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Aphantasia: living without mental images
Aphantasia: living without mental imagesMr Globalization - May 03, 2024
There is not just one way to be in the world. Aphantasia, a term derived from the Greek meaning “absence of imagination”, is characterized by the inability to visualize mental images.
Unlike mental blindness which affects actual visual perception, aphantasia only impacts the ability to create images in the mind. Concretely, if you try to imagine the face of a close friend and you cannot see anything, you may be aphantasic. Explanations.
There are approximately 2% of people in the world who do not have a “mental eye”. This part of the population would be incapable of imagining the face of a loved one or the shape of a fruit. But the absence of mental images is not limited to vision. Aphantasia can also affect other senses, such as hearing, smell, touch and taste.
We thus distinguish visual aphantasia (inability to visualize images), from its derivatives: akoupantasia (inability to hear sounds in one's head), mental anosmia (inability to smell imaginary odors), mental ageusia (inability to taste imaginary flavors), mental anesthesia (inability to feel imaginary tactile sensations).
The intensity of aphantasia varies from one individual to another. Some can visualize fleeting images, while others perceive no mental images at all, no matter how hard they concentrate.
A world without images
The impact of aphantasia is of several degrees on the lives of those affected. Some may have difficulty remembering visual information, such as memories, or integrating abstract concepts. Of course, they can develop alternative learning and memorization strategies, such as associating images with key words or using another functional memory, such as auditory or tactile memory.
However, contrary to popular beliefs, this disorder does not necessarily mean an absence of creativity. People with aphantasy can excel in artistic and imaginative areas by using other senses and relying on their logic and abstract intelligence. Indeed, in the absence of the most common form of imagination, other forms of conception can be stimulated: narrative, kinesthetic or even sensory.
Furthermore, the dreams of people with aphantasy may be different from those of people who visualize. They can be more abstract, based on sensations and emotions rather than images.
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Electrohypersensitivity: a disability often mistaken for a psychiatric disorder
Electrohypersensitivity: a disability often mistaken for a psychiatric disorderNew World - Dec 02, 2022
EHS is recognized as a disability and an occupational disease. Would an official EHS medical diagnosis lead to more or less psychiatric treatment?
It's the fall of 2010 and Quebecer Jean Gagnon has just been interned against his will for nine days at the hospital in Montmagny. “Tell me about your waves,” asks a judge who must decide whether Gagnon will be kept under observation for 21 more days, as requested by a psychiatrist who concluded that he had “psychotic delusions concerning evil waves”.
