrong section*

[Castle of Glass]

from what i know, yes it is true. As there are stuff that happened in my early childhood(as i have been told) that i have no memory of. and then, even younger, as a baby, your brain has an auto forget thingy to forget your birth. So i would not be surprised if that same instinct/ability will follow you into your childhood to help protect you. Though i could be wrong

[kylem1229]

Yeah, that sounds about right. From reading around, it sounds like both physical and mental abuse can cause memory loss due to stress and other things, causing you not to remember.

[1_21Guns]

In extreme cases (such as after severe abuse) can be considered as PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) but I do also believe suppression of memories even from an early age can occur, I've experienced it myself, it is awful but as I've found some things are better off forgotten.

[Magenta]

This can be pretty common in cases of abuse, yeah. I forgot a lot of my childhood because it mostly consisted of being screamed at and it was highly stressful. It came back again when my life became just as stressful, probably because it triggered the memories.

It also can be related to age. Our memory does tend to lose some of the earlier years after awhile. Memory is a tricky thing and it's pretty different for most people.

[Emily15_xoxo]

Very common thing, a lot of victims block out the attacks.

[Abyssal Echo]

yes I've heard its a very common thing. my short term memory is like non existent and some parts of my childhood I have no memories of at all.

[Luminous]

Yeah, that does sound about right. Well, it's better sometimes to not remember than to remember.