I've just discovered I have Aphantasia - who knew !

[VictoriaBun]

You might have it also.

Close your eyes and imagine a happy place, a wood , a beach anywhere that floats your boat . See the image in your mind, feel yourself there etc etc.
Now can you actually see the image in your head ? No. Well then you also have it ! !
It's blown my mind that I've got to this age and realise that when people say something like count sheep to help you sleep that can actually see the sheep in their head. Wow. Apparently 2 -3 % of the population also have Aphantasia. Who's in the club ?

I have opposite - maladaptive daydreaming where my imagination produces completely realistic images in my mind.

Me! I only see black when I close my eyes. I can imagine all types of things but not visually.

I never knew it was a “thing” until now though.

I have not got aphantasia but I have very very poor visual imagery. I can’t even picture my closest relatives. People are almost faceless silhouettes and objects feel like impressions: barely defined, can’t rotate them or “zoom in” to different parts and can’t keep these pathetic images in my head for very long, either!

Me too. I also find it very hard to picture people's faces. If I try and imagine my husband I can see a photo of him that I have but I can't imagine him outside of that photo.

DH has this. We realised a couple of years ago. Knowing has made a world of difference to him as he now understands why some things people say sound so alien to him.

Never heard of this, but....ahem.... .....how can you masturbate

Me! I'm also very bad at remembering faces until I know someone really well.

I'm pretty close to this too. I can get brief flashes of images/faces I already know, but I can't hold the image in my mind at all. And I'm hopeless at imagining anything not yet existing, so I can't imagine how decorating or new furniture would look.

A friend of mine has this. We're both writers and he's much more productive than me. He puts it down to having aphantasia - while I'm visualising a whole scene, he just sees the words. I don't think it's a problem for him - he's a very good writer.

It's blown my mind that I've got to this age and realise that when people say something like count sheep to help you sleep that can actually see the sheep in their head.

They can see the actual sheep? I always thought it was just a figure of speech

I think I have the opposite - my mental images and dreams can seem so real that they can be very hard to distinguish from reality. Often that is lovely, but it was absolutely horrific when I was is the throes of very nasty PND after DD1, badly sleep deprived and much more ill than I realised, and almost completely unable to distinguish reality from nightmares. I guess there can be both upsides and downsides to each. So is it kind of like a book in your head OP?

I can't work out if I have this or not?

I can picture a scene but I can't see it? Like I can sort of imagine what it looks like but it's in words not pictures. I can imagine details but then I would say it's like Im drawing it, or trying to build up the picture but when I zoom out there's no picture.

I am really bad at faces, I have to look at photographs to remember peoples faces, even like my mum and dad. I can describe them but I can never bring up an image of someone's face.

Hang on, people actually picture things when someone says 'picture this' ????

Is that actually a thing?

I can't understand this at all! Just can't imagine how you can't see images in your head. Do you see nothing at all? Even loved ones faces? That's blown my mind!

I don’t understand this is either.

When I shut my eyes I see reddish black.

If I think of for example my bedroom I can kind of sense it and get a glimpse of it in the top of my head. But I can’t see it with my eyes.

Do people actually SEE these things with their eyes shut? Like a picture?

I don’t understand it at all.

My dreams are also kinda murky/feelings shapes etc ....

When I think of people, I 'see' my concept of them, not a picture. It a kind of mixture of facts, how they move, what they sound like and my emotions about them.

I once didn't recognise my own DD when she spoke to me from about 20 feet away because I wasn't expecting her to be there. It took me able 30 seconds to realise it was her. It's a strange experience seeing your own child as other people see them.

I hope I'm never asked to make one of those photofit things witnesses have to do because I wouldn't know where to start.

So can I rudely ask how sex fantasy works for you?

I can see all theses things even without closing my eyes Im constantly daydreaming while at work and conjuring up all sorts of imagery while I’m busy working.

Hang on, people actually picture things when someone says 'picture this' ????

What do you do when someone says “picture this”?

yes I get a picture in my mind that I can 'see' in very fine detail

I can describe them but I can never bring up an image of someone's face.

I’m the opposite! I can very clearly see people’s faces but I can’t describe them. If you asked me to describe my mums face I can see it but all I can manage to tell you is “she has eyes, a nose, a mouth. Skin”

Surely not. I 'have it' too but don't believe anyone is different, apart from maybe creative geniuses with amazing visualisation.
Surely any difference is just about how we phrase and describe things

I'm trying it now. I can think about DH's face. I can imagine looking at him. But I can't see anything I don't think.
I suppose everything happens in the brain so we're talking about firing the same synapses or whatever using memory as the source, rather than eyes.

Sorry if I appear nosy but... What do you feel when you read a book? Especially if it has a lot of description?