No general pathological significance of aphantasia: An evaluation based on criteria for mental disorders

Scandinavian Journal of Psychology (2022)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

As awareness of the phenomenon of aphantasia (= lack of voluntary imagery) has increased in recent years, many psychotherapists ponder its clinical implications. The present study investigates whether aphantasia meets the criteria for mental disorders, i.e. statistical rarity, impairment in activities of daily living, violation of social norms and inappropriate behavior and personal distress. Prevalence of aphantasia was determined meta-analytically based on 3,543 participants. An international sample of 156 participants with aphantasia (58.3% male; Mage = 35.23) and 131 controls (65.6% male; Mage = 28.88) was assessed with the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, the Questionnaire for the Assessment of Everyday Memory Performance and the Aphantasia Distress Questionnaire, as well as measures of depression, anxiety and well-being. The prevalence of aphantasia was estimated at 3.5 to 4.8%. Participants with aphantasia scored significantly lower than controls on every day and autobiographical memory, but not on theory of mind. A subgroup of 34.7% of participants with aphantasia reported distress significantly associated with lower well-being and high levels of anxiety and depression. The level of distress increased with poorer performance in autobiographical memory and theory of mind. Although aphantasia meets the criterion of statistical rarity, the impact on activities of daily living and personal distress is too weak to justify a classification as a mental disorder. In a subgroup, however, distress can reach clinically relevant levels. In individual cases, it is therefore advisable to conduct a psychological assessment, for example by means of the Aphantasia Distress Questionnaire.

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 103,401

External links

  • This entry has no external links. Add one.
Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Aphantasia and involuntary imagery.Raquel Krempel & Merlin Monzel - 2024 - Consciousness and Cognition 120 (C):103679.
The Visualizer's Fallacy: Why Aphantasia Skepticism Underestimates the Dynamics of Cognition.Christian O. Scholz - 2024 - Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society 46:151-158.
Aphantasia as imagery blindsight.Matthias Michel, Jorge Morales, Ned Block & Hakwan Lau - 2025 - Trends in Cognitive Sciences 29 (1):p. 8-9.
Aphantasia: a philosophical approach.Joel J. Lorenzatti - forthcoming - Philosophical Psychology.

Analytics

Added to PP
2023-01-03

Downloads
0

6 months
0

Historical graph of downloads

Sorry, there are not enough data points to plot this chart.
How can I increase my downloads?