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 isn’t a real thing. You’re hallucinating/using your imagination/faking it for attention.
Scientists started accepting it as a real thing in the 1980s with American neurologist Richard E. Cytowic’s 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 doesn’t change the fact that it’s not just my imagination though. If it was just my imagination, I’d be able to change my perceptions (like changing the color I involuntarily see for a number or letter). I can’t change my perceptions. The letter D is green to me. If I started hating the color green for some reason, I still wouldn’t be able to change it to something like pink. D is green to me and always will be, whether I like it or not.
I’ve heard of people faking synesthesia for attention, but I honestly don’t understand that. Any time it comes up in conversation with someone who isn’t a synesthete (meaning someone who has synesthesia, for those who aren’t familiar with the term), I get the good ol’ you’re-absolutely-bonkers-and-I’m-worried-about-your-mental-health look. I absolutely hate getting that look, so I usually don’t bring it up with people I don’t know very well. I can’t imagine someone wanting to deal with that if they didn’t actually have synesthesia.
Misconception #2: Synesthesia is a disorder/You have to get a diagnosis.
It’s actually not classified as a disorder by neurologists. It’s a perceptual phenomenon. While some things that are sometimes classified under the umbrella of synesthesia (such as misophonia) are disorders, synesthesia itself isn’t.
This also goes hand-in-hand with the belief that you have to have someone diagnose you with synesthesia. Since it isn’t a disorder, it’s 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 isn’t 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 isn’t 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 don’t. Usually, things go something like this:
*while researching a type of synesthesia, such as grapheme-color*
Non-synesthete: Wow, this sounds cool! (or “Wow, this is so weird! What even is this?” depending on who it is)
Synesthete: Wait, this isn’t...normal? (or “No, you idiot! D is pink, not green!”)
So yeah, it’s 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.
I’ve heard of someone having as many as 12 different types. Synesthetes can have more than one type. I have multiple types myself, and you’re actually likely to have multiple types if you discover having one.
Misconception #4: Synesthetic pairings (meaning pairs such as my “D is green” 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 don’t 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 what’s known as “projective synesthesia”.
Projective synesthesia is where the synesthete’s 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.) There’s also something called associative synesthesia, which is where the synesthete’s pairings exist only in the synesthete’s mind’s eye or as a very strong, involuntary association between two things.
I have associative synesthesia personally. I don’t literally see D as green, but in my mind’s eye, it is. If it’s any other color, it feels wrong. I don’t literally see ticker tape in my peripheral vision subtitling my life, but I see it in my mind’s eye even when I don’t want to. (That type of synesthesia is called ticker tape, in case anyone was curious. I know it’s not talked about as much as some of the other types).
Anyway, I hope that was helpful for someone. These aren’t the only misconceptions I’ve heard, but the post was getting long so I’m leaving it at this.