Hyperphantasia Affects About 3% of the Population. Here’s How to Tell If You Have It | SELF

Exceptionally vivid mental imagery can seem like a superpower—but it can also be incredibly distracting.

Driving a car is not an option for Jake S., a musician and artist in Hamilton, Ontario. When he first tried to get behind the wheel years ago, his mind would flicker between the road ahead and the stream of images and scenes that play through his mind. “It was very scary,” he tells SELF, and it put him off driving for good. Part of Jake’s constant distraction can be attributed to his ADHD, which he was diagnosed with and medicated for a few years ago. But that hasn’t lessened the constant imagery that flashes through his mind. “It’s like I’m constantly on my phone in my head,” he says. Jake…

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• Lucienne Moran

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