Casey StClair

Interesting!  I can imagine your purple elephant or anything else. I dont "see" it, but I can create a "concept" of it. But I cannot remember anything about who was sitting where, or anything else unless I cognitively reason it out. 

I am so sorry you are going through thus experience. I dont have any answers for you. I too had a traumatic brain injury and many concussions, but donr remember if I could "see" things before or not. That must be so hard missing something you had and having no idea how to get it back! 

I wouldn't think mindfulness meditation would cause aphantasia. I dont think its anything we can do or not do that will create it. I think it is more the way the brain is wired.  But...I could be wrong.  I've done a lot of therapy to build neural pathways and overcome brain damage.  I can sometimes see colors in my mind and its not always cave black anymore. Sometimes I see random shapes and abstract things, so my experience is kind of reversed from yours. 

Hi Steven,  I "see" in my dreams. I remember enough when I wake up. So I would say that in my dreams, I do not have aphantasia, it is as if I am actually seeing things like in real life. I am living the experience. In real life, I see my surroundings, I just can't see anything with my eyes closed. It gives me hope that if I dont have aphantasia in my dreams that someday I could be rid of it in my waking life. That would help me soooo much with my memory, remembering things, and not getting lost. People say this isnt a disability, but I figure my life would be so much easier if I could picture things because that would help me remember and might improve the quality of my life bu 33%! 

I never thought about it, but I hate travel vacations. I always thought it was because of motion sickness, but you are right... why go somewhere if I wont remember and be able to "see" the beautiful, unique sites over again in my head. I have other vision issues that keep me from noticing details in objects, so I probably wouldnt have the same appreciation for new things as others might because I would miss most of the details. And traveling to a new place, all my mental energy would be spent making sure I didnt get lost, so I have bothing left over to absorb all the wonderful differences and content.