Rebecca Sharrock lives with rare HSAM memory condition

Rebecca Sharrock, a 36-year-old woman from Brisbane, Australia, lives with a rare neurological condition known as Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM). This condition allows her to recall vivid, detailed experiences from almost every day of her life, dating back to early childhood.

Sharrock describes her experience as a constant stream of random, non-linear flashbacks that include positive, negative, and mundane moments. She noted that these memories can jump unpredictably between different ages, such as from age three to age twenty. This constant mental activity often makes it difficult for her to sleep.

In addition to HSAM, Sharrock manages autism, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). She explained that HSAM and OCD can exacerbate one another, making it particularly challenging to detach from distressing or emotional memories. She can recall major global events with extreme precision, such as the specific details of how her family reacted to the news of Princess Diana's death in 1997.