The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma

Therapy with aphantasia and SDAM can be problematic. As you noted, you have PTSD flashbacks, but they aren't visual, and many therapists don't understand that. Many techniques require visualization and/or reliving past events, and we can't do that. Some diagnostic criteria assume visualization and can point to the wrong diagnosis if you don't have it. As for what SDAM is, the simple explanation is the inability to relive past events from a first-person point of view. That is the lack of episodic memory. Semantic memory (facts) can be good or bad. Check out the FAQ of this sub. It is quite good. Back to therapy, one suggestion is to find a therapist that works with neurodivergences. They tend to have more tools available to them and are more open to different internal experiences. To explain aphantasia, I would start with this guide from the Aphantasia Network for just basic information. https://aphantasia.com/guide/ Unseen Minds: A Therapist's Guide to Multisensory Aphantasia and Invisible Cognitive Differences– by Sassy Smith is an excellent guide for therapists. She does address SDAM as well. I actually wish all therapists would read it. It is on Amazon: https://a.co/d/0472wf0F Since you have SDAM as well (maybe a quarter to half of us do), then that is problematic with many therapies as well, as documented in Unseen Minds. Body based therapy can work when your mind doesn’t remember: The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk, although some of the techniques may still need to be modified to work with other cognitive differences. https://a.co/d/0a3skjyh In 2024 Dr. Zeman did a review of the first decade of research. It has lots of citations if your therapist wants to dig in. https://www.cell.com/trends/cognitive-sciences/fulltext/S1364-6613(24)00034-2 Here is an update of that review: A decade of aphantasia research – and still going! - ScienceDirect This paper specifically on therapy and aphantasia was published after Dr. Zeman's review article. It has specific information about some of what works and what doesn't. https://online.ucpress.edu/collabra/article/10/1/127416/204719 If you are more for video than scientific papers, here is an interview with 2 of the researchers on that paper. It is very informative: mental-health-day And here are a couple articles they wrote for the Aphantasia Network: https://aphantasia.com/article/mental-imagery-ptsd-neurodiversity-treatment/ https://aphantasia.com/article/science/imagery-in-mental-healthcare/ In other research, Dr. Merlin Monzel looked at aphantasia and anxiety treatment via imaginal exposure. Here is an interview with him on it. https://aphantasia.com/video/aphantasia-and-anxiety-treatment-rethinking-therapeutic-approaches/ And the paper: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/psyp.14756

Just 2 days ago someone posted here about successfully using EDMR as an aphant. I'm guessing that your therapist knows about your aphantasia and is attempting to adjust. I do have some suggestions to help you and your therapist work together. If they don't really get aphantasia, I would start with this guide from the Aphantasia Network for just basic information. https://aphantasia.com/guide/ Unseen Minds: A Therapist's Guide to Multisensory Aphantasia and Invisible Cognitive Differences– by Sassy Smith is an excellent guide for therapists. I actually wish all therapists would read it. It is on Amazon: https://a.co/d/0472wf0F If you happen to have SDAM as well (maybe a quarter to half of us do), then that is problematic with many therapies as well, as documented in Unseen Minds. Body based therapy can work when your mind doesn’t remember: The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk, although some of the techniques may still need to be modified to work with other cognitive differences. https://a.co/d/0a3skjyh In 2024 Dr. Zeman did a review of the first decade of research. It has lots of citations if your therapist wants to dig in. https://www.cell.com/trends/cognitive-sciences/fulltext/S1364-6613(24)00034-2 Here is an update of that review: A decade of aphantasia research – and still going! - ScienceDirect This paper specifically on therapy and aphantasia was published after Dr. Zeman's review article. It has specific information about some of what works and what doesn't. https://online.ucpress.edu/collabra/article/10/1/127416/204719 If you are more for video than scientific papers, here is an interview with 2 of the researchers on that paper. It is very informative: mental-health-day And here are a couple articles they wrote for the Aphantasia Network: https://aphantasia.com/article/mental-imagery-ptsd-neurodiversity-treatment/ https://aphantasia.com/article/science/imagery-in-mental-healthcare/ In other research, Dr. Merlin Monzel looked at aphantasia and anxiety treatment via imaginal exposure. Here is an interview with him on it. https://aphantasia.com/video/aphantasia-and-anxiety-treatment-rethinking-therapeutic-approaches/ And the paper: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/psyp.14756