With all due respect because I have a ton for you and your research, these simulations of PTSD are not at all close to simulating what happens after experiencing a true traumatic event and absolutely should not be used to draw conclusions about PTSD in people with aphantasia.
I hope you are reaching out to people with aphantasia and diagnosed PTSD to truly understand how these conditions work together. Please also if you haven't already read The Body Keeps the Score. If you have read it, try reading it again. What you are saying is simply not congruent with the research on trauma and PTSD or with the lived experience of people with aphantasia and PTSD.
Trauma is not only relived through images. It is also relived in other senses, in emotions, and through highly disturbing body flashbacks. I also have no voluntary visual imagery but have had highly disturbing visual flashbacks. If you want to learn a bit more please feel free to contact me. Id be happy to share or even help you with researching this. (I'm a scientist in a different field). You are not getting this right. And in many ways having aphantasia complicates the course and treatment of PTSD. Spreading inaccurate information will only delay needed treatment.
Since the diagnostic criteria for PTSD includes visual flashbacks, the much more important question is whether our understanding of PTSD is skewed by a bias towards presumed visualisation. Saying people with aphantasia are shielded from PTSD is as nonsensical as saying we don't have an imagination.
I realise that the study of aphantasia is new, and few people are considering its implications in other conditions. But I'm disappointed that you'd come to this conclusion from the data you've observed, rather than questioning whether the definitions of other conditions are inclusive of people with aphantasia.
Perpetuating this idea prevents people with aphantasia getting the help they need. I struggled for years even recognising that I had PTSD because my lack of visualisation excluded me. Flashback for me are deeply felt, sudden emotional events and altered bodily experiences, and, as I have SDAM too, I often struggled to understand what was going on. Having a flashback is like being screamed at by an angry, silent ghost. It's incredibly destabilising and upsetting, and I've often questioned whether I was losing my mind.
If I'd known that PTSD didn't have to involve seeing things, I would have been able to get support sooner. I'm incredibly grateful to have worked with a therapist who helped me process my trauma, but I've had to do most of this work on my own.
You're right that people respond to trauma differently. But please don't invalidate the experiences of people with aphantasia, as if our lack of visualisation gives us a free pass from being affected by trauma. You do great work, but in this area, you need to do better.
I can tell from personal experience, that Aphantasia didn't shield me. Even if you don't see pictures/flashbacks you are still capable to thinking and "replaying" thoughts, feelings, conversations, situations etc. It started as one problem and then turned into Social anxiety disorder. Something that took roughly 25 years to get diagnosed and then another 4 years of therapy (CBT) and medication (Sertraline/Zoloft) to get rid of. And as a part of the CBT therapy I was expected to use meditation, which can be problematic when you have Aphantasia.
I will clarify, that the reason for it taking so long to get a diagnosis, was because it started when I was young enough that I didn't have a memory from before it started (3-4 years of age). I escaped the situation at 10 years and I only knew that something was wrong, but I didn't have any previous memory of an experience to compare it to. If it happened when It was older I probably would have been able to get help earlier and if it wasn't the only thing that I new, it probably would have taken less time to get rid of.
By the way. It is up to you what you want to do with your body, but I got permanent side effects of the medication (gastrointestinal problems), so I would not recommend it. I believe that It would have been able to make it without it. It might have been a little bit harder and taken longer time, but at least in my case, it would have been worth the extra time and effort.
Thank you for sharing your research. My thoughts in response to it include that flashbacks are not just visual imagery and even for people who do not have aphantasia, flashbacks are not necessarily predominantly visual.
Non-visual aspects of flashbacks can be intensely distressing. I think that the conclusions that have been drawn from a limited lab simulation are off base when it comes to non-simulated trauma and I think those conclusions should not be generalised to PTSD and anxiety disorders.
If you continue to research PTSD and aphantasia, I hope that you engage with people who have both aphantasia and PTSD. I believe it may lead you to draw some very different conclusions.
I appreciate this exploration of a different angle into why some people develop PTSD and others do not. I have been considering this myself for many years as a family member has debilitating cPTSD and her sibling, exposed to the same trauma, does not. One of the differences between them is their memory. The sibling with CPTSD has razor sharp memories of much of their childhood, presumably with imagery though I haven’t asked. The sibling without PTSD has few memories of childhood and a poor memory generally, and is happy and healthy because of their “shit memory”. It has its adaptive advantages! I would also like to see an exploration of the relationship between PTSD and autism.
I appreciate the research in this area but agree with the other commenters that the experiment does not get to how our brains work. There is a large percentage of us that had early trauma and I think that's where my came from. I think my brain turned off imagery to protect me. However, this had led to fuzzy memories and the trauma manifestating in physical issues for me. It's taken decades for me to put some of the pieces together. I do not have the typical PTSD symptoms but do have trauma responses. This is a good start but only scratches the surface. We may not have typical PTSD but we do have stored trauma. Research into how to diagnose and work through this would be a great place for your next project.
As someone with complex PTSD and also hyperphantastic, this sounds like a very reasonable and logical conclusion. Note that the author mentioned the existence of another subtype of PTSD for those who are aphantastic, so take the note of a "shield" with a grain of salt. However, just because my PTSD and hyperphantasia seem to coincide doesn't mention causation, and I look forward to the results of the continuing research.
How fascinating, I actually made this hypothesis. I have a PhD, no visually memory or ability to visualize (no ability at all) and work in crisis response. I have no PTSD, no flashbacks and a unique ability to rebound from crisis. Despite non diagnosable PTSD, I do however have generalized anxiety disorder.
Since learning I have Multisensory Aphantasia I have realised that a reason our baby’s cot death in 1973 sent my late husband spiralling into alcoholism was very likely the result of his hyper visualisation, of which I was aware. Whereas my deep, long-lasting grief was processed by my internal monologue, where I firmly chose to avoid allowing thoughts to re-run the actual scenario due to the pain this caused, he was likely unable to control intrusive flashbacks. I always knew what caused his problems, but at that time there was no general understanding of the different ways peoples’ minds processed trauma. The knowledge would have really helped. Thankyou. Roseann
With all due respect because I have a ton for you and your research, these simulations of PTSD are not at all close to simulating what happens after experiencing a true traumatic event and absolutely should not be used to draw conclusions about PTSD in people with aphantasia.
I hope you are reaching out to people with aphantasia and diagnosed PTSD to truly understand how these conditions work together. Please also if you haven't already read The Body Keeps the Score. If you have read it, try reading it again. What you are saying is simply not congruent with the research on trauma and PTSD or with the lived experience of people with aphantasia and PTSD.
Trauma is not only relived through images. It is also relived in other senses, in emotions, and through highly disturbing body flashbacks. I also have no voluntary visual imagery but have had highly disturbing visual flashbacks. If you want to learn a bit more please feel free to contact me. Id be happy to share or even help you with researching this. (I'm a scientist in a different field). You are not getting this right. And in many ways having aphantasia complicates the course and treatment of PTSD. Spreading inaccurate information will only delay needed treatment.
Since the diagnostic criteria for PTSD includes visual flashbacks, the much more important question is whether our understanding of PTSD is skewed by a bias towards presumed visualisation. Saying people with aphantasia are shielded from PTSD is as nonsensical as saying we don't have an imagination.
I realise that the study of aphantasia is new, and few people are considering its implications in other conditions. But I'm disappointed that you'd come to this conclusion from the data you've observed, rather than questioning whether the definitions of other conditions are inclusive of people with aphantasia.
Perpetuating this idea prevents people with aphantasia getting the help they need. I struggled for years even recognising that I had PTSD because my lack of visualisation excluded me. Flashback for me are deeply felt, sudden emotional events and altered bodily experiences, and, as I have SDAM too, I often struggled to understand what was going on. Having a flashback is like being screamed at by an angry, silent ghost. It's incredibly destabilising and upsetting, and I've often questioned whether I was losing my mind.
If I'd known that PTSD didn't have to involve seeing things, I would have been able to get support sooner. I'm incredibly grateful to have worked with a therapist who helped me process my trauma, but I've had to do most of this work on my own.
You're right that people respond to trauma differently. But please don't invalidate the experiences of people with aphantasia, as if our lack of visualisation gives us a free pass from being affected by trauma. You do great work, but in this area, you need to do better.
I can tell from personal experience, that Aphantasia didn't shield me. Even if you don't see pictures/flashbacks you are still capable to thinking and "replaying" thoughts, feelings, conversations, situations etc. It started as one problem and then turned into Social anxiety disorder. Something that took roughly 25 years to get diagnosed and then another 4 years of therapy (CBT) and medication (Sertraline/Zoloft) to get rid of. And as a part of the CBT therapy I was expected to use meditation, which can be problematic when you have Aphantasia.
I will clarify, that the reason for it taking so long to get a diagnosis, was because it started when I was young enough that I didn't have a memory from before it started (3-4 years of age). I escaped the situation at 10 years and I only knew that something was wrong, but I didn't have any previous memory of an experience to compare it to. If it happened when It was older I probably would have been able to get help earlier and if it wasn't the only thing that I new, it probably would have taken less time to get rid of.
By the way. It is up to you what you want to do with your body, but I got permanent side effects of the medication (gastrointestinal problems), so I would not recommend it. I believe that It would have been able to make it without it. It might have been a little bit harder and taken longer time, but at least in my case, it would have been worth the extra time and effort.
Thank you for sharing your research. My thoughts in response to it include that flashbacks are not just visual imagery and even for people who do not have aphantasia, flashbacks are not necessarily predominantly visual.
Non-visual aspects of flashbacks can be intensely distressing. I think that the conclusions that have been drawn from a limited lab simulation are off base when it comes to non-simulated trauma and I think those conclusions should not be generalised to PTSD and anxiety disorders.
If you continue to research PTSD and aphantasia, I hope that you engage with people who have both aphantasia and PTSD. I believe it may lead you to draw some very different conclusions.
I appreciate this exploration of a different angle into why some people develop PTSD and others do not. I have been considering this myself for many years as a family member has debilitating cPTSD and her sibling, exposed to the same trauma, does not. One of the differences between them is their memory. The sibling with CPTSD has razor sharp memories of much of their childhood, presumably with imagery though I haven’t asked. The sibling without PTSD has few memories of childhood and a poor memory generally, and is happy and healthy because of their “shit memory”. It has its adaptive advantages! I would also like to see an exploration of the relationship between PTSD and autism.
I appreciate the research in this area but agree with the other commenters that the experiment does not get to how our brains work. There is a large percentage of us that had early trauma and I think that's where my came from. I think my brain turned off imagery to protect me. However, this had led to fuzzy memories and the trauma manifestating in physical issues for me. It's taken decades for me to put some of the pieces together. I do not have the typical PTSD symptoms but do have trauma responses. This is a good start but only scratches the surface. We may not have typical PTSD but we do have stored trauma. Research into how to diagnose and work through this would be a great place for your next project.
As someone with complex PTSD and also hyperphantastic, this sounds like a very reasonable and logical conclusion. Note that the author mentioned the existence of another subtype of PTSD for those who are aphantastic, so take the note of a "shield" with a grain of salt. However, just because my PTSD and hyperphantasia seem to coincide doesn't mention causation, and I look forward to the results of the continuing research.
How fascinating, I actually made this hypothesis. I have a PhD, no visually memory or ability to visualize (no ability at all) and work in crisis response. I have no PTSD, no flashbacks and a unique ability to rebound from crisis. Despite non diagnosable PTSD, I do however have generalized anxiety disorder.
Since learning I have Multisensory Aphantasia I have realised that a reason our baby’s cot death in 1973 sent my late husband spiralling into alcoholism was very likely the result of his hyper visualisation, of which I was aware. Whereas my deep, long-lasting grief was processed by my internal monologue, where I firmly chose to avoid allowing thoughts to re-run the actual scenario due to the pain this caused, he was likely unable to control intrusive flashbacks. I always knew what caused his problems, but at that time there was no general understanding of the different ways peoples’ minds processed trauma. The knowledge would have really helped. Thankyou. Roseann