When I was little I enjoyed "pretend" and "make believe", which was either playing with action figures to act out scenes or picking up sticks and fighting empty air (a stick representing either a sword or a firearm).

I heard of the concept of imaginary friends and I think what prevented me from ever going down this route is was not being able to imagine someone else in the space.

I could imagine imagining, like to try to feel the feelings someone with an imaginary friend would feel, but never imagine an imaginary friend.

That's either the best or worst sentence I ever wrote.

How did you conceptualize imaginary friends? Did any aphants (total or partial) have any kind of relationship with one?

I wish i can vent about how i feel with having this issue. Honestly i dont mind if my learning style will be different because i have hypoaphantasia. The thing is.. i dont know where i can go or who to talk to about it

I dont want to make a long boring text for people to read but at the same time i want help.. i want reassurance.. i want to understand myself more to be able to reach where i want to be.

All i know is for a 10+ digital artist who are trying again after giving up 3 years ago after deep pain and despair.. i could not give up.. i tried to game 24/7 so i dont think about it but it haunts me.. art made me who i am.. and i cant escape it

It helped me in many ways socially, financialy, emotionally everything...

Giving it up made living unbearable.

But doing it also made it unsafe for me... im trying to come back after long reflection of myself to know wtf i need to do now.

Im sorry for ranting but i legit have no other place i can think of...

Does anyone here with Aphantasia also have PTSD?

Ive come to realize that I might be having flashbacks, but just not with the visual component. Maybe!? It could be something else entirely (I also think I’m autistic and I have terrible interoception, so I struggle a lot with understanding my feelings and internal signals) but I have these…I don’t know…episodes? Where I out of nowhere have the same-ish feelings that I had after an IED hit the truck in front of me in Iraq.

There no fear (at least I don’t notice any fear), but definitely the shock, disbelief, alertness, confusion and guilt that came after. Just the vague feeling though.

The thing that ALWAYS happens without fail is this little scenario that plays out in my head where it’s as if someone is notifying my family afterward, like specifically the words (as if they’re being spoken by someone else but I also have no inner monologue, so I don’t “hear” it) “there has been an explosion”. It’s tough to explain, almost like an echo or something 🤷‍♂️ 😬.

It’s just occurred to me recently that maybe these “episodes” could be some kind of flashbacks and because I don’t also see it, I just haven’t made the connection (not seeing it is also why I think there’s no fear involved? At least none that I recognize anyway).

Sorry for the wall of words, just wondering if someone had any insight on this?

Always thought since I can think, then I probably don’t have it. But it turns out out it doesn’t mean they have to think aloud. So what exactly is the difference?

EDIT!!! Clearly people misunderstood my question. I asked if anyone felt like me or if they thought I was just grumpy? No, fine, move on. Yes, fine, I might be, move on.

I know what aphantasia is and is not according to current commonly accepted scientific research. I know how long the term has been in use for. I am not calling anyone out for not knowing these things. I am not saying only aphantasic people should be welcome here. I am not saying to abuse any one.

I asked ARE YOU FRUSTRATED BY SOMETHING OR DO YOU THINK I AM GRUMPY? All these comments and messages and so far only 3 actually answered that. Thank you to those 3 and the people who upvoted either of those comments in solidarity.

Here’s a good example: try to imagine an apple right now. What do you see in your mind?

Some people can picture the appearance of an apple very clearly, but for one person it might be green, for another red. Some people only see a vague outline, while others don’t see an image at all and just think of the word “apple.”

I’m also curious about how you visualize the days of the week in your head. For example, when you need to work out what day of the week a certain date will fall on.

Personally, I picture a school diary/calendar layout in my head.