@casey · Joined April 2022
On “When I “picture” something I’m recalling a real life image”
Interesting! I can imagine your purple elephant or anything else. I dont "see" it, but I can create a "concept" of it. But I cannot remember anything about who was sitting where, or anything else unless I cognitively reason it out.
On “Can you heal acquired aphantasia?”
I am so sorry you are going through thus experience. I dont have any answers for you. I too had a traumatic brain injury and many concussions, but donr remember if I could "see" things before or not. That must be so hard missing something you had and having no idea how to get it back!
On “Is my Aphantasia caused by mindfulness meditation?”
I wouldn't think mindfulness meditation would cause aphantasia. I dont think its anything we can do or not do that will create it. I think it is more the way the brain is wired. But...I could be wrong. I've done a lot of therapy to build neural pathways and overcome brain damage. I can sometimes see colors in my mind and its not always cave black anymore. Sometimes I see random shapes and abstract things, so my experience is kind of reversed from yours.
On “If you cant Picture something while awake how can we be sure your dreams are vivid?”
Hi Steven, I "see" in my dreams. I remember enough when I wake up. So I would say that in my dreams, I do not have aphantasia, it is as if I am actually seeing things like in real life. I am living the experience. In real life, I see my surroundings, I just can't see anything with my eyes closed. It gives me hope that if I dont have aphantasia in my dreams that someday I could be rid of it in my waking life. That would help me soooo much with my memory, remembering things, and not getting lost. People say this isnt a disability, but I figure my life would be so much easier if I could picture things because that would help me remember and might improve the quality of my life bu 33%!
On “Vacations and Aphantasia”
I never thought about it, but I hate travel vacations. I always thought it was because of motion sickness, but you are right... why go somewhere if I wont remember and be able to "see" the beautiful, unique sites over again in my head. I have other vision issues that keep me from noticing details in objects, so I probably wouldnt have the same appreciation for new things as others might because I would miss most of the details. And traveling to a new place, all my mental energy would be spent making sure I didnt get lost, so I have bothing left over to absorb all the wonderful differences and content.