I have aphantasia and schizophrenia. I've never had a visual or auditory hallucination, but I have had plenty of delusions and cognitive dysfunction. Ever since learning about aphantasia I've wondered if it has protected me from these types of hallucinations. Maybe someone should run a study on this?
A common post among the people over at /r/schizophrenia is that the so called negative symptoms of schizophrenia (anhedonia, apathy, reduced social drive, cognitive impairment, etc) are just as bad if not worse than the positive symptoms (hallucinations and delusions). Unfortunately the negative symptoms are not adequately treated by any medicine and are in fact made worse (!) by medication. This is probably the number one reason why schizophrenics quit their medication - the medications are simply so shitty that people would rather risk the positive symptoms than experience worse negative symptoms.
There's no good research directions for new schizophrenia medications either. Schizophrenia research certainly isn't discussed (or have funds raised for it) as much as Alzheimer's research despite the fact that 3.5 million people in the US have it, and it affects people at a much younger age.
Edit: Before starting medication I noticed some visual disturbances related to schizophrenia often known as sensory gating deficits. I would get an overload of visual sensory information to the point where I would notice nearly every detail in my visual range simultaneously (that's the best way I can explain it). At times it was actually quite beautiful since the whole world would pop out in vivid color. However as soon as motion was introduced it quickly became overwhelming.
That's an interesting thought. I (think I) have aphantasia and I could easily see how you'd be less inclined to hallucinations, intrusive thoughts and the like.
If you think you have aphantasia, you almost certainly do. I was in the same boat, but after conversations with a few friends I found that the ones which don't give very literal descriptions of their imaginations.
It isn't in any way an analogy, they literally do see the things they're imagining. It's like a hallucination, except with control and full awareness that it's not real.
It's easy to see how that could turn into actual hallucinations, I'll agree.
Jugglerofworlds|6 years ago
A common post among the people over at /r/schizophrenia is that the so called negative symptoms of schizophrenia (anhedonia, apathy, reduced social drive, cognitive impairment, etc) are just as bad if not worse than the positive symptoms (hallucinations and delusions). Unfortunately the negative symptoms are not adequately treated by any medicine and are in fact made worse (!) by medication. This is probably the number one reason why schizophrenics quit their medication - the medications are simply so shitty that people would rather risk the positive symptoms than experience worse negative symptoms.
There's no good research directions for new schizophrenia medications either. Schizophrenia research certainly isn't discussed (or have funds raised for it) as much as Alzheimer's research despite the fact that 3.5 million people in the US have it, and it affects people at a much younger age.
Edit: Before starting medication I noticed some visual disturbances related to schizophrenia often known as sensory gating deficits. I would get an overload of visual sensory information to the point where I would notice nearly every detail in my visual range simultaneously (that's the best way I can explain it). At times it was actually quite beautiful since the whole world would pop out in vivid color. However as soon as motion was introduced it quickly became overwhelming.
throwa20200212|6 years ago
himlion|6 years ago
Filligree|6 years ago
It isn't in any way an analogy, they literally do see the things they're imagining. It's like a hallucination, except with control and full awareness that it's not real.
It's easy to see how that could turn into actual hallucinations, I'll agree.