Why therapists should know about aphantasia

[firemonkey]

An old but interesting article.



December 10, 2015 by kotukutuku
Why therapists should know about aphantasia

Aphantasia is a newly coined term for the inability to visualise, or to see things with your mind’s eye. You can read about it in my previous post here, or follow the links at the bottom of this page.

Since aphantasia has been gaining some media attention, I have been pondering the implications for psychological therapies. I have recently started working in mental health, and have previous experience as a service user. An understanding of aphantasia is definitely important if you are working with people who experience this.

Why should therapists/counsellors know about aphantasia? I have a memory of sitting in a counselling room, my frustration increasing as my therapist insisted that I try to visualise a calm lake. As in previous sessions, I had said I didn’t want to do this as I knew it wasn’t helpful. He thought I should keep trying. I didn’t know at that time that some people could actually visualise, but I knew that thinking about a lake seemed a stupid way to try to relax. Relaxation visualisation is a technique which is quite often used by therapists, for example a “safe space” visualisation. This is going to be confusing, frustrating, and ultimately a waste of time if the client has aphantasia.

https://kotukutukuinspring.wordpress...ut-aphantasia/



The first time I knew my experience was not normal was in 2005.I did a relaxation class which involved visualisation. We were told to imagine being on a beach with the feel of the sand,warmth of the sun, sound of the seagulls etc ie to capture the beach experience in our minds. Nothing came to me. It dawned on me that other people though must be able to experience something or else the whole thing would be a colossal waste of time for everyone .This was years before the word aphantasia came to be used.