Remembering

Is there usually a particular reason why one would not remember much of anything about their childhood before they were 10 years old? I don't remember anything about my life before my mother married. Only bits and pieces of certain things and I'm not so sure that they weren't stories that I was told and not actually part of my memories at all.

My mother said that I had an imaginary friend named Bay-apple when I was little also. What does that typically mean. My mother worked nights as a bartender and she slept pretty late everyday. She also told me that she was woke up by banging on the door one day because a little girl came over to play with me and I wouldn't let her out of the apartment when she wanted to go home. The girls parents were beating on the door and threatening to call the police. I don't remember it though.

((((((((((((Beautiful Disaster)))))))))))))))))

Our brains are marvellous and impossible to understand sometimes.

Sometimes we won't remember an incident in the past that occurred because it never made it into our "long term memory". Sometimes our brains won't let us retrieve triggering or upsetting memories about past incidents in order to protect us from shock. Sometimes our pasts are spotty and hard to remember because we don't have the best memories overall for no apparent reason. Sometimes our brains won't remember the past because of a physical injury to the brain.

And sometimes, we don't remember incidents in the past, because part of our subconscious is making darn sure that we don't remember what's happened! (And it's usually for a very good reason. Even if it's a very bad situation that we're not remembering).

I've been told that I sometimes dissociate. That could be part of the reason I have trouble remembering the past. I've also been told that sometimes having attention problems means that you've got a harder time in trying to retrieve memories, so it's like they're there - you just can't get to them!

I think it really depends...

I don't remember much of my life before highschool. Sometime between grade 3 and 8, my memory just went POOF and everything before that times basically gone bye-bye.

I'm sorry I'm not much help, but perhaps this is a question better left up for a discussion you could have with your therapist? (If you don't have a therapist, I highly recommend that you get one).