MY APHANTASIA

I only realised that I had Aphantasia two years ago. I now understand how it had affected my learning style at school and in my work life. If I look at my four brain model below to explain how aphantasia affects me, then my analysis is that I am:

1.??????More left brain than right brain, therefore, tend to use logic [IQ] over feelings [EQ]. However, I am stronger with numbers than words [hence initially, I became an accountant]

2.??????With words I have never read a fiction book, firstly, because I can’t visualise what the writer is saying and secondly, I don’t know the ending of the book, so it seems meaningless to read it.

3.??????With non-fiction, I know what I am looking for, therefore I search for the key points in the book. I do not read the examples or the case studies.

4.??????With Sensing [PQ-Body] and Feeling [EQ] my senses are very stable, because I do not attach visualisation to my experiences. The right brain is a pattern matching-predictive system. The pattern match takes a past event with an emotional and or sensing experience attached to it. Therefore, for me, past memories are limited or not strong, compared to the actual experience, because it has no visual recall. I have counselled over 3500 clients, 70% of who are mandated to see me by the courts and have been charged with criminal offences or domestic violence. I can listen to their stories and “know” their thoughts, feelings and senses, but can’t visualise what they are saying. I don’t believe I could ever suffer from burnout, because of my aphantasia.

5.??????Very strong in SQ [spiritual or intuitive] and very weak with PQ [body], therefore, I stay away from doing any skill that requires using my hands. For example, I find it very difficult to put together an “Ikea product, such as a desk.” I am a “big picture” person with IQ, EQ and SQ , but not PQ and I am not detailed, therefore, I can’t concentrate on the detailed instructions and can’t memorise the illustrations, so I don’t attempt the task. If they measured only PQ, rather than IQ, then I would be labelled both on the ADHD [can’t focus on detail] and Autism spectrum [can’t see the big picture]

6.??????SQ or conceptual thinking has become my main way of learning, because it doesn’t require visualisation. The great advantage of not having visualisation is that it allows me to develop ideas faster once I have created a conceptual framework. A person who can visualise the future, will have to convert it into words to work with it and develop the idea. This is a left brain function and processes at a speed of 40 bits per second [words]. With left brain logic you have to “know about it”, however, with SQ, a right brain function, you just “Know” and the right brain processes at 40 million pieces per second. [electrically]

7.??????Time is not such a limiting issue with SQ processing. For example, I had a dispute with my father at age 17, mainly to make more decisions by myself ?[I wanted to be a counsellor, rather than an accountant]. My solution was to say to myself that “My father is 57 and I am 17, I will just wait 40 years and I know my life will be great then. So at age 57 I stopped being an accountant and completed a Master of Arts in Counselling and started counselling. Likewise, I started a new counselling therapy called “Cognitive Principle Therapy” in 2003, with just 2 principles. I have since spent 20 years and 20,000 hours building the model and “I know” how I will be using it in 2045, when I am 97, which is to challenge a concept called “Singularity” predicted by Ray Kurzeil, head of ?Google R & D, where one computer will make all humans redundant in doing paid work.

My suggestion is that you try to identify your strength areas [4 brains] where aphantasia is an advantage.