As sleep and neurology expert Chris Winter, M.D., tells mbg, synesthesia is ultimately the sensory perception of experiencing a “crossing over” of your senses. “Certain words might elicit something within an individual that really has nothing to do with the word,” he says for example, such as someone hearing the word “bounce” and seeing the color yellow in their mind’s eye. “Synesthetes can often ‘see’ music as colors when they hear it, and ’taste’ textures like ‘round’ or ‘pointy’ when they eat foods. Another example of synesthesia is seeing the same color every time you see a certain number or hearing sounds with light motion,” Mushtaq notes. “Synesthesia is not considered a disease, nor is it associated with a higher rate of mental disorders,” she explains, adding “Books and articles in the past have eluded to synesthesia being related to mental health disease, but research shows that there is no correlation between synesthesia and schizophrenia, psychosis, addiction, or any other mental health disease.” There’s also no clinical diagnosis for synesthesia. One link that has been found in research, however, is synesthesia and autism. In one 2020 study2, researchers note that there may be higher rates of synesthesia among diagnosed individuals with autism. “Up to 20% of autistic individuals may experience synesthesia, and more research is currently being conducted to understand the correlation between the two,” Mushtaq says. “In genetic cases, we see the brain has enhanced connections between different regions of the brain cortex associated with senses,” Mushtaq tells mbg, adding, “There are also cases of synesthesia that have been reported that had sudden onset in adulthood, for example, caused by hypnosis, drug exposure to psychedelics3, or traumatic brain injury.” And according to Winter, it’s especially difficult to understand because it presents so differently among individuals. Some may experience synesthesia in a variety of ways, while some may only experience it one way, for example. “Whatever it is, it could be on a continuum or a spectrum,” he says, adding that it’s important to remember it is not a pathology. For a quick test you can do yourself, the same principles apply. Try to recruit a friend to track your responses, or log them somewhere you won’t look at them. These studies indicate that those who inherited their synesthesia may share over 30 rare genetic variants, though researchers aren’t sure whether synesthesia could have posed some evolutionary advantage in the past. And while there is currently no treatment for synesthesia, there doesn’t really need to be, as it’s not a disease or disorder. For most synesthetes, in fact, the experience isn’t a “bad” thing. For some people, it can even be advantageous, such as artists who can paint what a song looks like to them.
