4 days ago
Woman who can remember every single day of her life and recite every word of all SEVEN Harry Potter books reveals the 'awful' downside of her ability
A woman who can remember every single day of her life due to a highly unusual condition has revealed the 'awful' downside of her exceptional memory.
Rebecca Sharrock, from Brisbane, Australia, is one of just 80 people worldwide to have been diagnosed with highly superior autobiographical memory (HSAM), also known as hyperthymesia.
Her condition means that she is not only able to recall minor and irrelevant events as if they happened just moments ago, but she is also able to recite every word of every chapter of all seven Harry Potter books.
Yet, while her incredible ability to recall events dating back to when she was just 12 days old has some benefits, it can also be 'awful', Rebecca, 34, told The Guardian.
Reflecting on her condition, Rebecca said: 'It's awful to be a medical exception because very few people understand what you're going through and there just aren't many treatments designed for it.
'Remembering this way just seems so normal to me.'
Rebecca, who has OCD, anxiety and autism as well as HSAM, is forced to relive difficult experiences due to her memory condition.
She explained previously: 'If I'm remembering something negative, my emotions of that experience will come back.
'Sometimes people will say that I'm just deliberately not letting go, and I'm just like dwelling on the negatives in my life.'
Another issue that Rebecca encounters has to do with the way that memories constantly 'flash' into her mind.
Her mind is so busy that she requires distractions such as noise and light to go to sleep.
Rebecca, who remembers almost every dream she has ever had and every birthday apart from the day she was born, relives events so vividly that she can actually feel pain when remembering a childhood injury.
'I remember my mum Janet placing me in the drivers seat of the car and taking a picture of me when I was 12 days old,' Rebecca said, 'that's my earliest memory.'
'I remember every day since then. Some of them I can't date exactly because I was too young to understand calendars, but I remember what I did that day, what the weather was like and so on.'
But for Rebecca, her vivid memories often become a reality.
'When I relive memories, the emotions come back. So if it's something from when I was younger it's like my mind is an adult but my emotions are the age that I was then,' Rebecca said.
WHAT IS HIGHLY SUPERIOR AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORY (HSAM)?
Hyperthymesia is extremely unique neurological condition in which people used to remember practically every detail of their life
They seem to recall every single event that has happened to their lives
It is curious that these people spend a large amount of time whilst reminding the past events
You may not remember as to what you were doing in the same day last week, what you ate, what you wore, whom did you meet, but people having hyperthymesia are capable to tell you precisely all these
However, their memory is only limited to their own life-events
'I also re-experience pain. For example, I remember falling over when I was three at my grandparents' house and grazing my left knee. Talking about it now, I'm getting an echo of the sting in my left knee cap.'
However, there are times when Rebecca's memories prove to be too overwhelming requiring her to learn relaxation and mindfulness techniques to cope.
'At school, it was a hindrance. I'm not very quick at processing things so there was always so much going through my mind,' Rebecca said.
'At night, I have to sleep with the radio on and a soft light. If it's too dark or quiet my mind just chatters away with all these memories and I can't sleep.'
Additionally, Rebecca has no control over whether the memories she recalls will be positive or negative - recalling painful experiences with such vividness that she has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
'I was quiet and kept to myself at school and, as such, I was a target for bullies,' Rebecca said.
'Recently, I went back to my old school for my sister's graduation and being in that building again brought all those memories flooding back. I burst into tears and had to leave.'
'Birthdays and Christmases are always really exciting because I relive every one I've ever had. Sometimes the excitement can be a little overwhelming, though.'
As a child, she also used to recite the Harry Potter books by heart to calm her down when her thoughts became too much, with Mrs Barnes saying her daughter can recite every one of the books by heart.
'When she had nightmares as a child, to take her mind off it we got her to just start reciting Harry Potter from chapter one,' she said, adding how much progress Rebecca has made since.
Rebecca wasn't aware she had HSAM until 2011 after her mother Janet Barnes was watching an episode of 60 Minutes that showed HSAM patients recalling their memories as part of a Californian study.
'I just knew for sure that that was what Becky has too - she relives her memories so vividly that sometimes she'll answer a question I haven't asked just because she's thinking about a conversation we had years previously.'
'Becky had been diagnosed with autism and obsessive compulsive disorder as a teenager, so we thought her memory might be something to do with that,' Janet said.
Rebecca and her mother got in touch with researchers at the University of California, and after passing a screening test, Rebecca was accepted into the study.
Before Rebecca, the majority of study participants were aged 40 and over, so she has proved to be helpful in understanding the condition in younger people - recently travelling to the US and undergoing an MRI so researchers could look at her brain.
'Finding out about HSAM has been such a positive experience for Becky. I've seen her blossom. She's been more positive and able to do things independently, which has been excellent,' Janet added.
'She's realised that all these things were happening not because of any sort of deficiency with her - before there was the self-doubt and the feelings of not being good enough, but now we know that she just has a memory ability that she wasn't aware of.'
