
The blessing and curse of people who never forget - pmcpinto
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160125-the-blessing-and-curse-of-the-people-who-never-forget?ocid=global_future_rss
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kinai
I can rewatch every movie/series I have seen in my mind. I always thought that
is normal until someone told me it is not. I can't even describe how it works,
but basically I can see the movie and forward/rewind. Since I watch a huge
amount of movies/series (1500+ movies alone) there is a lot in me head I
guess. Can be fun though, if you are bored and got no tv/computer/phone
around, I can close my eyes and watch something on demand :)

I also can remember most days in my life like this. As stated it can be a
burden, those unhealed wounds of dramatic experiences that you live through
over and over again in every detail.

~~~
ianamartin
I'm the same way, but with classical music. I can "listen" to pretty much any
piece I've ever played. And in fact I often can't stop it. The second a person
or conversation or situation loses my interest, the music turns on in my head,
and I'm no longer paying any attention to you. I'm listening to a Brahms
quintet or a Beethoven symphony. I hear it just as clearly as if it were
playing over speakers.

It's actually kind of a problem. I don't in general have a particularly
wonderful memory. It's just that I constantly reinforce.

~~~
kinai
Interesting, I listen to music all day, all types of genre, lot of classical
pieces too, but I can't recall them like I can with video. But I am a very
visual person in general, I also see what I think about, even words or
numbers.

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kartan
I have a friend that has a very good memory and it is kind of a problem for
him.

He can recall all character, places names, etc. from books he read years ago,
while I cannot recall even the plot.

But when it comes to bad situations in the past he also recalls them vividly.
So he has a hard time forgetting abut old deeds. Sometimes he is rambling
about a problem he had with a guy he worked with 5 years ago, or even about
something that happened more than 10 years ago.

> “It is like having these open wounds – they are just a part of you,” he
> says.

I understand that it is this way for him, but it is sad that some what trivial
memories get in his path to be happy. And I don't know how to help him.

~~~
alashley
Does your friend spend a lot of time alone? As someone who struggles with the
same thing, I find that being alone a lot of the time makes me reflect on the
past a lot and old wounds tend to fester.

Some people are thinkers in that way, and while it can have its upsides, it
certainly has downsides. I think spending more time laughing with others,
relating to them and having fun is better than thinking all the time. But
personally I'm in the process of finding people I can relate to better.

~~~
stuxnet79
I have anxiety disorder and you have highlighted an insight of mine after
examining my condition for a while. The moments that my condition flares up
uncontrollably are the moments when I've spent a significant amount of time
"thinking". When I spend time with friends I genuinely care about and can
relate to, I get so distracted, I almost feel like a normal person.

~~~
Joof
I've been there. Now that I'm back to normal, I love my thinking time, but
during the anxiety times I never wanted to be alone.

~~~
stuxnet79
Great to hear that you were able to come out on top. I'm taking medication
right now, exercising and taking it one step at a time at the moment. I would
love to get rid of it entirely but I'm starting to acknowledge that unless
there's a revolutionary break through in medical science then I'm stuck with
this condition for the rest of my life. Just have to figure out ways to cope.

~~~
Joof
Maybe, maybe not. Here's the obligatory 'what worked for me'.

I looked at a bundle of research and treatments like cognitive behavioral
therapy appeared to have better long-term outcomes and after 10 years or so of
depression and several years of anxiety I had never tried it.

So I gave up the 'I'm stuck with this forever' mentality and started
retraining my brain to not have the anxiety response. After roughly 6 months
of work I was able to shake it and I'm not on SSRI, Benzos or whatever.

IMO anxiety is recursive, having anxiety gives people anxiety and trains you
to have an anxiety response (see hebbian learning). Getting out of that loop
is a huge deal.

~~~
stuxnet79
Thanks! Always love hearing stories like these. I definitely do not want to
get stuck on medication for the rest of my life and of course having a 'stuck
with this forever' mentality is hardly useful.

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plq
I remember the Jill Price case. Turned out she was obsessively going over all
her memories, non-stop, all the time. So hers was a normal brain, just trained
very well to retain memories by unending repetition.

I just skimmed the article, but findings seem no different -- only more people
are found to have this condition, and it actually has a sciencey name now:
HSAM.

I wonder why BBC is running a story about this again?

~~~
gaur
> I wonder why BBC is running a story about this again?

The BBC's science reporting is just shitty. They will repeat essentially any
claim that is told to them. Off the top of my head, I can recall:

* They ran an article about a "three-headed frog" discovered by some schoolchildren, when in reality it was obviously three frogs engaged in amplexus. [0]

* They ran an article about an entirely forgettable mathematical crackpot who claimed to have "solved" division by zero. [1]

* They ran an article about blondes going extinct. [2]

* They ran an article that was essentially the plot of H. G. Wells's The Time Machine. [3]

[0]
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/somerset/3534361....](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/somerset/3534361.stm)

[1]
[http://www.bbc.co.uk/berkshire/content/articles/2006/12/06/d...](http://www.bbc.co.uk/berkshire/content/articles/2006/12/06/divide_zero_feature.shtml)

[2]
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2284783.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2284783.stm)

[3]
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk/6057734.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk/6057734.stm)

~~~
techdragon
I know content is king... But seriously this is just sad.

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kposehn
> Veiseh even thinks his condition has made him a kinder, more tolerant
> person. “Some say ‘forgive and forget’, but since forgetting is a luxury I
> don't have, I need to learn to genuinely forgive,” he says. “Not just
> others, but myself as well.”

This is probably the best insight of all here. A lesson for all of us to
remember.

~~~
alashley
Very true, he's likely also keenly aware of how his words and actions can have
long lasting effects on others.

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ChuckMcM
I wonder if this is nuanced at all. I seem to recall every plot twist, gizmo,
and character in Science Fiction that I read, it takes any joy out of re-
reading that book because I already know it front to back, but other books on
the fringes, like fantasy or the harry potter series? I can re-read those
enjoyably.

------
danieltillett
I used to have an very accurate and detailed memory, but as I have got older
it is no longer as good. Once upon a time I would have bet my life on the
accuracy of my memory, but now I would not. It totally sucks, but I guess that
is part of ageing.

------
mchahn
I have always assumed these were some kind of scam but I looked up Jim McGaugh
in wikipedia and his credentials are well established. It's truly hard to
believe.

------
chowraid
It's such an interesting article. I do see the association of the "open
wounds", if used wisely it can prevent an individual from repeating the same
error. I would love to see this app that the researchers are trying to
release.

