Janette Nash

That is wonderful. I love reading modern songs and nursery rhymes, etc, translated into Latin. I'm not a scholar, but I learnt it at school decades ago. Heading to your site now. Janette

This is what I seem to be doing all the time on facebook and other social sites. People go on about their nonstop inner voice, or music playing continually, and how aggravating it is, and they blame Aphantasia. I patiently (or not so patiently, depending...) say that is not Aphantasia - is it possible they have ADHD, as that it seems to be a very common associated condition, and they say yes, but continue to blame Aphantasia for it. I personally am blessed with a silent mind, which I love, and am mindblind in all senses and have SDAM. No problems with any of those. It's the place blindness that I could do without - that panicky feeling when you have no idea where you are, although you are in reality just minutes from where you should be. But that's not Aphantasia. It's just a comorbidity, if anything. I always say that if a particular attribute has a global %, and Aphants experience it as a group at a much higher %, that it is probably associated with Aphantasia - the same part of the brain function. But it is not in itself Aphantasia, which as you have clarified is just the lack of a mind's eye.

The lack of memory sounds like SDAM. From the groups I am in, anecdotally, it seems that most (though not all) people with SDAM have aphantasia, while about half of aphants don't have SDAM. I have both, am mindblind in all 5 senses, and have no inner monologue, so my mind is very quiet, and when my husband, whom I adore, leaves the room, it's as if he ceased to exist. I dread the thought of his dying, as I wouldn't be able to summon his smell, touch, taste, voice, or appearance...I have certain memories because at the time I tell myself to concentrate very hard, and to be sure to remember this moment. It is just sporadic moments, though - I can't remember a whole day, or even an hour, just snapshots. Which I know, but can't see.

Neither alcohol nor drugs "touch" me. I have been trying since the age of 15, and I am now 62... There may be a physical aspect - if I drink a great amount of alcohol, I might feel sick, or my legs might feel wobbly - but otherwise I am unaffected. I am good at pretending to slur and be out of it, so people don't think I'm weird, but it is all faking it. Also - if I am having a medical or dental procedure, I have to be completely knocked out. The sedation does not take otherwise. I also cannot be hypnotised. I do not dream, have no inner monologue, and am mindblind in all 5 senses.

Yes - I'm the same. I don't know whether that's aphantasia, or SDAM.