Misconceptions - Synesthesia
Since this is my first synesthesia post, I figured I should start off with talking about some misconceptions about synesthesia that I frequently run into. I can understand the reasoning behind believing most of these (I used to believe a few of them myself before really getting into researching synesthesia), so I wanted to clarify them.
Misconception #1: Synesthesia isnât a real thing. Youâre hallucinating/using your imagination/faking it for attention.
Scientists started accepting it as a real thing in the 1980s with American neurologist Richard E. Cytowicâs research on it. Cytowic has written some books on the topic that can probably explain things a lot better than I can, if anyone is interested enough in the topic to read them.
The hallucinating/using my imagination thing gets annoying to hear too, but I understand where the people who say that are coming from. Synesthesia is a weird concept. That doesnât change the fact that itâs not just my imagination though. If it was just my imagination, Iâd be able to change my perceptions (like changing the color I involuntarily see for a number or letter). I canât change my perceptions. The letter D is green to me. If I started hating the color green for some reason, I still wouldnât be able to change it to something like pink. D is green to me and always will be, whether I like it or not.
Iâve heard of people faking synesthesia for attention, but I honestly donât understand that. Any time it comes up in conversation with someone who isnât a synesthete (meaning someone who has synesthesia, for those who arenât familiar with the term), I get the good olâ youâre-absolutely-bonkers-and-Iâm-worried-about-your-mental-health look. I absolutely hate getting that look, so I usually donât bring it up with people I donât know very well. I canât imagine someone wanting to deal with that if they didnât actually have synesthesia.
Misconception #2: Synesthesia is a disorder/You have to get a diagnosis.
Itâs actually not classified as a disorder by neurologists. Itâs a perceptual phenomenon. While some things that are sometimes classified under the umbrella of synesthesia (such as misophonia) are disorders, synesthesia itself isnât.
This also goes hand-in-hand with the belief that you have to have someone diagnose you with synesthesia. Since it isnât a disorder, itâs not necessarily something you need to be diagnosed with. You can go to a neurologist and have them tell you whether or not you have it, but it isnât something you have to do. Most synesthetes are self-diagnosed or take a test at The Synesthesia Battery to confirm whether or not they have some of the more common types. From what I understand, there isnât a lot of gray area on whether or not you have it (unless you have a more rare type that not a lot of research has been done on). You either have the type or you donât. Usually, things go something like this:
*while researching a type of synesthesia, such as grapheme-color*
Non-synesthete: Wow, this sounds cool! (or âWow, this is so weird! What even is this?â depending on who it is)
Synesthete: Wait, this isnât...normal? (or âNo, you idiot! D is pink, not green!â)
So yeah, itâs usually pretty easy figuring out if you have it or not. There are also a bunch of different types (about 80, last I checked) and to my knowledge, no one has all of them.
Misconception #3: You can only have one type.
Iâve heard of someone having as many as 12 different types. Synesthetes can have more than one type. I have multiple types myself, and youâre actually likely to have multiple types if you discover having one.
Misconception #4: Synesthetic pairings (meaning pairs such as my âD is greenâ example from earlier) are entirely determined by environmental factors.
While environmental factors can influence synesthetic pairings on occasion, they rarely determine them. There have been cases where grapheme-color synesthetes have pairings that match up with refrigerator magnets they played with as children, but (according to what research has found so far anyway) those seem to be the exception rather than the rule. No one is sure why most synesthetes donât associate the exact same things with each other (like why some of the colors I see for my alphabet are different from how my friend sees hers).
Misconception #5: The only kind of synesthesia is whatâs known as âprojective synesthesiaâ.
Projective synesthesia is where the synestheteâs pairings are projected into the world around them. They may literally see any written D as green or see orange swirls dancing around their living room for their favorite song. (This is probably why some people assume synesthetes are hallucinating.) Thereâs also something called associative synesthesia, which is where the synestheteâs pairings exist only in the synestheteâs mindâs eye or as a very strong, involuntary association between two things.
I have associative synesthesia personally. I donât literally see D as green, but in my mindâs eye, it is. If itâs any other color, it feels wrong. I donât literally see ticker tape in my peripheral vision subtitling my life, but I see it in my mindâs eye even when I donât want to. (That type of synesthesia is called ticker tape, in case anyone was curious. I know itâs not talked about as much as some of the other types).
Anyway, I hope that was helpful for someone. These arenât the only misconceptions Iâve heard, but the post was getting long so Iâm leaving it at this.
