False Memories in Adults: Why They Happen and What to Do

Aside from false memories occurring because of our brains’ processes, emotions, stress, and mental health challenges can also influence this phenomenon. 

For instance, when we’re anxious, depressed, or overwhelmed, the brain becomes more focused on meaning and threat than precision. The result is a bit like emotional shorthand: memories that reflect how something felt rather than what actually happened. 

The following sections discuss the different ways that mental health can affect memory:

Anxiety 

False memories and anxiety may happen because anxiety can heighten our attention, but also distort our interpretation. Anxiety also has a way of making us focus on things that might impact us negatively or in a harmful way. This selective attention can lead us to misinterpret events and cause false memories.⁶

Depression

In depression, memory tends to bend toward the negative. Research shows that people with depression are more likely to falsely recall information and that the information they do recall tends to be more negative than positive.⁷ These memory distortions can create a cycle of hopelessness and self-blame, even when the memories themselves aren’t fully accurate.

PTSD

Trauma seems to alter the way we process memories.⁸ So if you’re dealing with memory distortion and trauma, your memories might feel vivid, like flashes of sound or smell, yet disjointed. Because the brain encoded these moments during a state of intense stress, it may have stored sensations rather than narratives. Later, when those fragments resurface, they can mix with imagined details or emotional impressions that feel entirely real.

Dissociative Memory Issues

Sometimes the mind disconnects to protect itself, known as “dissociation.” When this happens, your brain may record events incompletely. Later, you might have a difficult time recalling what happened or doubt whether what you remember actually occurred. 

Psychosis

During psychosis, the line between memory and imagination gets blurred. People with psychosis may believe that images or events experienced during hallucinations or delusions are actual events and get integrated into memory.⁹ This can make it difficult to separate perception and reality. 

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

False memory OCD is a subtype of OCD in which you experience intrusive thoughts about events in the past that did or did not occur.¹⁰ For example, you might constantly doubt events in the past, like worrying whether or not you accidentally stole something or left somewhere without paying. Because the worry about the accuracy of your thoughts is so distressing, you’re also likely to experience compulsions that involve consistently seeking reassurance, mentally replaying events, or recreating scenarios.