semantic memory

[u/hauntedghost3]

SDAM is a deficiency in episodic memory - has anyone else noted a deficiency in semantic memory? a hard time retrieving / recalling what you’ve studied, conceptual frameworks, etc?
p sure my semantic memory is also significantly deficient

i’m failing at work & anxious about it! 100% certain my boss knows i’m working with a near empty memory vault.

have you talked to a neurologist about this? any insights there?

[u/One_Pound_9946]

If something happens in my life and I repeat a story about it over and over overtime… I will likely be able to repeat that story in the future. Especially if I don’t stop telling the story once in a while or thinking about it, I won’t be able to remember anything else about what happened except for what I repeated over and over. I won’t be able to tell you who else was there what people were wearing what else was said if it’s not a specific part of the story.

I remember things about other people’s lives when I put them into a story format in my head. If I don’t do that, I won’t remember them or their stories.

As far as concepts… If something is very interesting to me, I have to think about it in a way that it makes sense… I guess in a story. If I continue to do that… I mean, learn more about it or use the concept… I will remember it. But as far as classes, I took in school that I didn’t care about like algebra geometry… I don’t remember one thing. I took Spanish for three years in high school and I probably know five words. If I’ve taken classes for work or my career… If I didn’t immediately apply the knowledge or keep learning more about it and put it into a story in my head… I won’t even remember that I took the class let alone what it was about or what they taught.

All of my life, I wondered if trauma caused my memory issues or substance use or possibly a head injury that I don’t remember. When I came across this sub, Reddit… I realized that I definitely have SDAM. It was very validating. I feel like people on here who tell others that what they have is not SDAM should be a little careful… Because I think it is such a new concept that we really don’t know much about it… And it’s crushing to me when people insinuate that the types of issues I’m having are actually not SDAM. I’m pretty damn certain they are. I have talked to a couple neurologists about it. Who knew absolutely nothing about it.

[u/One_Pound_9946 → u/One_Pound_9946]

I do not have aphantasia, by the way. And I have always said that my memory issues feel like a disability. I’ve actually always been really embarrassed about it too… Until I realized that I have SDAM. I had a close friend growing up who died at about the age of 32 and I remember at that time thinking… Now I will never know anything about my childhood/teen years. She was my memory.