Themes

Taxonomy of recurring topics in r/Aphantasia, derived by retrieval against seed queries (no per-chunk LLM tagging — the retrieval ranking is the tag, with the highest-scoring sub-theme winning per chunk).

Total sub-themes: 33. Total tag rows: 15368.

Per-theme reports under themes/<slug>.md. Year-by-year counts at data/theme_counts.csv.

Discovery moments

Stories about realising one has aphantasia.

• The "I thought everyone..." moment — 533 chunks tagged. Seeds: "I just realised I have aphantasia"; "I thought everyone could not visualise"; "found out I have aphantasia"
• Telling family / partner / friends — 600 chunks tagged. Seeds: "I told my wife I cannot picture things"; "explaining aphantasia to my partner"; "my parents reacted when I told them"
• Discovered through a viral post / Buzzfeed / John Green — 586 chunks tagged. Seeds: "buzzfeed quiz aphantasia"; "John Green tweet aphantasia"; "Reddit post about aphantasia made me realise"

What inner experience actually feels like

• Thinking in concepts / words / knowing — 600 chunks tagged. Seeds: "I think in concepts not images"; "knowing without seeing"; "verbal inner monologue aphantasia"
• Pure blackness / blank mind's eye — 589 chunks tagged. Seeds: "completely black when I close my eyes"; "no images at all just darkness"; "blank mind's eye"
• Voluntary vs involuntary imagery — 591 chunks tagged. Seeds: "I can dream visually but not picture awake"; "involuntary imagery flashes"; "hypnagogic imagery aphantasia"

Dreams and aphantasia

• Do aphantasics dream in pictures? — 581 chunks tagged. Seeds: "I dream visually but cannot picture awake"; "do aphantasics dream"; "lucid dreaming with aphantasia"
• No dreams at all — 399 chunks tagged. Seeds: "I never remember any dreams"; "aphantasia and not dreaming"

Memory without imagery

• Autobiographical memory — 591 chunks tagged. Seeds: "I cannot picture my own past"; "remembering my childhood without images"; "my memory feels like facts not scenes"
• Memory of loved ones — 582 chunks tagged. Seeds: "I cannot picture my mother's face"; "grief without being able to picture them"; "remembering deceased family with aphantasia"
• Face recognition / prosopagnosia overlap — 394 chunks tagged. Seeds: "I cannot picture faces"; "face blindness and aphantasia"

Reading and fiction

• What reading novels feels like — 595 chunks tagged. Seeds: "what reading fiction is like with aphantasia"; "I read but I do not see anything"; "novels without imagery"
• Skipping or struggling with descriptive prose — 389 chunks tagged. Seeds: "I skip descriptive passages in books"; "struggle to read fantasy world descriptions"

Creativity and making art

• Aphantasic artists / illustrators — 598 chunks tagged. Seeds: "I am an artist with aphantasia"; "I draw without being able to picture"; "Glen Keane Pixar aphantasia"
• Writers with aphantasia — 372 chunks tagged. Seeds: "I write fiction with aphantasia"; "Andy Weir aphantasia writing"

Careers and education

• STEM and abstract thinking — 569 chunks tagged. Seeds: "career as a programmer with aphantasia"; "math without visualising"; "engineering aphantasia advantage"
• Careers I chose / avoided — 394 chunks tagged. Seeds: "what jobs are easier with aphantasia"; "could not become an architect aphantasia"
• Childhood / school experiences — 398 chunks tagged. Seeds: "school was harder because I cannot visualise"; "geometry without mental images"

Relationships and emotions

• Hyperphantasic partner / family — 363 chunks tagged. Seeds: "my partner has hyperphantasia and I have aphantasia"; "explaining aphantasia to my hyperphantasic spouse"
• Emotional response and aphantasia — 392 chunks tagged. Seeds: "do I feel emotions less because of aphantasia"; "alexithymia and aphantasia"

Trauma and PTSD

• Protective effect against intrusive images — 592 chunks tagged. Seeds: "aphantasia and trauma protective"; "no flashbacks because of aphantasia"; "PTSD and not seeing intrusive images"

Tests, scoring, self-assessment

• The apple test — 386 chunks tagged. Seeds: "apple test aphantasia"; "rate your apple visualisation"
• VVIQ scoring and interpretation — 356 chunks tagged. Seeds: "what does my VVIQ score mean"; "scoring 16 on VVIQ"

Research findings discussed by users

• Zeman / Exeter research — 372 chunks tagged. Seeds: "Zeman aphantasia paper"; "Exeter aphantasia research"
• Pearson / UNSW research — 390 chunks tagged. Seeds: "Pearson aphantasia binocular rivalry"; "pupillometry aphantasia study"

Interventions, training, treatments

• Image Streaming and similar training — 400 chunks tagged. Seeds: "image streaming did it work"; "training my mind's eye"
• Psychedelics anecdotes — 397 chunks tagged. Seeds: "psilocybin aphantasia visualisation"; "ayahuasca aphantasia mind's eye"
• Meditation, hypnosis, visualisation practice — 399 chunks tagged. Seeds: "meditation visualisation with aphantasia"; "hypnosis to induce visualisation"

Acquired aphantasia

• Lost imagery after illness / trauma / depression — 596 chunks tagged. Seeds: "lost my visualisation after concussion"; "had imagery before but not now"; "aphantasia after long covid"

Co-occurring conditions

• Inner ear / inner voice (anauralia / anendophasia) — 400 chunks tagged. Seeds: "I cannot hear an inner voice"; "no inner monologue and no images"
• Synesthesia overlap — 200 chunks tagged. Seeds: "synesthesia and aphantasia"
• SDAM and autobiographical memory — 393 chunks tagged. Seeds: "SDAM and aphantasia"; "severely deficient autobiographical memory"

Spatial navigation and wayfinding

• How aphantasics navigate — 371 chunks tagged. Seeds: "how do I navigate without picturing routes"; "wayfinding without mental maps"