Hyperphantasia - The Joy and Challenges of Vivid Imagery in Therapy
So many of the autistic clients I work with are hyperphantic, meaning that they easily experience and access images in their mind, sometimes extremely vivid imagery! The mental images brought up can be incredibly detailed and for some, alarmingly intense. They can often be sucked into a deep monotropic or hyperfixated tunnel when watching a film, reading a book, even doing a puzzle — as their mindbody is pulled into a sort of unreality, into their imagination.
People with hyperphantasia are also more likely to have a highly receptive interoceptive system, meaning our internal feelings and sensations can be more profound, we can more easily feel our heart beat, our stomach churn, internal pains, and signs of hunger or thirst. It is like our detailed nervous system is using all of its intensity all at once and certainly for me my mental imagery can easily spark or intensify internal feelings of anxiety, desire, even hunger if I am imagining a chocolate fondant!
When someone is describing something, our hyperphantic processing can build images quickly, almost like we are where the person is describing. It isn’t usually just outlines or shapes, its full blown detailed, incredibly life-like images. It can almost feel like an out-of-body experience when we tune into our hyperphantic imagery processing, we can experience similar sensations and feel like we are in the environment or with the people we are imagining. For some of us, this has led to medical professionals believing we are experiencing hallucinations or psychosis. For some, this might be the case, but so often in my experience, it is just complete ignorance on the medical professionals part. An inability for so many in the medicalised world to understand that autistic people can actually have extremely vivid imaginations!
A 4k Experiencing
For some of us hyperphantics, we also experience synaesthesia. Where we not only experience intense and vivid imagery, but we also get a bit of blurring or crossover of our senses. For me, music and emotions can not only evoke highly detailed imagery but also ignite smells, touch, and even taste of the music! So I am not just using my auditory sense to hear the music, but the other senses are kicked into action from the imagery that is built up. Words, numbers, or phrases have different colours or feelings. For others like ‘pondersomepete’ at Neuroclastic its peoples names that create other senses to be involved.
Kandisky’s Composition 8. An artist who likely was also a Synaesthete.
The 4k Experience in Therapy
Being hyperphantic and a synaesthete as a therapist, has largely been a fantastic element to my therapeutic approach. Not only does it mean that many of my clients can feel highly validated as I can develop a real sense and genuinely imagine what they might be experiencing. It also means that it is easier for me as the therapist to more authentically understanding of my clients — because a big part of my being in the session is deeply in their phenomenological field (their world).
The challenges with hyperphantasia are that it can be very absorbing, we can very easily get stuck in that monotropic tunnel, and it can be super hard to pull ourselves, or be pulled, out. I sometimes have dreams so vivid that it can feel like days afterwards that I am still partly STILL within that dream when awake. I have to be very careful about working with clients with specific trauma, as my imagery can be extremely intense and difficult to shift. This doesn’t mean that I do not work with them, but my awareness of my hyperphantasia and synaesthesia now means that I am careful to leave larger lengths of time between clients or ensure that I have certain days rest in the week.
Because hyperphantics imagery can be so detailed, together with that common link between a highly receptive interoception, we can often have extremely intense emotions as well, or be hyperempaths. We know that most autistic people actually experience intense empathy rather than the (bs) story of us not having empathy! If I am pulled into someones description of a trauma, my mind will easily create that image, my synaesthesia can easily make that image into a 4k experience of senses, and my hyperempathy can explode all of that with deep intense emotions that flood my mindbody. I feel it all, and experience it all, like it might be happening to me.
Again, super helpful to have this as a therapist, as long as I am aware, reflective, and keep myself safe with my own way of centering and grounding. But also, intense. Like with so much of being Autistic, it is abundantly detailed and intense. And for the unknowing hyperphantic or synaesthete — this can very quickly become incredibly overwhelming for the nervous system to tolerate.
The Impact of Intense Imagery
We can easily be ignited by our environments and the people in them. All autistic nervous systems can, but with these added elements, we can be utterly drained. Our sympathetic nervous system can feel in constant high alert, working through and igniting by what it feels could be potential threats and unsafe imagery to process, or just intense and vivid imagery, safe or unsafe, can feel dangerous for our nervous system.
Being hyperphantic can be beautiful, brilliant, a wondrous thing to really tune into, practice with, and explore deeply. I used to wish I didn’t have such an image intense, sensory explosive way of processing, but I have learnt to really utilise it and adore it. But it needs such care, as well as attention. I have needed to really get to know this part of me, to know how to work with it, not shut it down, but to also recognise when this way of processing has depleted me. To know how to replenish and nourish my nervous system, to quieten down the imagery or perhaps focus it more on something which can be more calmly processed, which can make my mindbody feel safe again.
Knowing how you process imagery can be a game-changer
Using imagery in therapy, can be a fantastic experience for hyperphantics, but it has to be done with such care by the therapist. One of my first explorations with my neurodivergent clients is around imagery and how easily they can access it. It is vital I think for anyone working therapeutically to do this with their clients, neurodivergent or not! If someone can’t easily access imagery, then my approach needs to flex, I need to perhaps provide actual images or steer clear of analogies in order for my clients not to feel invalidated, confused, or wrong in any way.
If my clients are hyperphantic, then what we discuss in therapy also needs that extra level of care. When I bring up images and talk through them, I need to be aware that my hyperphantic clients will easily see these, vividly, and they may stay a while. So my choice of imagery needs thought and care. When they talk about their experiences, I need to be aware of how intense that might be for them if they are also hyperphantic and/or synaesthetic.
For any therapists reading this, check in with your own abilities to access imagery. Never presume that anyone will see or not see mental images like you. We use imagery a lot in therapy — take care with your clients to recognise the myriad of ways we access, process, and feel mind images. Be conscious and enabling to flexing your therapeutic approach to suit your client’s way of processing, communicating, and feeling. Check in with your own judgements and ways of working around mental imagery (always do this anyway, with everything!)
For anyone else reading this, it is wonderful to explore and recognise how easily or not that you access imagery. In contrast to me, my daughter is aphantic, meaning that accessing imagery is really tricky. This has meant a totally different way of learning for her. We are lucky to be able to home educate, and therefore tailor our approach to learning, but for school children, knowing whether they have easy access to mental imagery can make a huge difference to how teachers can flex their approach to accommodate and include all. Neither is better than the other, it is just different and therefore the approach to so much in life and in the therapeutic space needs to reflect that.
‘I see a song’ by Eric Carle - https://youtu.be/pPpkaldk84Y?si=0kz4r_r96jaiknIi
This is a very early memory for me of recognising I was perhaps a little different from others. Saying to my brother that these images are similar to what I see in my head when I play music, and him looking at me like I was the weirdest weirdo in weird land!
