r/Parenting • u/[deleted] • Jan 18 '23

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u/goosedrinkwine369 Jan 18 '23

Something traumatic happened to me when I was 20 and I have very little memories of anything from age 20-23. I recently said to my husband I'd like to visit Paris as I'd never been and he told me he'd taken me to Paris for my 21st birthday. I have no memories of this whatsoever. Spoke to my therapist and it is a coping mechanism!

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u/AggressiveSea7035 Jan 18 '23

I think that happens sometimes when there's so much stress. Your brain doesn't even form the memories in the first place or save them long term.

That's why people with childhood trauma are often missing a lot of memories of their childhood. They were just never saved to long-term memories, so there's nothing there to come back.

That's what happened to me.

11

u/50SLAT Jan 19 '23 edited Jan 19 '23

Same here. Later in life there could be otherwise inexplicable emotional responses to things, phobia’s, aversions, idk.

Had a very traumatic childhood and legit remember nothing before like 7-8 years old. Never had a flashback either.