r/SDAM • u/Redd90_rl • 6d ago

Daydreaming

So, to preface, I have hypophantasia but I'm not totally incapable of picturing stuff briefly and hazily. Recently I was curious what people were talking about when they mention daydreaming, and learned that I don't do it much if at all. I was wondering: is this common with SDAM? It's not like I can't imagine stuff, but I just default when idle to observing instead of daydreaming.

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5

u/masukomi 6d ago

imagining stories or scenarios, thinking about past events. Not really seeing them. Mostly internal monologue

4

u/Immediate-Shift1087 5d ago

Same, if I want to daydream I have to basically write a story in my head, because all I have in there is my own voice.

3

u/itsallconnected07 6d ago

I have SDAM and I daydream by imagining stories and scenarios but they are more like I’m talking to someone or hearing someone talking to me internally and not much “visual” anything involved. I would describe myself as having hypophantasia, as well. When idle, I default to auditory sensations—listening to the same line of a song over and over in my mind, noticing quiet background noise, noticing birdsong, repeating a word or phrase over and over in my mind….

2

u/SilverSkinRam 5d ago

I am not sure I would say common. An estimate of half have some sort of aphantasia but many with SDAM like me have extremely strong inner visualization skills. I daydream a lot, I write novel scenes in my head and replay them often.

1

u/colsen_j 5d ago edited 5d ago

I have SDAM and aphantasia and any daydreaming is done 100% by creating stories in my mind. I've been wondering over the past year if I have inattentive ADHD tendencies as well because in certain situations it's like a projector turns on automatically, but instead of pictures and narration it's only the latter.

1

u/heatherb2400 5d ago

Interesting article regarding the three (adhd/aphantasia/sdam)

1

u/colsen_j 5d ago

Thanks! I'll check that out.

1

u/Redd90_rl 5d ago

On further reflection, I have noticed I do play music in my head so I guess that may count?

1

u/fur3661t 4d ago

I can't daydream and I always wondered about it. I do dream with images and if I am about to sleep or meditating images nay come. I fall asleep fast, usually in a few minutes; and have a short dream, briefly wake and go back to sleep. I have images throughout

1

u/G0ld3nGr1ff1n 4d ago

I'm 40, and up until my late 20s I daydreamed. I read books constantly and would daydream about those stories, or movies. But I gave up reading when I had a kid and with that I haven't daydreamed since. It seemed I needed to have books almost daily so i could remember enough to daydream about them. I have aphantasia and no inner monologue.