10 years ago, I’d have put my ability to visualise at 0 out of 10. Practice and occasional halucinogen use has got me to 2 out of 10. It causes no end of problems in day to day life, so I’m interested to hear if anyone has tips or just experiences to share so it doesn’t feel such a lonely frustrating issue.
edit informative comment from @[email protected] about image streaming, I did a bit of digging on the broken links, the Dr isn’t giving the info away for free anymore without buying their (expensive) book, but I found some further info on additional techniques here, pages 2/3: https://nlpcourses.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Image-Streaming-Mode-of-Thinking.pdf
I don’t have aphantasia but I have ADD. It causes me so many problems in my day to day life and in my relationships. It’s one of those things that people think that either I am too lazy to “just do it” or “just make an effort to remember” or that I am mentally challenged If I try to explain it. Or worse, people think they have it too because they have all the symptoms some of the time. For me it’s not a woopsie daisy kind of forgetfulness, it’s every. Single. Time. All. The. Time. So I don’t have aphantasia but I kind of understand the struggle, of not being neurotypical. I am very curious about what it means to have aphantasia, would you care to explain what it’s like?
While I never discounted other peoples’ experiences, it was hard for me to understand ADD until I spent some time with a friend who has it bad. It must be incredibly frustrating to live like that, you have my sympathy and I don’t understand why you’ve been downvoted for sharing your experience and asking for more info.
So, if I ask you to picture something in your mind like a blue circle, can you shut your eyes and see it? I know what a blue circle is, but when I shut my eyes, all I see is the backs of my eyelids lol. If I really, really try I get a brief impression which then ‘dissolves’ to black.
It’s frustrating because I can hallucinate, I can dream, I just can’t seem to control it.
Hi! ADHD and Aphantasia here :)
How’s your sleeping… do you find it easy to fall asleep?
Yep, but not in a good way. I basically fall asleep whenever I’m horizontal, even if I don’t want to
Sounds like mild narcolepsy, I wonder if there’s any link between aphantasia and severe sleep issues.
Out of interest, have you ever tried modafinil? It’s the only thing I can take when clubbing nowadays but traditionally it’s prescribed for narcolepsy / shift worker sleep disorder. It’s very mild & very clean compared to other stimulants.
I haven’t, because it’s not really a problem unless I’m laying down. I don’t struggle with fatigue or wanting to sleep or the like. It’s just that when I lay down, I fall asleep, even if I am trying to watch a movie or talk to my partner or read…
I’ve tried stimulants over the years for my ADHD, and they all stop that problem. When they’re still active in my system, I don’t drop off simply by laying down. But I avoid taking them late in the afternoon
I’m sorry that it sounds like it causes more problems for you than it solves (being able to fall asleep so easily). I feel a bit envious but it’s probably one of those monkeys-paw-esque ‘careful what you wish for’ things.
Honestly, it’s not really that much of a problem for me. Aside from presenting the odd relationship difficulty :)
It’s fine I am not here for imaginary points but for good conversation like this 😁. That sounds very hard, for my part most of my thinking revolves around imagining objects, even when they’re metaphores like trees when coding and such. You have all my sympathy as well, hopefully you can find ways to work around it and figure out solutions.
Well I’m glad you’re strong-minded enough not to let an online herd influence your thinking!
I was very interested in Neuralink until recently, thinking it might be an eventual solution to many conditions including aphantasia. Not sure I like the idea of something in my brain potentially controlled by Musk.