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Aphantasia & Mental Health

catseye

catseye

Old lady trouser-smell with yesterday's knickers
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I've been reading (well, listening to) Dean Burnett's book The Idiot Brain, and I was interested in the chapter on mental health conditions such as psychosis where he was talking about many delusions being caused by the brain's inability to separate the 'internal monologue' from external voices. So sufferers perceive themselves to be under observation from outside their mind, rather than inside. The book goes on to detail why this may be and what structures in the brain might cause this.

But it made me wonder. I am fascinated by the subject of aphantasia (the lack of an internal monologue or internal 'life' if you will. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia and the implications for mental health. Is it possible for an aphantasic to suffer from delusions, and if so, where would they come from and how would they manifest? If an aphantasic lacks that conversation within the brain, then presumably it can't externalise and become a delusion, so does this mean that aphantasics generally enjoy a more robust mental health?

I am absolutely NOT a sufferer (in fact, quite the reverse, despite my recent readings indicating the belief that ADHD people don't have an internal monologue because it's all external!) however I do find myself interested because I have only met one person who has admitted to 'no internal life' .
 
Enid Coleslaw said:
I have aphantasia and bipolar disorder. It’s not like I don’t have an internal life, it’s just that my internal life has no pictures.
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Thanks, Enid, for an insight. I'm guessing that aphantasia wouldn't affect bipolar disorder as much as it might pyschosis? I'm more thinking aloud here (ironically enough), as to how a lack of internal visualisation might manifest in cases where the internal is perceived as having an external locus.
 
Hmm I’m not sure about that. It’s definitely possible to suffer from delusions when you have aphantasia. Just because you can’t visualise something doesn’t mean you can’t believe it’s happening to you. Your thoughts can be psychotic in nature I guess is what I’m saying if that makes any sense? I find aphantasia so difficult to describe.
 
Enid Coleslaw said:
Hmm I’m not sure about that. It’s definitely possible to suffer from delusions when you have aphantasia. Just because you can’t visualise something doesn’t mean you can’t believe it’s happening to you. Your thoughts can be psychotic in nature I guess is what I’m saying if that makes any sense? I find aphantasia so difficult to describe.
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My query really relates to those who 'hear voices', relating to the book I was reading. Dean Burnett states that audible hallucinations tend to stem from an inability to differentiate between the 'inner voice' and an 'outer voice' and I'm really trying to get to the bottom of whether those who don't hear an 'inner voice' can have auditory hallucinatory experiences - and if so, where do those voices come from.
 
Enid Coleslaw said:
That would be more in the realm of anauralia maybe.
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Perhaps, although this seems to be a very new term, springing from the aphantasic label. And it does appear that many aphantasics also experience anauralia. Interesting that it also now seems to be linked to autism - I have to admit that the person I knew who was aphantasic also exhibited many many classic signifiers of autism.
 
catseye said:
My query really relates to those who 'hear voices', relating to the book I was reading. Dean Burnett states that audible hallucinations tend to stem from an inability to differentiate between the 'inner voice' and an 'outer voice' and I'm really trying to get to the bottom of whether those who don't hear an 'inner voice' can have auditory hallucinatory experiences - and if so, where do those voices come from.
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There is also the interesting point that most people can and do experience auditory hallucinations when drifting off to sleep - the classic hypnagogic hallucination. I've always experienced them. Sometimes they are so loud that they interrupt the sleeping mechanism and jolt me back to wakefulness! But I never 'hear voices' during the day, in clear consciousness. Maybe the brain loses the ability to discriminate as it shuts down in preparation for sleep?

Another point - do people with anauralia experience hypnagogic hallucinations?
 
Enid Coleslaw said:
I have aphantasia and bipolar disorder. It’s not like I don’t have an internal life, it’s just that my internal life has no pictures.
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I have a girlfriend who seems to have aphantasia. However, she does have dreams. Do you have (visual) dreams?
 
It's really hard to describe how I dream because I feel like they do have visuals but they're also thought-based a lot too like I'll know I'm going something but not necessarily be experiencing it in the way I would in waking life. I have also had the thing of hearing your name called before you drop off so that's possible too, but I think there are degrees of aphantasia so my experience isn't going to be universal.
 
Enid Coleslaw said:
It's really hard to describe how I dream because I feel like they do have visuals but they're also thought-based a lot too like I'll know I'm going something but not necessarily be experiencing it in the way I would in waking life. I have also had the thing of hearing your name called before you drop off so that's possible too, but I think there are degrees of aphantasia so my experience isn't going to be universal.
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Thank you, @Enid Coleslaw, yours is valuable first hand information.

My ex (who had aphantasia) used to maintain that he never dreamed. Never. Would not have it that he dreamed at all until I showed him scientific evidence which showed that everyone dreams. Subsequently he had a dream, and he was so astonished that he told me about it as though it was this big rare and strange thing ('it was a place I've never even been!'). So I would say that some aphantasics either don't remember their dreams or dream in different formats.
 
I have just been reading another forum where they have been speaking about aphantasia. Apparently it's very closely linked with autism and prosopagnosia (face blindness). Most say that they don't dream at all, or if they do, they dream with a 'sense' of someone not an image. It's incredibly interesting. However, re my original question about whether aphantasia was more likely to give better mental health, it seems that the link with autism means that this is less likely to be the case, because those with autism so often suffer from poor mental health.
 
catseye said:
I have just been reading another forum where they have been speaking about aphantasia. Apparently it's very closely linked with autism and prosopagnosia (face blindness). Most say that they don't dream at all, or if they do, they dream with a 'sense' of someone not an image. It's incredibly interesting. However, re my original question about whether aphantasia was more likely to give better mental health, it seems that the link with autism means that this is less likely to be the case, because those with autism so often suffer from poor mental health.
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Just came to post that mumsnet thread (here if anyone else is interested: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4775473-aphantasia?reply=125079590). I didn't know about the link with autism so that's interesting.
 
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