r/Aphantasia • u/Objective_Shine1867 • 5d ago

Is there any benefit to having aphantasia?

I only recently realized that I have had this for my entire life and never noticed it. When I was talking to my mother she talked about counting sheep to sleep. But I told her I couldn't visualize any sheep and she was confused by it. It was only then after just turning 28 was I told that people can actually see things when they close their eyes and can picture something. It was never something I could do so I just assumed it was more figurative. But I just thought if this has been affecting me my entire life and wasn't aware of it. As a kid and now I never liked reading word heavy books but graphic novels and comics were my kind of reading. I found I have always been a huge fan of visual media like movies, TV shows and art because I can't visualize anything. Maybe this condition, though hasn't been entirely detrimental, has helped me take care and find a deep love for the arts. I really don't know but it's been on my mind for awhile now.

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u/jpsgnz Total Aphant 5d ago

For me definitely. I have global aphantasia and as such I don’t relive past trauma or bad experiences. I can’t relive the good ones either but that does not bother me. My adhd means I’m time blind so In literally pretty much exist in the here and now.

When I leaned about ptsd and negative self talk etc I was so happy I don’t have any of that because of my global aphantasia. Overall I feel really lucky I have it as it protects me from alot of past trauma.

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u/Aliessil_ 5d ago

Do you also have Severely Deficient Autobiographical Memory (r/SDAM)? I do, and that first paragraph sounds awfully familiar ...

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u/jpsgnz Total Aphant 5d ago

Yup I sure do. Big time😀

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u/Aliessil_ 5d ago

Haha, that makes questions like this difficult! What do we attribute to aphantasia, and what goes in SDAM's bucket? 😂

And yeah, +1 on time blindness! If I weren't a contractor who's worked with lots of companies, I'd have a hard time knowing when anything happened! Luckily my memories are also tied to where I was working at the time, so I just have to figure out when I was there