No real memories?

[Disgruntledpelicans]

I don't feel like I have any real memories. I always hear people talking about things that they remember doing when they where younger. Things they did, places they went, teachers they had etc. I don't really have memories like this. I can probably go as far back to being 14 at the most, if I really try but even then it'd vague. I don't remember things like losing my baby teeth or significant things like starting my period. I know we went on holiday every single year but the earliest I remember without looking at photos is one from when I was 15. Is this unusual? I grew up with a great family, no trauma and can remember certain things but only because there are photographs of those things or because my siblings talk about them.

Have a google and a look into SDAM and aphantasia - see if either are a fit!

That's pretty standard to me. Sometimes memories are what other people have said so brain confuses them as your stories. Looking at photos often triggers a memory that otherwise you wouldn't have thought about but realistically most memories are incomplete and manipulated to what they actually were. You remember feeling happy or sad but the details are always minimal. You could even haves memory that you tell but could be a story tou read as a kid and actually believe it's your own memory

I have kind of flashes but not really firm memories either, even from my 20’s and 30’s. Probably not a bad thing!

Oh my fucking god! This is me!!!! I only remember my past with photographs!!! I've got hundreds if not thousands of printed ones and over 20,000 on my phone!!

When I looked on that SDAM website it mentions prosopagnosia (face blindness) which I have been "officially" diagnosed as having.

Who knew it was a thing!!

I was recently clearing out an old handbag and found a press clipping of when I did a charity walk over burning coals when I was pregnant.

Completely forgotten I had done that.

Old school friends mention trips abroad we went on when in our 20s, no recollection at all! This to places like Thailand etc! When the mention it I vaguely remember, but not specifics or real memories.

If I don't have a photograph I don't have a memory of it.

I never realised this was an actual thing. I've always had this and also aphantasia as well. I have a 2 year old and have no recollection of what he was like 18/12/6 months ago, without pictures.

Yet I have a great memory for recalling names/numbers/car registrations/addresses etc.

Ooooo reindeer I've not got aphantasia, but if you asked me to imagine a banana I can "see" it but not clearly but can feel it and smell it!!

It is quite usual for people with ADD.

I'm the same and am being assessed for adhd (not because of this mind you). I guess it doesn't have to be a "condition" but it might be worth looking up the things people have mentioned here?

DH literally remembers being a toddler and what his nursery was like etc, complete opposite from me.

On the plus side, I don't have many terrible memories either and have been able to white wash a few fairly traumatic things.

Wow I've long thought I had ADHD, posted on the adult thread with another user name.

Also like a PP don't remember horrendous times either, nursed my mum at home for 6 weeks as she died of cancer. Remember only 2 or 3 wisps of memories.

Wow I think this is me too (SDAM). I don’t have memories from my childhood or anything beyond maybe a year past. Everything is so vague and hazy. My friends will mention a teacher from school and I have to rummage around my mind to see if I can remember them. My parents will say do you remember when we took you to x place and I don’t. I take lots of photos when on holiday but they don’t really conjure up memories later, it is like looking at a different person. I know I did the things but there’s no vivid sense of being able to recall how it was.

Wow. I only remembered that I had written this last night after coming back and finding it on one of tabs. That just shows how shocking my memory is. I've just read about SDAM and it's very interesting. It's quite comforting to know that other people are the same. I have thought for some years that I have adult ADHD as I fit the characteristics but I've always been to scared to speak to someone about it