Can Anxiety cause you to believe things have happened?

[Wondering_pri]

Hi all

About a month ago I was out with friends ( my husband had to go off to a meeting part way through) we had drinks and food and to be honest I got rather drunk. Firstly I want to say this couple are a lovely couple in their 50's and 60's we spent time at their house playing darts and chatting. I finally got an UBER late that night after having a panic attack that something sinister had happened to me. they assured me nothing untoward had happened and got me an UBER home, I woke up feeling fine and called them to apologise for my actions and my mind was a bit of a blank. I have spent ages trying to bring the whole day together. To be fair I cannot even remember having a meal but we have photos they sent to my husband showing him they had fed me. What i am imagining though is being assaulted!!! and I cannot stop thinking about it. Now I cannot remember hardly anything else about the day apart from this image. I did not speak to my husband until a few weeks later about in and he is in total confusions as we have been happily going about our days with them even going on holiday for a week. I just cant get these images out of my head and had to speak to him about it. I have been going through alot of stress and anxiety of late through my dad getting last stage alzheimers, me being diagnosed with an autoimune dissorder and work issues, and i am wondering as I cannot remember much of anything else that day is my mind playing tricks with me i this issue i remember? Why would i only remember this and nothing else? is it I am thinking of the worse case scenario because i cant remember or did it happen, it seems so real in my head. any help would be greatly received thanks

[jess334]

Hi and welcome to the forums,

This seems like a very complex issue. On one hand, it is possible for our anxious minds to make something seem worse than it is - maybe they said or did something to make you feel uncomfortable and your anxiety kicked in? Perhaps because of the alcohol involved you are unable to remember this clearly and have made it worse?

Anxiety can make me focus on worse case scenario and sometimes stress about 'what if', but it has never given me false memories.

However it is also possible that there was an assault and that you remember it because your anxiety kicked in and overrode the alcohol's effect.

Maybe you should see a psychologist? They might be able to help you work out whether the image you are focusing on is a memory or your imagination. Try and find one with experience in trauma as I understand people who have been assaulted dont always react in the way we would logically expect them to.

Either way, until you work it out I would stay safe around those people - make sure you aren't left alone with them and maybe stay sober around them. Just for your own peace of mind.

Thanks for posting, and keep safe.

Jess