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I'm open to repressed memories of childhood sexual trauma being a thing, but I'm genuinely curious how they know the memories aren't dreams. I've had lots of childhood memories I thought definitely happened but turned out to probably have come from dreams.

Aella

@Aella_Girl

As in, the felt sense of an extremely faint memory feels identical to me to the sense of a very old dream. I literally cannot distinguish the two without outside help or corresponding markers from other, more concrete memories.

7:16 AM · Mar 23, 2020

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I tend to have this with daydreams. They often do feel like memories. I can only assume the same for actual dreams, for some people. Dreams are something I almost never confuse with real life, but that likely varies from person to person.

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I have had a vivid memory of being attacked by a Rooster when I was a kid but my Mom is confident it never happened to me - even though my memory includes her saving me. I honestly don't know if it was real or a dream anymore.

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IMO, you identified it very well in your last sentence. The rest of your memories help determine whether these were dreams or things that happened (Full disclosure: it's my personal take on it, I'm not certified to make any scientific claims on the subject). Furthermore: another

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Thats because its the same mechanism, memories and imagination belong to the same box/part/section inside the brain. Dreams, imagination, memories. Every time you remember something you are actually imagining by recreating it. Its absolutely subjective.