Does Not Remembering Trauma Mean I’m Making DID or OSDD Up?

Some people worry that they must be making up DID or OSDD if they cannot recall any traumatic events. An inability to consciously recall trauma does not mean you never experienced trauma. It could be that the trauma you experienced happened at a very young age, before the brain was developed to the point that narrative memories are stored. It could be that you did, in fact, experience trauma but you do not have access to those memories which are currently held behind dissociative barriers. In either case, triggered reactions are evidence of implicit memories, memories that are not held in a narrative form and often as not visual in nature. These are often called “body memories.”

It is possible that you actually have experienced trauma that you are able to recall, but you have not identified it as trauma. For example, in some families and cultures, certain punishments are considered normal and acceptable where elsewhere they would be considered to be abuse. If you experienced punishments like this, you might not fully realize how deeply they have impacted you.

This page is part of the Could I Really Have DID, or Am I Imagining It? section of the CommuniDID site, which explains why recovery can feel slow, confusing, or discouraging and why experiences like grief, exhaustion, and resistance are common during the healing process.

Explore more:

• Questions about Could I Really Have DID?
• Why It Can Be Hard to Recognize Your Own Trauma
• Why Do I Get Triggered without Knowing Why?

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