One in fifty people have Aphantasia. And they probably have no idea.

What in the what is ‘Aphantasia’?

Close your eyes and picture yourself walking along a beautiful beach. Picture the horizon and and the beautiful colours os the sun setting over the ocean. Now open your eyes.

Did you have a clear picture of that beach and sunset?

If you couldn’t conjure up those images in your head, you probably have the condition scientists only just discovered this year – Aphantasia.

Aphantasia is the inability to visualise mental images. You know people say they see things in their ‘mind’s eye’? Aphantasia is when you have a blind mind’s eye. And the reason its only just been discovered is that most people with the condition don’t realise that they’re different to anyone else.

According to BBC News, a team at the University of Exeter coined the term this year while studying people who struggle to visualise anything when their eyes are closed. Professor Adam Zemen, in charge of the study, told BBC News:

“People who have contacted us say they are really delighted that this has been recognised and has been given a name, because they have been trying to explain to people for years that there is this oddity that they find hard to convey to others.”

So… Has your mind just been blown? Are one of the people who didn’t realise that they are DIFFERENT TO EVERYBODY ELSE? Do you just see a barren wasteland of emptiness whenever your eyes are closed? You probably have Aphantasia, friend.

Soz.