#memory loss

whumpee who has adjusted since their whump and they aren't doing too bad, considering everything. they have friends who maybe don't even know about anything they've had to go through.

but then an accident causes them to lose their memory, regressing into the time when they were with whumper. they dont remember any of the "new" life they had built up. their old habits terrify their friends/caretaker.

"are you sure i can do this? you know what whumper will do if they find out.."

"are you friends with whumper? please, let me see him, I don't want him to get angry again."

(bonus points if they end up going into detail of what whumper had done, and the friends had no idea about it and are now horrified, on top of having to help whumpee realise that all of this is over now)

I don't think it's normal to forget every word both me and other people say right after it's said, I don't think that's normal at all.

I think when people think about amnesiacs they think about the presentation of 'total' amnesia in movies. Which makes sense, a lot of people wouldn't know any better than to think everyone with memory issues has the same issue of not remembering anything in the past at all. What I think is scary from my experience with partial amnesia (as a reault of trauma), that isn't often covered in the media, is how terrifying it is to have years of your life missing from your memories. To not be consciously aware of anything that happened within entire years, apart from a few brief moments or things you have photos of.

When people prepare you for 'how trauma affects the mind', they usually don't mention how much you might forget. And nothing prepares you for the hours you nay spend scrolling through photos trying to remember what happened and when, where you were, and what happened when people ask 'do you remember when-' and you just don't. It's tough. It's not always just the traumatic event that's erased- for me and many others, it's much more.

And as much as I wish it to be true, it's just not feasible to regain all your memories. I'm trying to accept that. And part of that is making new memories with people you have now, and trying not to focus on what's happened in the past. It's easier said than done, though. I'm not there yet myself.