It was five years ago when I first heard the word confabulation. I was sitting in a psychology lecture in nursing school. My instructor was explaining that confabulation happens when someone fills in the blank of a missing memory and believes it to be true. It is different than lying. I remember calling my sister and saying that we have a word for what mom does. It had been months, if not years, that my mother covered her memory issues. She covered very well for a very long time. My mom has a Masters degree in education, a smart women who could use logic to fill in her gaps. There were subtle things - things that didn't make sense or just mixed messages - the appearence of lying. My sister and I would compare stories and discover things that Mom said we did or said we said had not, in fact, happened. Her friends hadn't figured out that anything was wrong. Even mom's doctor didn't believe her memory issues were anything but age related. It was the discovery of confabulation that made us realize that something was really, really wrong with mom.
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