Having aphantasia has not affected me emotionally, nor caused any "mental issues." Since learning I have aphatasia I have noticed that my mind is quiet. In the background, it may be working on tweaking the language in a paper I'm writing, or puzzling over how to articulate a thought. But, I'm not dwelling on the past, or the what ifs -- though of course that happens too and perhaps that absence of dwelling on the past and over thinking is just due to getting older and not caring so much. Aphantasia for me, is just a part of who I am. Knowing that I have aphantasia is like a parlor trick. It's fun to mention at parties, but it has no impact on my life. I love literature and art and music and live them in the moment. I'd be curious to know whether everyone who can see images in their minds eye can also hear music, or smell a rose, or feel the softness of suede in their imaginations. And if they cannot, would we consider them lacking? Instead of using images to remember things, I use mnemonics, or remind myself that I always mix-up one thing with another and so the answer is the other. Even before I knew about aphantasia, I described my studying style as the need to "feel" the information and become one with it. But, I don't know if any of that is an aphantasic quirk or just the way I remember things. Seems to me, the brain would be very crowded if we had to remember all those pictures.

I don't think I see images in my dreams on most nights. But every once in a while I will have an exceedingly realistic visual dream - as if I were awake. When I do wake up, the images are gone, but the knowledge that they were there is strong. It makes me wonder whether I could teach my brain to "see" images of people and things while I'm awake if only I worked at it.

Having aphantasia has not affected me emotionally, nor caused any "mental issues." Since learning I have aphatasia I have noticed that my mind is quiet. In the background, it may be working on tweaking the language in a paper I'm writing, or puzzling over how to articulate a thought. But, I'm not dwelling on the past, or the what ifs -- though of course that happens too and perhaps that absence of dwelling on the past and over thinking is just due to getting older and not caring so much. Aphantasia for me, is just a part of who I am. Knowing that I have aphantasia is like a parlor trick. It's fun to mention at parties, but it has no impact on my life. I love literature and art and music and live them in the moment. I'd be curious to know whether everyone who can see images in their minds eye can also hear music, or smell a rose, or feel the softness of suede in their imaginations. And if they cannot, would we consider them lacking? Instead of using images to remember things, I use mnemonics, or remind myself that I always mix-up one thing with another and so the answer is the other. Even before I knew about aphantasia, I described my studying style as the need to "feel" the information and become one with it. But, I don't know if any of that is an aphantasic quirk or just the way I remember things. Seems to me, the brain would be very crowded if we had to remember all those pictures.

I don't think I see images in my dreams on most nights. But every once in a while I will have an exceedingly realistic visual dream - as if I were awake. When I do wake up, the images are gone, but the knowledge that they were there is strong. It makes me wonder whether I could teach my brain to "see" images of people and things while I'm awake if only I worked at it.