Life As Rebecca Sharrock – Woman With the Unforgettable Mind

Rebecca Sharrock, 34, a woman from Brisbane, Australia, was diagnosed at 23 with Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM), making her one of only ~80 known people worldwide with the condition.

She recalls her earliest memory from just 12 days old—and even believes she can remember her time in the womb.

A Vivid, Constant Replay of the Woman’s Life

For Rebecca, memory isn’t just visual—it’s multi-sensory. A whiff of honeysuckle can transport her to childhood, complete with sights, smells, sounds, and even emotional wounds . She can recite entire books from memory—like every line from Harry Potter—having memorized them not as trivia but as a pathway to sleep during harrowing flashbacks.

The Daily Toll Behind the Woman’s Superpower

Rebecca’s super memory has a heavy cost: insomnia, anxiety, and PTSD-like flashbacks. She’s described it as an “endless, uncontrollable, exhausting” mental replay . Childhood insults or bullying come back with full emotional weight, making it hard to move on .

At night, she often relies on classical music or even prescribed medication—like Valium—to quiet her memory and help her sleep. Therapy, drawing on PTSD techniques, helps her develop coping tools to ground herself when memories spiral .

Harnessing HSAM for Growth

Yet Rebecca hasn’t let HSAM hold her back. She’s leveraged her memory in remarkable ways—learning French and Spanish to near fluency in 10 weeks. She also collaborates with researchers in Australia and the U.S. to help discover what makes HSAM brains uniquely wired—and how that knowledge might inform Alzheimer’s and dementia research.

Her devotion to detail even helped in everyday social moments, like detecting inconsistencies or lies, thanks to her unparalleled recall of who said what and when .

More Than a Memory Machine: Living Authentically

Despite the burden, Rebecca embraces who she is. “Due to my autism, I don’t like change,” she explains—but she also employs strategies to “quiet” the mind and not dwell endlessly . She intends to preserve her memory while managing its grip, using meditation, essential oils, and therapy to remain present .

Rebecca isn’t alone: other HSAM individuals share similar experiences. Jill Price, the first diagnosed in the U.S., called it a “burden,” as memories play endlessly like a non-stop film reel. And younger cases, like Emily Nash, continue to be studied for their potential contributions to memory science.

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