19
Aphantasia and Hypnotism?
(lemmy.zip)
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 14 Mar 2026
19 points (100.0% liked)
Asklemmy
53540 readers
752 users here now
A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions
If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!
- Open-ended question
- Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
- Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
- Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
- An actual topic of discussion
Looking for support?
Looking for a community?
- Lemmyverse: community search
- sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
- !lemmy411@lemmy.ca: a community for finding communities
~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~
founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
As an aphant I cannot begin to imagine salivating by thinking of biting a lemon.
I believe some aphants can have smell and taste memories since it only has to do with a lack of visual imagine. Just like some cannot hear inner speech.
I cannot say it's impossible but I've never believed in hypnotizism.
I think a lot of people misunderstand hypnosis. It’s just putting your brain in a relaxed state (theta waves) that you normally experience when you sleep and dream. If you experience that state when you are asleep, you can also experience it awake. It’s just a matter of finding the right relaxation technique.
One thing I didn’t mention in my comment is that for people who struggle to visualize, we just do a progressive muscle relaxation induction rather than a visualization. No need to imagine anything.
I'll be the first to admit that I don't fully understand hypnosis.
I don't really dream that much. I normally fall asleep and then just wake up. I've had dreams before and I can't say that I saw images or not. I want to say that I did see images because I would describe them as being very vivid and real like almost like I was experiencing it rather than just thinking. But when I wake up I cannot recall any of the images but know how the things in the dream looked and would recall them like I saw something in the real world.
But if my muscles are relaxed how is that supposed to put my brain in a relaxed state?