Aphantasia and the capacity to imagine future feelings
1 min readByAnne L
I watched Professor Silvanto's presentation on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3mWPHSms3U and it has raised for me the question about whether there is a form a aphantasia with imagining feelings.
I was speaking with someone who I suspect has hyperphantasia and they spoke about how much looking forward to things helps motivate them, so for example looking forward to a holiday helps them push through the heavy workload that leads up to the holiday. I realise I never look forward to things. I enjoy them in the moment, but I don't dwell on looking forward to something. I don't even really look back on something that was enjoyable and re-experience positive feelings.
I am wondering what the implications this has on treatment for physical and mental health issues. If I don't experience hope, but clinicians are assuming that I do and use that unspoken assumption to motivate patient, surely that impacts outcomes.
I am thinking of the phrase “the power of positive thinking”. I've never understood it, and because of my lacklustre response to that form of encouragement I've received labels of pessimism and depression. But what if I can't imagine or experience an emotion outside of the here and now?