Aphantasia, Hyperphantasia and The Problem With Labeling

WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.759 --> 00:00:10.830 All right, all ride, it's Sunday. Johnny. Emotions are daily emotions. 2 00:00:10.949 --> 00:00:16.269 Is The podcast. That means I do a podcast every day and if 3 00:00:16.309 --> 00:00:19.629 you're listening to these you're going to hear them backwards. So it's best to 4 00:00:19.829 --> 00:00:25.339 just subscribe and listen every day. So we're going to have a guest today 5 00:00:27.059 --> 00:00:33.500 and the guests didn't show up and g shock was late and unprepared. Some 6 00:00:34.060 --> 00:00:39.649 thoroughly frustrated, but I'm going to do a podcast anyways. Just kind of 7 00:00:39.649 --> 00:00:44.609 feel like, you know, I think everything personally, so sometimes I feel 8 00:00:44.609 --> 00:00:48.649 like people are just trying to fuck with my Hie, just kind of getting 9 00:00:48.729 --> 00:00:53.960 by doing the minimum. So if you just give me a second, so 10 00:00:54.039 --> 00:00:57.799 I'm going to go jump around the room for about thirty seconds and shake it 11 00:00:57.880 --> 00:01:25.180 off. Be Right backumum, you met. So there's a bunch of articles 12 00:01:25.260 --> 00:01:33.650 circulating around the Internet this week about obesity and exercise and depression, like specifically 13 00:01:33.689 --> 00:01:38.489 exercise and depression, and that always presents a conundrum like, well, how 14 00:01:38.530 --> 00:01:44.129 do I exercise if I'm depressed? And that's a super valid question, having 15 00:01:44.209 --> 00:01:49.319 experienced clinical depression myself, but it's important. It's important one to talk about. 16 00:01:49.319 --> 00:01:53.959 So I was I want to talk about that particular thing with the guests, 17 00:01:55.120 --> 00:01:57.159 and I think what happened with the guests was this person just double booked 18 00:01:57.159 --> 00:02:01.750 and forgot to cancel the first booking, so shows up twice in my calendly 19 00:02:01.909 --> 00:02:07.069 links. Anyway, I want to bring that up with with them because I 20 00:02:07.110 --> 00:02:10.509 think that'd be really interesting. And I saw something else that I kind of 21 00:02:10.629 --> 00:02:20.379 connected it to the same situation, mostly because it's belly that the GUT biome 22 00:02:21.099 --> 00:02:27.939 of a mother forms. The emotions of the infant, of the feat is 23 00:02:28.020 --> 00:02:31.930 first, obviously, and then the baby the POPs out. It seems obvious 24 00:02:32.009 --> 00:02:36.930 when you say it out loud, but it's a lot more intricate than that 25 00:02:37.050 --> 00:02:40.409 if you realize that the gut biome that we're talking about has the same type 26 00:02:40.449 --> 00:02:45.840 of neurotransmitters that we have in our brain and fact, even more of them. 27 00:02:45.879 --> 00:02:50.120 A lot of people call the GUT biome like the brain in your belly. 28 00:02:50.919 --> 00:02:53.120 So the brain, the belly all interconnected. And I want to hear 29 00:02:53.159 --> 00:03:00.069 more about how exercise effects depression. So we'll hear from an expert and I 30 00:03:00.150 --> 00:03:04.669 think that person will be here next Sunday. So you've got five, six 31 00:03:04.789 --> 00:03:09.069 more podcasts between now and then and I'll flag it when they're on. Cool, 32 00:03:09.110 --> 00:03:15.340 cool. So today I wanted to talk about something totally different than I 33 00:03:15.419 --> 00:03:19.860 just found out about. About a year ago, I put it off, 34 00:03:21.219 --> 00:03:23.539 didn't really think about it. It's too much to think about and nothing to 35 00:03:23.659 --> 00:03:28.729 think about all at once. It's kind of mind blowing. So kind of 36 00:03:28.770 --> 00:03:35.409 a trigger warning here if you're not in the mind space to accept some wild 37 00:03:35.689 --> 00:03:39.729 information. It's not deadly, won't hurt you, but it might blow your 38 00:03:39.770 --> 00:03:44.439 mind and setch off into a different space, at least temporarily. So the 39 00:03:44.560 --> 00:03:49.319 thing I found out about. I learned about is called a fantasia or a 40 00:03:49.479 --> 00:03:58.830 fantasia. It's spelled a Ph a n Ta Sia, a fantasia. It's 41 00:03:58.909 --> 00:04:04.629 the opposite of hyper phantasia, and I'll get into kind of the issue I 42 00:04:04.710 --> 00:04:09.189 have with the mislabeling all ready, right here from the start, but let's 43 00:04:09.229 --> 00:04:15.139 get into it. So affantasia, it's kind of a word that means lack 44 00:04:15.259 --> 00:04:19.019 of imagination, like a phantasia. Phantasia means imagination in Latin. So a 45 00:04:19.139 --> 00:04:29.050 fantasia means lack of imagination and therefore hyperfantasia. The other disorder is hyper imagination. 46 00:04:30.050 --> 00:04:34.769 Got It, got okay, but it's not really imagination. They're talking 47 00:04:34.850 --> 00:04:41.480 about its visualization. And let me explain the difference. And this is kind 48 00:04:41.480 --> 00:04:46.040 of especially easy because we're on a podcast. It's all audio. So I'm 49 00:04:46.120 --> 00:04:51.120 closing my eyes. Now close your eyes and now imagine an apple. Let's 50 00:04:51.199 --> 00:04:58.670 just call it a green apple, a bright green apple with maybe one little 51 00:04:58.670 --> 00:05:00.790 leaf up the top. The leaf is a slightly different color, green, 52 00:05:00.870 --> 00:05:05.110 of course, much darker, little brown stem, you know, kind of 53 00:05:05.149 --> 00:05:11.300 a HMM, I guess we call a reflection of light, and you can 54 00:05:11.379 --> 00:05:14.259 just rotate it in your mind. Okay, you see that Green Apple? 55 00:05:15.220 --> 00:05:18.459 Cool, I just described it pretty well. Right. Well, I don't 56 00:05:18.459 --> 00:05:23.370 see shit. There's nothing in my mind. When I close my eyes, 57 00:05:23.490 --> 00:05:27.689 it is just black. The words I just said or words that I know, 58 00:05:27.889 --> 00:05:31.569 because I'm creative and I can. I remember the description of a green 59 00:05:31.610 --> 00:05:35.240 apple I saw in the store the other day. So try that on yourself. 60 00:05:35.279 --> 00:05:40.199 It's super easy and it's mind blowing once you realize you have this or 61 00:05:40.240 --> 00:05:44.480 not. So about three percent of the population, they estimate, have this 62 00:05:44.639 --> 00:05:47.600 condition. What do you see? And pick anything really like. Pick the 63 00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:53.110 thing you're most familiar with. The back of your hands, your mom's face, 64 00:05:53.829 --> 00:05:57.949 your favorite coffee Mug, like now, try to imagine it in your 65 00:05:57.990 --> 00:06:02.269 mind. Like I can imagine it, but I can't actually see anything. 66 00:06:02.350 --> 00:06:08.019 When I close my eyes it's black. There's some undulating lights from you know, 67 00:06:08.259 --> 00:06:11.899 whichever direction I turned my head, the light kind of changes a little 68 00:06:11.899 --> 00:06:15.939 bit inside behind my eyelids, but it's black. No matter what I described 69 00:06:16.019 --> 00:06:18.290 to you. I could read from a book, I could just pull things 70 00:06:18.329 --> 00:06:23.889 from my imagination that I've seen in the past or can imagine in the future, 71 00:06:24.250 --> 00:06:28.290 but I don't actually see see any of it in my mental imagery. 72 00:06:29.290 --> 00:06:31.850 And the thing I find mostly strange is that I make my living in the 73 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:38.279 creative field, particularly graphic design, like I'm a brand designer at a marketing 74 00:06:38.399 --> 00:06:43.920 firm. And Yeah, I can't see anything in my mind, so weird, 75 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:46.589 but I can imagine everything. That's kind of the problem I have with 76 00:06:48.149 --> 00:06:55.029 the terminology they've come up with for this. A fantasia, hyperfantasia, basically 77 00:06:55.069 --> 00:07:00.509 lack of imagination or hyper imagination. But the thing is it's not imagination. 78 00:07:00.550 --> 00:07:04.620 I've tons of imagination, like all throughout school that was a problem the kids, 79 00:07:04.620 --> 00:07:08.379 I mean the teachers, wrote on the report cards. Well, he 80 00:07:08.459 --> 00:07:11.899 doesn't? He sure? As a vivid imagination. Well, that's how it's 81 00:07:11.939 --> 00:07:15.290 conveyed, because I do have a vivid imagination, but under this labeling, 82 00:07:15.970 --> 00:07:25.850 their kind of convoluting visual mental imagery with imagination, like the creation of thought, 83 00:07:26.170 --> 00:07:30.079 and I think that's going to do a disservice to this whole cause moving 84 00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:40.079 forward. That said, can you do it like close your eyes? Freaky? 85 00:07:40.079 --> 00:07:43.079 Huh? Well, I guess it's not freaky if you can totally imagine 86 00:07:43.120 --> 00:07:48.149 it. But imagine closing your eyes and always just seeing black. I'm used 87 00:07:48.149 --> 00:07:53.389 to it. I just I didn't know that people could actually see see things. 88 00:07:54.029 --> 00:07:56.949 Of course, the way you see a green apple, for example, 89 00:07:56.990 --> 00:08:00.459 might be different. If I didn't give it so much detail, you probably 90 00:08:00.500 --> 00:08:05.220 just would have imagined any green apple you wanted to. And although I mean 91 00:08:05.579 --> 00:08:13.730 the idea of this came about, I think in the S, it finally 92 00:08:13.730 --> 00:08:18.850 kind of rose, is to popularity again when they did a real scientific study 93 00:08:18.970 --> 00:08:22.569 in about two thousand and fifteen. So that's why it's that's why most people 94 00:08:22.569 --> 00:08:26.160 haven't heard of it. Just such a underlining thing. And again it doesn't 95 00:08:26.160 --> 00:08:33.440 really affect your daytoday, performance at all, it's just something I'm missing that 96 00:08:33.639 --> 00:08:37.000 other people have. But then is that a bad thing or good thing? 97 00:08:37.320 --> 00:08:46.429 Because depending on your your feeling about mental differences, let's call them so, 98 00:08:46.590 --> 00:08:52.509 for example, people with bipolar disorder, for example, is a great one. 99 00:08:54.149 --> 00:09:01.179 Some people say I have bipolar and some people swear the correct terminology should 100 00:09:01.179 --> 00:09:05.940 be I am bipolar. So the difference there's people to say I am bipolar 101 00:09:05.019 --> 00:09:11.409 are typically proud of what bipolar can do for them personally, like sometimes that 102 00:09:11.490 --> 00:09:16.889 Hypermania. I mean the Hypomania helps you achieve great things and if the depression 103 00:09:18.009 --> 00:09:20.970 part is tolerable, well you can appear to be a genius in real life. 104 00:09:20.970 --> 00:09:26.120 So I get why some people say I am bipolar as if they're proud 105 00:09:26.159 --> 00:09:28.720 of it. Now people who keep getting fired from jobs and kicked out of 106 00:09:28.759 --> 00:09:35.080 school and spend half the day in their bedroom when darkned curtains, they're going 107 00:09:35.120 --> 00:09:39.309 to more likely say I have by polar because it feels like a sickness. 108 00:09:39.669 --> 00:09:46.269 which it is even more controversial is the autism spectrum disorders, like a lot 109 00:09:46.350 --> 00:09:52.779 of people say I am autistic versus I have autism. Again, controversial. 110 00:09:54.059 --> 00:09:56.659 Not Going to get into it. I on the low low end of the 111 00:09:56.700 --> 00:10:01.899 spectrum. So I can totally get it mixed in with the other mental disorders 112 00:10:01.980 --> 00:10:07.889 that get diagnosed when the first thing isn't treated appropriately. Anyway, my point 113 00:10:07.970 --> 00:10:16.210 being in the future time will tell whether people accept this affantasia as a benefit 114 00:10:16.250 --> 00:10:20.840 or as a deficit. Because personally, I wasn't missing anything and I kind 115 00:10:20.879 --> 00:10:26.159 of like the piece and quiet when I close my eyes, when I took 116 00:10:26.200 --> 00:10:28.159 acid and you close your eyes, or when you take acid and close your 117 00:10:28.159 --> 00:10:33.159 eyes, I see way more crazy shit in my eyelids than I do when 118 00:10:33.159 --> 00:10:37.549 they're open. But again, I can't visual I can't like direct those crazy 119 00:10:37.590 --> 00:10:41.350 lights, you know what I mean. But it's not going to help unless 120 00:10:41.429 --> 00:10:46.549 we get the labeling right. To say somebody who doesn't have visual imagery doesn't 121 00:10:46.590 --> 00:10:52.059 have imagination, well, that's pretty fucked up. So again here's a problem 122 00:10:52.100 --> 00:10:56.620 with the labeling, the marketing, the branding, all that stuff. However, 123 00:10:56.659 --> 00:11:01.179 if you think you have this condition, it appears that there is a 124 00:11:01.419 --> 00:11:05.649 thing called the affantasia network, and I'm not sure what it is exactly. 125 00:11:07.250 --> 00:11:11.009 Obviously some sort of group or community. It doesn't look like a social network 126 00:11:11.049 --> 00:11:18.919 or anything like that, but that's at a fantasiacom. AP H A NTAS 127 00:11:18.600 --> 00:11:24.759 I is a FFANTASIACOM, so check it out. I mean we're just be 128 00:11:24.919 --> 00:11:30.000 cognizant that that's an interesting thing that some people have and again, just one 129 00:11:31.120 --> 00:11:33.350 one of a million different ways we see the world so much differently one from 130 00:11:33.350 --> 00:11:37.590 another, when we appear so similar. All right, anyway, something to 131 00:11:37.669 --> 00:11:43.669 think about. So tomorrow, Monday, back at it, whatever it is 132 00:11:43.830 --> 00:11:48.940 that you do each Monday. I'm going to go to work, get my 133 00:11:48.059 --> 00:11:54.179 work on. HMM, trying to do great things. I got big plans. 134 00:11:54.299 --> 00:11:56.100 We'll see if they work out, who knows, but I do have 135 00:11:56.179 --> 00:12:00.580 to get up and try to have to get up and try each morning. 136 00:12:01.490 --> 00:12:05.769 If you don't tomorrow, cool. Enjoy sleeping in, watching prices right, 137 00:12:05.090 --> 00:12:09.690 whatever it is you do. I appreciate you listening. Thanks for listening. 138 00:12:11.610 --> 00:12:20.600 It definitely is nice to be heard. And now back to the wall.