Revisualizing the Role of Imagery in Mental Healthcare
Visualization is often used in mental wellness and therapy, but what does this mean for those with aphantasia?
4 min readByReshanne Reeder,Bridget Mawtus
“Imagine you are walking toward an ocean – feel the sun on your skin, the ocean spray on your face – listen to the rolling waves….”
This kind of visualization is a popular relaxation technique. Can you feel yourself becoming relaxed? Can you transport yourself to that place in your mind?
About 4% of the population can’t – they have aphantasia, which is the inability to generate sensory mental imagery. Even for people who can create images in their mind’s eye, how vivid and effortful it is can vary.
Citations
- Monzel, M., Vetterlein, A., & Reuter, M. (2023). No general pathological significance of aphantasia: an evaluation based on criteria for mental disorders. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 64(3), 314–324. doi:10.1111/sjop.12887
- Dance, C., Ipser, A., & Simner, J. (2022). The prevalence of aphantasia (imagery weakness) in the general population. Consciousness and Cognition, 97, 103243. doi:10.1016/j.concog.2021.103243
- Zeman, A., Dewar, M., & Della Sala, S. (2015). Lives without imagery – congenital aphantasia. Cortex, 73, 378–380. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2015.05.019
- Pounder, Z., Jacob, J., Evans, S., Loveday, C., Eardley, A. F., & Silvanto, J. (2022). Only minimal differences between individuals with congenital aphantasia and those with typical imagery on neuropsychological tasks that involve imagery. Cortex, 148, 180–192. doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2021.12.010