Hey everyone,

I know aphantasia doesn’t automatically mean bad sleep—I'm actually jealous of those who can just close their eyes and knock out instantly.

But on those nights when my brain refuses to shut off, I always get frustrated by the usual sleep advice. "Just visualize a peaceful beach" or "Count sheep"... yeah, right, with what screen? My mind's canvas is completely blank, so that stuff just doesn't work.

I'm just curious—for those of you who sometimes have trouble winding down: what actually helps you? Do you leave a TV on, listen to random audio, or use some kind of slow visual background noise to keep your mind occupied until you doze off?

Would love to hear what works (or doesn't work) for you guys!

I’d heard the term floating around before and had suspicions that I might have aphantasia, but ruled it out as I assumed it was just a misunderstanding of what people were referring to when they said they were “picturing an image” in their mind. However, recently I’ve begun to really think that I might actually have aphantasia and want to verify or at least get more insight.

I have a VERY strong inner monologue that basically never shuts up except when I’m sleeping. Even when I’m not consciously directing my effort towards thinking, it’s always happening and it often takes the form of one part of a song playing on loop. When I read books, I essentially get the same experience I get when I’m thinking, except this time it’s with other people’s words. My focus is on reading and connecting the words with their meanings, how they interact with the story, how they interact with my own thoughts and experiences, etc. Reading basically just feels like thinking with a guest in my brain.

I’ve always had really strong spatial reasoning and can easily rotate objects, fold cubes, etc. I always thought this was evidence for why I didn’t have aphantasia, but I’ve recently discovered they’re separate parts of the brain. When I try to imagine something, I feel like it almost shows up as a 3D wireframe version of itself because that’s what my mind defaults to when it comes to the idea of “visualization”. It’s a conscious effort and I can’t hold on to any semblance of what it actually looks like, so imaging it as a 3D object existing in space or a specific concept/memory is usually how I “picture” things. If I’m not actively trying to conjure an image, however, I’m pretty sure there’s just nothing there (like when reading or thinking about past events or people or whatever).

I have also never been able to draw without a reference. I’ve tried practicing art and always assumed I was bad at it, but I discovered I can actually draw pretty well when I have a reference. There’s just seemingly nothing in my brain to hold onto to copy it to the page.

Do I actually have aphantasia, or am I just confusing myself and can visualize things just fine?

I can’t picture things in my head, as well as I don’t have an internal monologue. I just know what things look like, for example if you asked me to draw an apple I can as I know what it looks like I just don’t picture it.

However I do dream, which is what is confusing me, anyone have any answers.

I should preface this that I do not have Aphantasia

So my experiences with people with aphantasia are recent (past 10 years) but I've noticed that the three people I'm friends with that have aphantasia are Jewish descent. Two friends from college (one of which is my roommate all these years later so I get to pick his brain about it,) and my roommates girlfriend.

Learning about it in detail was an eye opener ("wait, how do you navigate without a map of the area in your head?" "I do as the GPS guides") but thinking about it I'm wondering if it's more prevalent in certain demographics in the same way sickle cell resistance to malaria is in areas where malaria is rampant.

I'm an anthropologist by education so I'm curious to see what kind of environmental and social factors might have encouraged propagation of this trait.

Cheers!

I realized I can't see anything in my head, when I close my eyes, it's just black! I've tried to force something to show up and nothing would though. I'm pretty sure I've had this since I was a kid, like I've never had any visuals at anytime..

Also I got no voice in my head for some reason aswell, and I can't like replay music in my head either. All I hear is my faint tinnitus and heartbeat...

I don't know it those 2 are related.. (But I feel so werid figuring out that my mind is like this, my dad also had the exact same thing!)

When I was young, I really wondered how people in movies or news can describe someone to the police how a person looks like. I thought, maybe they just have a great memory or something. Looking back, it may have been an indicator that I may have Aphantasia or at least to some degree. I can't seem to imagine and describe a person face even though I see them everyday, not even my parents or siblings. Although in my mind, I can tell what they should look like. And whenever I close my eyes and try to imagine what was in front of me, I cant preserve the image in my head and would lose the details if i get distracted.

Now I am really wondering if I do have one or not.

So first: I’m a graphic designer, not a scientist, so this take is based on just vibes. There was a recent Stanford study that the brain is actually made up of two separate systems that joined together; one system controlled things like reflexes and breathing and the other system is the artsy fartsy consciousness side. What if aphantasia is an undeveloped link between the two systems? Like you’re able to store visual imagery in the more animalistic side without the ability to access it through the hippy side?

https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2026/09/two-separate-brains.html

Alright, everyone, I've noticed that quite a few people with aphantasia (no mental imagery at all) have a hard time understanding what it's like to have hyperphantasia, the exact opposite of aphantasia. We're talking about extremely vivid, almost lifelike mental images that can feel like an incredibly realistic alternative reality inside your mind. So, let's get into it:

First, I'd like to clarify that, yes, those of us with hyperphantasia really do see things in our minds. It's not a metaphor, but it's not a hallucination or something superimposed over the physical world either, although apparently, some people can actually do that too!!

It's complicated to explain because there isn't really a specific vocabulary in English, or, I'd argue, in most languages, that accurately describes what having hyperphantasia is like in a way that someone who doesn't have it can fully understand. But I'll try to be as precise as possible.

We can see two realities at the same time in our minds. Sounds crazy? Maybe, but not in the way you might think.

Obviously, we can see the physical world normally!! And then there's the internal world inside our minds!! But what exactly is this internal world? It's literally seeing things, whether it's a complex environment you've invented, an entire world, forests, kingdoms, or something completely ordinary. You're genuinely seeing it, just not with your physical eyes. It's something that appears internally, and it's absolutely incredible.

Neither of these two realities interferes with the other in terms of visualization. If you're looking at something in the real world with your eyes open while simultaneously seeing a castle with warriors fighting each other in your mind, these two realities don't interfere with or overlap each other. It's as if they're running on two separate tracks. It's difficult to explain, but the mental imagery can be incredibly realistic. Whether it's a beach, you can see the individual grains of sand, the sparkles, the reflections, the sunlight, etc.

Oh, and one detail worth mentioning is that we don't need to close our eyes. A lot of people think you have to close your eyes to visualize things, but many people with hyperphantasia don't need to. Sometimes, the visualization can even be better with your eyes open.

What's it ACTUALLY like to have this in your everyday life?

Honestly, it's extraordinary when you first discover that not everyone has this ability. But believe it or not, most people who have it don't even realize that other people can't do the same thing!! So much for feeling special!!

But everyday life isn't as extraordinary as you might think. Sure, it's cool to see things in your mind, direct your own mental movie, create characters, and revisit childhood memories as if you were actually there. But so what? In practice, we're still ordinary people going about our everyday lives. We work, study, watch actual movies, etc.

The thing is, it's impossible to remember something or have a conversation with someone without your thoughts involuntarily being associated with a mental image. In other words, you might not be immersed in some imaginary world all the time. In fact, most of us aren't spending 24 hours a day inside our own minds. We're usually just imagining and planning things related to the real world. Examples?

When you're talking to someone and they say, "Yesterday, I took my dog to the pet store," you'll automatically visualize the dog and the pet store, even if you don't want to. We don't really have control over this. We're practically constantly seeing mental images of everyday things, from thinking about what's going to be for dinner to wondering where we left our keys. It NEVER stops!!

Now, for the not-so-great part.

I've noticed that many people with extremely vivid mental imagery experience something called maladaptive daydreaming. Basically, it's daydreaming more than you should, to the point where you can literally spend hours inside your own mind.

And when I say hours, I mean LITERALLY hours.

Since we can be anywhere in the world inside our minds and experience almost anything we want, it can become addictive. But don't be fooled into thinking it's as great as it sounds. You can end up missing out on your actual life.

After all, why pursue your dream job when you can experience having it inside your mind, where everything feels incredibly realistic, almost as if you're actually there? Why move to the country you've always wanted to live in? Why pursue that dream in real life?

I've seen many accounts from people struggling with this, and it's incredibly difficult to stop because it's almost as if your own incredibly powerful mind is getting you addicted to experiencing whatever you want.

Thankfully, I've come to realize that the real world can be even more interesting and incredible than the cheap dopamine hits our minds give us.

Anyway, having hyperphantasia can be incredible, but it's not perfect. There are plenty of downsides, too.

If you're curious, feel free to ask me anything! I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have!!

I’ve not really given it much thought, but for fun!

Does anyone think about their aphantasia as a strength? Or parts of it? What specifically?

Me, for example, I am audhd and struggle with my focus. But because my thoughts are always just ticking away in the background and I have excellent spatial reasoning, I can still very much focus on the task at hand, but I am able to respond very very quickly when I need to. Which is perfect for me, because I work in a grocery store! I’m getting interrupted a lot and I’m always able to react so quickly. Honestly it seems to put people at ease because I seem capable straight off the bat which gives me time to do my actually a little bit slower processing!

Whereas coworkers will umm and ahh for a few seconds and by then the customer has already decided to be done and to be rude 😂

So this weekend my wife and I were on the aphantasia topic again when we began to talk about the possibility of our daughter being like me with no visuals or like her mom who can visualize. And so we asked her to close her eyes and picture an apple. She closed her eyes for a moment and thought about it, then opened her eyes and said apples are red not black and started laughing as she ran away. My first thought was this is exactly how I feel as an aphant. But it only brought up more questions because she has had an imaginary friend for the better part of two years that she talks about daily. So is it possible to visualize only with your eyes open? Or is there some other questions I should ask to see. I'm not all that worried about it, just curious. I guess we'll know for sure one day but for now this is more for fun to see what she says.

I was scrolling through Reddit two nights ago night when I saw a random comment that was a lightning bolt moment for me about the minds eye, and it suddenly dawned on me that I had always made the assumption that the minds eye was just a metaphor for thinking.

For the last twenty years my wife would ask me something like 'do you think this cushion would look nice on the bed?', and I would answer 'I don't know, I'd have to see it on the bed'.

I can't believe I didn't figure it out sooner. I think she just always though I was being difficult and dismissive.

I do have a kind of 3d space in my head that allows me to map out places I have been and move around them at will. I don't think it's an actual minds eye though.

I'm not sure how I feel. I feel like a bit of a fool, and I feel a loss that I can't generate mental images of my loved ones. However I do understand there are some upsides that I'm probably taking for granted.

Well there we go...looks like my brain is a nice little database, collects all these facts about things, but can can't relive past events.

I only discovered I had aphantasia earlier this year, and now it looks like I have SDAM too 😂

I genuinely had no idea that when people talked about remembering something, they could actually sort of go back and experience the memory again. I thought remembering meant knowing what happened, but not being able to see or relive it.

I know loads of random facts from my life. I know I “married” Campbell Beers in P4 with a traffic light ring and a packet of Spangles. Can I relive the actual event? Nope. No idea what I wore, what anyone said, what happened before or after. I just know it happened.

I just thought I had a bad memory that would throw up random facts now and again. But I genuinely can't visualise anything, I can't reclll specifics, only that vague sense of a ghostly still photo, so I don't know if I am making a memory from a photo of if I am remembering it.

The really weird bit is that I can simulate things really well. So I can take the bits I do remember, fill in the gaps with what probably happened, and end up not entirely sure which bits are memory and which bits I’ve inferred.

Anyone else got both? And how did you realise?

How do you guys find its best to learn. Do you use mind maps

A post in Japanese about what aphantasia is, its effects, and ways to cope with it.

I have aphantasia along with a lack of internal dialogue and most of the time brain is doing/thinking nothing. I am so curious to know how common this is? Is that most of us orrr???
Most of the time I try to drown out the silence with noise of some kind BUT too many different noises messes with me 😅 for context, I did get diagnosed with ADHD this year.

I love reading this sub - it is truly so interesting how other peoples brains work and no one ever knows they’re different until it oddly comes up 😂

just curious if this is what I’m experiencing. I recently developed a pretty severe case of dpdr I think about 2.5 months ago. it’s been hell. regardless though one of the weirdest symptoms of whatever happened to me is my visualization feels distant. like I can visualize things but it doesn’t feel right. before everything came to mind almost instantly and was clear. I also would daydream a lot especially at night when I went to bed. now it’s just not automatic? idk how to explain it. like if I try to go back and relive a memory I can see it but it’s like I’m looking through mud whereas before I could play out the memory like a movie almost. I can recall any memory really but again it just looks and feels distant in my head. like if you told me to visualize an airplane with blue paint I could do that but it just feels distant

I've always loved writing, but any attempts at prose always found my descriptions and scene-settings incredibly lacking. I would read books where authors could expound for pages on the way a place looked and smelled and sounded and felt, but when it was my turn, I struggled with even the most basic of descriptions.

Small wonder I ended up more of a play- and scriptwriter, focusing on dialog (which I had no problem with since my ADHD-addled brain often has inner conversations running constantly) and the occasional bit of action. It was only a week or so ago, while discussing my recently-discovered aphantasia, that I realized my inability to describe the scenes I was writing could be connected to my inability to see those scenes.

Which has me curious: is it like this for all aphantasiacs, or have some of y'all managed to come up with strategies and mechanisms to get past not being able to visualize the things you write about (if you even need them at all)?

I love to draw but can only draw from things right in front of me. Sometimes I think of ideas of things I'd like to create but when I go to put pencil to paper I can't do it cuz I can't SEE it. Does anyone else struggle with this? How do folks get around creative roadblocks?

When I close my eyes and picture an apple, I can't see it. I know what it looks like, I an describe an apple. When I sleep at night, I can "hear" dreams but I can't see it.

Does that fit Aphantasia? I am going insane? can someone help? thanks

Yes from my side.

WBU?

I have AuDHD+ mild DCD

Think about this:

Someone with aphantasia who also has short-term memory, SDAM, auditory hyperphantasia, Blank Mind Syndrome (BMS), and Intrapersonal Communication.

I just so happen to have all of the listed instances and have done my research.

Around 40% (average) of the world has Intrapersonal Communication. Around 21% of the world has Hyperphantasia in one sense. Around 20% of people have BMS. Around 20% of the world has Short Term Memory Loss Syndrome. Around 2% of the world has SDAM. Around 1.5% of the world has Aphantasia.

There are 8 Billion in the world, just about. This means 3.2 Billion have Intrapersonal Communication. This means 672 Million have both IC and STMLS. This means 134.4 Million have IC, STMLS, and Hyperphantasia. This means 26.88 Million have IC, STMLS, Hyperphantasia, and BMS. This means 537,000 have IC, STMLS, Hyperphantasia, BMS, and SDAM. This means that 8,064 have all IC, STMLS, Hyperphantasia, BMS, SDAM, and Aphantasia.

These numbers are off because I rounded down to 8 billion, but this is slightly true to an extent (please correct me if Im wrong, I would love to learn).

I just so happen to be one of (by my best estimation) 8,064 people globally that have Intrapersonal Communication, Short Term Memory Loss Syndrome, Blank Mind Syndrome, Severely Deficient Autobiographical Memory, Aphantasia, and a sense of Hyperphantasia all at once. More specifically, I have Auditory Hyperphantasia, making my instance just that much more rare.

Doing the math a bit better, this makes me (not by originality or significance on any stance, not as an individual) 1 of around 9,000 that share all of these. If we consider those with just Auditory Hyperphantasia, it's likely closer to 4,000 (as auditory hyperphantasia is the 3rd ranked hyperphantasia, behind olfactory and gustatory, ahead of touch and episodic).

1 of an estimated 4,000 who share the exact neurodivergencies I listed. If I were to list every single neurodivergency I had, probably closer to 1 of 200-500.

Think on this. You are more rare than you think. Keep it to yourself. As a mental note.

Always remember: Even if you are 1 of 5,000,000, or 1 of 8,182,829,000, you always will be 1 of 1. There's only one of you.

(Disclaimer: This is not meant to be scientifically accurate to real-world numbers and official data, this is a personal estimation based on rough research and dive-deep research of aphants in the world.)

So I used to be a visual arts student- I love love the subject and im good at it too! I can sculpt, draw, sketch etc. But I have always struggled with translating pictures from just my head into my artwork. I NEED a refrence. It gets very frustrating too at times. I have ideas in my head - I can imagine what I want it to look like but I can't visualize it and I can't reflect it straight off my mind.

My imagination is also idk how to explain so I'll try my best. It's dark static if I try to picture something but I can project stuff? At the top of my head? 😭 its not very clear but for example an apple- i can imagine a red blob- its not a clear one- and move it around and all but i can't actually visualize it. I'm so sorry I don't even know if that makes sense.

If I read a book or stare out the window I like trying to imagine all of it but again its more like a projection? I can't think of a better work. Sometimes im not sure if im actually even projecting these things or if its just imagining them. (Not to be confused with visualising)

Also edit but idk if this helps but for example im really good with directions. But i can never picture directions- its more so remebering through familiarity?

Would love for some insight on this!