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 ?

This entire thread has blown my fucking mind!
When I close my eyes I see black, but can imagine things and see them, but without an actual picture. I get snippets come through every now and then, but it's mostly a feeling or sensation of seeing it. I actually find it easier to visualise with my eyes open. I day dream a lot...

@Skade you have no inner voice?! So you don't think about what you will say before you say it? Or rant in your head when you can't say it out loud?

Mind blown

It's quite rare and I believe often comorbid with autism?

Hold on, when I close my eyes, I don’t see black, there’s geometric patterns swirling where my eyelids are.

I have a very vivid visual imagination, but I’m terrible at recognising faces. Loved ones, I remember a photo of them. People I know less well, I can describe their hair in detail, but facial features I’m at a loss. When I looked in the mirror last night, I wasn’t sure I was seeing me or the face of a mum I had spoken to at school that day. This may explain why I always prefer to have a distinctive ‘look’ myself.

My mind’s eye feels like it is above my forehead; because I’m blind in one eye, my mind’s eye only imagines half my visual field.

Miaiw let's have your stats then.

2 to 3 percent of population is very much not rare.

You've told all the women on this thread that they may well be autistic and the word 'comorbid' is hardly helpful!

So let's have your stats and references for saying that to all the women in this thread and the other people making up the 2 or 3 in 100 who have this.

On inner voices, do you have none, one or several?

I have several; there’s usually music / singing in the background, two main voices which are my thoughts, and other voices pop up too.

When I read I book, I hear the words out load in my head. Does everyone else?

Loud not load 🙄

Different doesnt always mean lesser or bad.

I'm surprised that still needs pointing out tbh!

As i mentioned earlier, right at the beginning of the thread. People can be funny about this. I think it shows a knee jerk 'what's different must be lesser' human impulse.

Not that people with disabilities are lesser but this knee jerk reaction is really interesting.

Craic yes to when I read the words are out loud.

Words and music are everywhere all the time.

I can feel music which is nice, I wonder if this is something different.
If also feel, hear things when I imagine. So if I think of the sea I get a sea-ish-ness feeling. I can hear the waves, taste the salt, hear the gulls, feel the wind in my face and in my arms making goosebumps.

It's more immersive than a picture. Not of course, no picture! I get a sense of the distance somehow and what is around with knowing, feelings, words.

@MenuPlant I don't really understand statistics but I had read that it was 2/3% of population which I thought was rare. It's a low percentage, is that better?
I read an article that suggested it could be comorbid with autism (apologies if comorbid is incorrect term, I can't think of another). I'm not diagnosing anyone, not sure why you're adopting an aggressive tone to me .
And how on earth do you know or assume everyone posting here is a woman?

I have this.

I only think in words. A cacophony of words.

2 to 3 percent of the population is not rare! Lol not at all. Its normal but unusual.

Miaow you're being odd.

Most people on mn are women, when it comes to this topic is makes no difference. Apologies to any aphantastic men in the thread! Are you angry I'm assuming people's genders?

And I'm annoyed because the op was wow, anyone else have this? And we're all having a nice chat about how it is for us, with some people who don't have it asking questions. And then you bust in with what is quite frankly a tone deaf comment. Read the room, seriously.

I have this - found out a couple of years ago when I went on a course about improving your life and becoming more motivated or something along those lines. Much of it was visualisation stuff, I realised everyone could actually visualise sitting on the beach, or being in their workplace or standing in front of their boss. The psychologist facilitating the course told me after a lengthy discussion on why I didn't seem to be getting much out of it.

@MenuPlant ok you're weird and aggressive and I'm out.👋🏼
"Lol"

There's something vaguely minds eye visual going on when I imagine a person/scenario, but if I stop to 'look', see what it is I'm actually visualising it vanishes.

My visual memories are attached to representations of physical things like photos, postcards, videos, quite often in the 3rd person, so I'll recall a holiday as a family photo with me in it and not a visual memory of what I saw at the time.

My memories are not always useful. I can recall revising for o levels with memories of the sugar free chewing gum I mainlined, what music I was listening to, what room in the house I was in, a fleeting image of the notes I was taking, but none of the actual content like dates for History.

What goes on in the minds of blind and deaf people?

Especially in the minds of people who are deaf and blind

What? People actually SEE things when they close their eyes? I thought to "visualise" something was just an expression

I thought I did see things as a picture in my mind but now I thunk I just describe it to myself. BUT I can 'read' words off a page in my head ( if I want to remember what I put in a list for example) so maybe I can? My DD says she can't so she is unable to use visualisation as a way of coping with stress or pain, but I can describe to myself stuff eg a walk I took on holiday to calm myself. Is this what people mean? It's like arguing about whether everyone sees the same colour isn't it ?

This may help some, and it claims to have exercises that could help you visualise - I haven't tried it, but will do as I would love to be able to imagine whatever I wanted.

www.magneticmemorymethod.com/aphantasia-cure/

I’m the complete opposite - a maladaptive daydreamer, with an excellent memory for faces (as in I can picture them in my mind as well as recognising people). I’m autistic so I don’t know if this is quite unusual?

I’m also curious as to whether the ability to visualise things correlates with a proclivity for creative writing, visual arts etc?

OP, so you dream? I have very boring but quite vivid dreams. Do you dream feelings? Images?