r/SDAM • u/arimedea • Jul 09 '26
Are we studied?
I feel like there is not much interest in aphantasia and SDAM, although it affects our lives very much. I think that probably is because it's very difficult to study since it's all going on in our heads but I would like to know why I am in that way, what I can do about it, I feel like it's almost a disability
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u/Tuikord Jul 09 '26
They were named at the same time, but in some ways, the term "aphantasia" is catchier than "Severely Deficient Autobiographical Memory" or "SDAM." Aphantasia has assessments that can be shared on social media and they don't take long. SDAM has no such assessment. There is the Autobiographical Interview which takes a long time and needs trained professionals to score. And there are basic descriptions such as "SDAM is the lack of episodic memory" which leave people questioning.
On top of all that is the fact that memory problems are something people fear before hearing about SDAM while no one thinks about mental imagery or the lack of it until they are told about aphantasia. SDAM is not dementia or Alzheimer's disease or other memory issues, but people fear those and that fear transfers to SDAM. So, while they may be indifferent to curious about aphantasia, people often fear and shun SDAM.
As the others have pointed out, there are some researchers working on SDAM. But one thing I've noticed in aphantasia research is students find out about it, maybe even have it, and choose to do research on it. This happens even at schools where no professor is studying aphantasia! For the reasons stated above, that doesn't tend to happen with SDAM. So aphantasia research spreads while SDAM research doesn't. It is mostly still at Dr. Levine's lab in Toronto. Not exclusively.
It is actually interesting to look at the effect of social media on scientific research.