Lost imagery after illness / trauma / depression

People who report they could once visualise, then lost the ability after a discrete event — most often a concussion or a bout of COVID.

What people actually say

Concussion as the precipitating event

The most frequent trigger named in this sub-theme is a head injury, with posters dating their loss precisely to it.

"A concussion brought on my aphantasia too." 2018 · t1_eb5q9cz ↗

"I lost my ability to visualize and daydream." 2022 · t3_u5j7ig ↗

"After 2-3 concussions and some traumatic events, I lost a ton of clarity." 2024 · t1_kuoqcc7 ↗

"Yeah I think I developed it after an untreated concussion as a kid. Fell off a trampoline and knocked my head really bad. Pretty sure I could visualise before that." 2026 · t1_o2okya4 ↗

COVID and long covid

A second cluster — concentrated from 2021 onward — attributes the loss to COVID, sometimes alongside or interleaved with brain fog.

"I got long haul covid a month after getting a bad concussion so not sure which one did it, but I acquired aphantasia." 2024 · t1_m1lid93 ↗

"A friend has long covid and said that the first sign that alerted her to it was realizing that she could no longer bring images to mind." 2022 · t1_iekl2zs ↗

"I have had it but since getting long covid it has become debilitating." 2025 · t1_n55be6v ↗

The emotional register: emptiness, loss, grief

Unlike posters who grew up aphantasic, those who acquired the condition tend to describe the loss as a felt absence, sometimes in stark terms.

"It's more than rough. I feel like I lost my soul." 2025 · t1_nhswl78 ↗

"I used to live in my head, but now i cant daydream at all. It so sad and makes me Feel empty." 2022 · t3_u5j7ig ↗

"I miss it." 2025 · t1_nwoikag ↗

Partial, slow, or fluctuating recovery

Several reports describe recovery as gradual, partial, or oddly non-monotonic — coming back in flickers, or briefly intensifying before fading.

"Slowly, I am starting to be able to visualize like before, only years after recovery." 2024 · t1_kuoqcc7 ↗

"Its been 5 years and I am starting to get it back a little so there may be might at the end of your tunnel" 2024 · t1_m1lid93 ↗

"After a concussion last year I could visualize for a few months." 2022 · t1_iqvu0d3 ↗

Across the years

The shape of the report is consistent across 2018–2026: a discrete event (almost always a concussion, or, from 2021 onward, COVID), a sudden or gradual loss of imagery, and an emotional aftermath ranging from sadness to grief. Volume is uneven — 2 chunks in 2018, 2 in 2019, then a single peak of 14 in 2022 (driven by a few popular threads on concussion and post-COVID loss), tapering through 2023–2026. The COVID strand only appears from 2021 onward, as expected; the concussion strand spans the full window. Reports of partial or slow recovery appear in both early and late years, suggesting this is a stable feature of the experience rather than a recent reframing.

Volume

Cross-references

• Parent theme: Acquired aphantasia