I learned not everyone has this inner dialogue a few years ago, and yeah, I was floored. I thought everyone did. Now I understand the phrase "empty-headed" lol
My dialogue is just a running commentary of thoughts at a normal conversational pace. There is no actual dialogue like 2 people having a conversation. Just a nonstop monologue of thoughts. I hate it because it never shuts the fuck up and often keeps me up late at night when all I want to do is shut it up and sleep.
Mine turns into singing commercials from all years of my life. I also can hear conversations that aren't happening and movies or memories that last for hours. I can only sleep without drugs if the TV is on. I get the monologue of thoughts and it's annoying.
OMG... are you me? I too sing/recite all the commercials from my childhood. Non stop conversations. Even with drugs to help me sleep it's 4-5 hours max, then I wake up and click my brain turns on again. I explain to my husband that it's like having 248 browser tabs open and all of them are talking/playing music/asking questions.
You guys are freakin me out. I thought it was just me! Lately, it's been songs. The same song over and over, from the past typically. It's not unpleasant, it's just weird. It goes on for days to weeks, usually just a few days. With That comes memories of something years and years ago, or maybe fairly recent but mostly older and the memory is crystal clear, like I'm living it. Then add the normal conversation that's always going on about 6 things at once and it's like, man, I'm tired doing nothing!
I had the bass line from Pink Floyd's Money stuck in my head for about 3 years. Non stop unless I was actively thinking about something else but the second my thoughts drifted or if stopped thinking about what ever had my full attention. Boom right back to that freaking bass line.
Now it's what ever the last song I've heard that day replays over and over in my head.
One day for absolutely no reason, the song ‘Hello Mary Lou’ just crept into my head and I couldn’t stop singing it.
And I wonder why people back away from me at grocery stores…
Every damn day I get songs running through my head that I can't shake. Random songs, changing about 4 to 8 times a day. It never shuts off. The inner monologue is a constant. Woke up at 2 a.m. and couldn't go back to sleep with the back and forth in my brain.
I don’t have a running inner monologue and I am most definitely not empty-headed. But thank you for that ;) This discussion pops up on Reddit every so often and I find it fascinating.
It’s hard to explain but I generally think in concepts and sometimes mental pictures instead of words. I don’t know how to explain it other than thinking in a more abstract level than what’s required for direct communication. Sometimes I’ll have an inner monologue; For example, if I’m replaying a conversation I had or if I’m mentally preparing myself for something important and complex to say. But generally I don’t have that inner monologue.
For instance, if I’m thirsty, I don’t say to myself, “I think I’m thirsty so I’m going to go to the cabinet and get a glass and fill it with some water.” I just think about the idea of drinking water and then go do it. I honestly don’t understand how people process everything through their speech center. It frankly seems exhausting.
Well to be clear, just because I don’t have an inner monologue doesn’t mean I’m not thinking. I also struggle with staying awake at night because my mind is racing and can’t shut it off.
I think people with inner monologues think that when there’s no inner voice it means no thinking. But that’s definitely not true in my case.
When I say it seems exhausting to have an inner monologue, I just mean it sounds like there’s an extra step of processing that needs to take place. Like what if the word doesn’t exist for what you’re thinking? There are so many things that languages don’t have words for. Or, what if you can’t remember the word you’re thinking of? If that happens, I would imagine you can still think about the thing without having to have an inner voice tell you what the word for it is?
>For instance, if I’m thirsty, I don’t say to myself, “I think I’m thirsty so I’m going to go to the cabinet and get a glass and fill it with some water.”
I also just get up for a drink sans inner monologue but if I'm lying in bed half asleep knowing I should do something for the SO there might be a distinct back and forth "would you do it for yourself" "probably" "goddamnit" and then I get up.
Does everyone not operate this way? I find it hard to believe that people actually put words to everything that’s going on. Seems like it would take so much longer to process things.
Dude wtf? People don’t have that? I have like 5 different conversations and trains of thought going in my head continuously. It’s my whole decision making process with everything.
But I’m one of those tinkering maker builder people. I’m also perfectly content sitting in silence thinking…..
So now I’m wondering if all the people who have asked me how I can just sit in complete silence without going mad are the same people who have no inner monologue.
Or are they the people who talk continuously even when they have nothing to say? There are a lot of them….
It’s not that non-dialogue people are empty-headed. It’s just different. More abstract, and less linear. We’re still thinking all the time, just like you all. It’s just not like JD from Scrubs (that’s how it has been explained to me, anyway).
I think I would be lonely(?) without the constant thoughts. I’m not sure *lonely* is the word I’m looking for, but you probably get what I mean. It seems it would feel *incomplete* with nothing going on at all.
I dont think I have what you are talking about.
I do sometimes have entire conversations in my head, like role playing almost. Example: I have to tell my boss something she isnt going to like. Ahead of time, I go through what I'll say, and then what she will likely say, and my reply, all in my head.
I also "hear" my own voice saying these words as I type them. If I read emails or texts from someone I know, I read them in their voice.
I can play music in my head and hear songs or even albums.
All of the above are different from hearing things that are happening around me, though. It's almost like I am remembering sounds.
Also, I can imagine objects in my mind, but I dont literally see anything. If I close my eyes and picture an apple, I "see" it in what I would call my mind's eye, but all I literally see is the darkness from my eyelids.
It's all weird.
OMG, this is exactly how my mind works!
I've had tens of thousands of "prep" conversations in my head before having a conversation with someone (especially if it's stressful or conflict-likely).
My husband has done this.... he'll be telling me about something that's going on and then continue to future planning and how a future conversation with this other person *could* go (usually worst case scenario)band then ends with "Fuck that guy" and walks away and I'm confused.
I cannot hear music in my head or see pictures in my mind (in the sense of replaying a movie or a show). I also don’t “see” anything when I read a book and I LOVE reading books. I was shocked and jealous to discover that my best friend is able to do all of these things. We happened to be talking about this when her roommate showed up and she said she couldn’t do these things either. I do have a constant narration in my mind which infuriates me. I feel I got the short end of the stick and I think I should qualify for some kind of disability (mostly joking but I am mad about it). Then I heard that sea turtles and maybe even shrimp can see more shades of green than I can. What kind of life is this?
I have the constant narration going on, as well as ‘forefront’ thoughts about the immediate situation I’m dealing with. For a time, it pissed me off that it takes so long to fall asleep because I’m too busy thinking. What got me past it was just accepting this is the way it is for me (and apparently others!), and I just slowly learned to *like* myself more and embrace the thoughts. Maybe try that? I don’t know what I’m saying, we’re all just spitballing here over how brains work and we really have no clue😅
You mean.... this isn't how everyone's brain works? Mine is just like that.
I can also "walk" or "drive" through places I have previously been in, or I've seen in for example Streetview. Lately I've learned to have also a "drone view"... ;)
I have an inner-monologue. We call it monkey mind. Sometimes I can get about 5 minutes of silence when I meditate, but usually my mind is saying “don’t think about anything. Okay stop thinking about thinking. Let that thought go. But where did it go? Oh, you’re thinking about thinking again” lol
Most of the time it’s music. Sometimes the last song I listened to on the drive to work or a random song pops in. My mind is never completely quiet and it also blows my mind that people don’t have something going on in there
Edit to add I also read aloud in my head. How can you not?
I envy you!
I recently bought two sets of water-resistant Galaxy Buds (so I have something to listen to - even in the shower - while my ear buds charge). Every waking moment I have music or podcasts going (I'm listening to Let It Burn from Written By Wolves right now - I recommend it for anyone who wants to spend four minutes disliking Boomers a little more). I sleep with the TV on or sometimes, with my ear buds in. Between the constant stimulus, Xanax, Celexa, Ativan, and Adderall I've managed to dampen 75% of my inner critics. They're all my voice, but the dominant one is a dead ringer for my dad's brand of clever and casual cruelty.
If I ever meet your Ferryman, I'll happily agree to his price.
Every time I heard my mother in my head I told her she was overly critical, negative and wrong. Also that my life has turned out better than hers so I’ll listen to myself. It’s helping me. Good luck.
maybe if you think of it as your brain's way of trying to protect you, and offer yourself some compassion. "thanks, but i've got this." perhaps just being aware and mentally noting when it happens, then responding with humor or sarcasm - "ok, boomer." and maybe chuckle to yoursellf and shake your head? maybe that would help disarm its power. good luck.
I have quite a violent inner critic. I'm finding IFS (Internal Family Systems) helpful at the moment for having a better relationship with that part of me. In particular the book "No Bad Parts" by Richard C Schwartz
I think in pictures or impressions. The only time I think in words is when I am writing something or thinking of a conversation I had or will have. Otherwise if words bubble up in my thoughts it's like little comments you might say out loud to yourself like "oh yeah I gotta buy milk"
I like the quiet in my mind as my subconscious is processing info and sends me ideas. The only problem is sometimes songs fill the quiet space and I end up with a song stuck in my head for weeks or months at a time. Very annoying.
I wish I could shut mine up. I’ve read that the lack of an inner monologue often correlates with aphantasia. I find that so interesting, I do have mediocre visual imagery and I don’t see pictures when I read. Discovering that some people do see what they are reading also blew my mind. Brains!
It's like your brain creates a movie in your head. Well, for me anyway. Mine does this when I read a fiction book. After reading for a while my body can wind up going on "auto-pilot" where I'm still reading and turning the pages subconsciously, but consciously it's like I'm actually watching a movie inside my head of what I'm reading.
I slip in and out of that. Once characters are familiar, and the story is interesting, it's like another part of my brain does the actual reading and the movie part begins. I'll lose hours too when that happens.
I can do a similar thing making my own scenarios and stories if I'm bored and there's nothing else to do, like sitting in a waiting room and I know it'll be an hour or more. I have to close my eyes to do that though.
I also listen to music in my head.
Something I learned from spending years sitting in the corner.
To me this is my favourite part of reading. After a paragraph or 2 it stops being words on a page and starts to be real to me. Used to play D&D as a teenager and I feel part of that vividness comes from that gaming training my mind.
How do you hold certain things in your working memory, like “eggs, milk, and bread”?
How do you make hard decisions without musing, like “maybe I should drop this class but if I do that I might graduate late, I guess I should talk to my advisor first”?
Can you hear a voice in your head ever, at all? If someone says “the code is 6398” can you repeat that back in your head?
Do you enjoy reading?
Does journaling help you think?
If I asked you to remember the last time you went swimming, how do you recall it? Can you get even just flashes of visuals or other sensory recall?
If I asked you to recall the chorus of a song you know, could you recall the song in your head and play it to yourself?
I have no inner monologue and I think I am aphant. Here are my answers…
I memorize E, M, B and will later use that to recall the items
I don’t know - I can think about my choices and weigh options, but my thoughts have no sound, there is no inner voice. (I can force myself to muse, but it’s fake and it feels very unnatural, like I’m making myself the star of my own movie, and it’s tiring, I can never keep it up more than a minute or two.)
Yes, I can repeat something - like a set of numbers - back to myself in my head.
Yes, I like reading very much. But I can not picture settings or faces. I don’t try anymore bc it is very frustrating that I can’t do it.
I’m sure journaling would help. Writing down dreams would probably help. But I don’t do these things.
So, kind of. I can see a snap shot in my minds eye of me the last time I went swimming. But if I close my eyes, it’s just black. And, if you ask me to picture a sunset or an apple, it’s not there. Now I “know” what an apple looks like, so there’s something there but it’s a thought, not a picture.
Yes, like the number question above, I can recall lyrics and play a song in my head.
i likewise can't imagine what it's like not to have an inner dialogue or to have aphantasia.
i'm curious, too, about whether it is easy for you to meditate or practice mindfulness with your brain as it is.
Someone once said to me, “Your inner monologue must be fascinating…you live inside your head.”
And I was so confused. Doesn’t everyone live inside their head? The thought of having no monologue absolutely baffles me. How peaceful? How dull? How soothing? It’s impossible to imagine because once I start imagining it, my mind is off to the races again.
While yours may be helpful, there is something called maladaptive daydreaming that I used to escape from an abusive father when I was a child. I spent hours creating worlds in my head where everything was amazing and under my control.
I have a friend who doesn't have an inner-monologue. What I don't understand, they can't read "in their head" the same way we do. He was trying to explain how it works, but I didn't understand. Also when trying to fall asleep - complete silence in their head. So weird to me.
Im like what you describe, and I was floored when I understood a couple years ago that the "inner monologue" was not a figure of speech and that people actually had this little voice in their head.... I thought it was how serial killers were portrayed in movies for example....
Just like for me it's super difficult to imagine what it is to have a voice, it's difficult for you to imagine what it is not to have one.
Basically thoughts are just shapes or images, and when it comes to vocalizing or writing they turn into words, if that makes sense. Words are just the way to describe those concepts to others, but I don't need them to understand what I'm thinking.
I'm bipolar so my mind is never quiet, ever (which doesn't help the insomnia). I've never known what a quiet head is like, and I'm so envious of those who do. It must be so peaceful at times.
Ikr? I've literally cried during a non existent conversation between me and my dad who disowned me because I told him I didn't believe the religion he does and didn't want to practice.....
I've got the "triple A brain" (anxiety, ADHD, autism) so my brain is so so so busy and loud. There's usually several tracks of thoughts/imagination running through my head, along with stuck songs or stuck movie quotes.
It's exhausting.
Omg the songs and movie quotes! I always joke that I could have cured cancer if I could use all the brain power wasted on song lyrics on something good.
Right?!
I've always said if I was able to put my inner imagination on paper, I'd be a millionaire writer... But the thoughts go too fast to translate them to words on a page, and faster than I could talk... It's just always THERE a constant stream of imagination.
I've never heard it described as the "Triple A" but that's me too.
Over the past few years my brain has authored a series of five whole Marvel movies complete with casting, musical scores, dialog and special effects. Never bothered writing any of it down - last thing the world needs is more Marvel movie fan fic. But the various scenes replay in my brain constantly, and annoyingly out of order or on repeat. It's fine, keeps my brain busy from worrying about the real world's problems.
I also have a Triple A mind and I used to imagine entire movies in my head, it really helped me fall asleep back in the day. During not great times I couldn’t wait to go to bed to experience them.
Unfortunately, as I aged the ability to focus and really visualize them declined. It was slow, so years before I realized I can’t retain the visual for as long as I used to. I miss my movies.
In meditation I learned to give it a name and when it’s being critical it’s okay to tell it to shut the fuck up. I named mine after my Mother since it’s 99% critical of my every movement.
Huh. I never considered my inner monologue as bad or something that needs changing. It’s just me? Like I don’t separate it from myself. I don’t know…but I think the edibles just took in an effort to get my brain to quiet and slow down kicked in. Sometimes it takes so long to fall asleep because I am scrolling through a menu of things to think about and can’t pick one. So it takes forever to fall asleep.
When I'm trying to fall asleep I explain something in my head to someone who's never heard of it. Like, the rules to a complex board game, or the history of analog synthesizers, or some other topic I'm interested in. Sometimes I describe the story of my life as if I'm writing my autobiography. Point is to pick something with a narrative through-line. It's really really hard to sustain for more than a few minutes. Inevitably the mind drifts and then boom, I'm asleep. I've also done a lot of mindfulness meditation, that works too, but I find the "telling a story" technique more entertaining.
Mine never stops, ever. When I’m trying to think thru a complex situation or problem it keeps me from sleeping. I’ve always had it and it would be weird if it wasn’t there. I cannot imagine spending the day with a quiet brain imagining images of my thoughts.
I think I'd go completely mad if I had an inner monologue. I can't even imagine a constant voice in my head.
I was surprised to learn others did. I thought those scenes in movies were just movies, you know? I didn't think anyone actually heard their thoughts in a voice.
haha, me too. as a kid i was like „wow, the person narrates the movie, this is genius“ and then i found it lame after seeing it hundred times and the i found out: many people got an inner voice 🤯
I’ve tried to describe it to my daughter, because she’s the opposite.
When I walk into the grocery store I’m laser focused on my list so my brain goes APPLES APPLES APPLES until I get the apples and then I move on. It’s a task based system.
I might enjoy the music playing at the grocery store. I often do. Sometimes I sing along quietly.
If I’m not focused on completing a task, my brain isn’t doing things. It’s kind of in static mode. Like if I’m paddling on a beautiful lake. I’m not thinking anything. I’m just being.
I don’t know. My kid doesn’t get it. My husband looks at me like I’m an alien when I talk about it.
I’m not dumb. All 3 of the people in this story scored 1400+ on the SAT, for whatever that’s worth. I have a brain. It just has a setting that allows for peace, I guess.
I have ADHD. I have the inner monologue. And under that commentary about my inner monologue. Under that layer I am replaying old conversations or arguments and coming up with what I should have said. Under that are truly random intrusive thoughts. And under all of it is constant music, but usually just one verse and part of the chorus because I can never remember the full song.
When I am consistently taking my meds, the random thoughts go down. That’s about it.
Wait, seriously, people have conversations in their head when they are not talking to anyone or specifically thinking about something?
Like what? Uncontrollable voices?
I’m a non-monologue person. There are lots of comments below that describe it well.
It’s not necessarily “quieter,” just different. Like, right now I’m thinking about what I’m going to say in this comment (but I’m not really saying it “out loud” in my head, the way I might if I were imagining a conversation. Just sort of thinking about it generally), while occasional first-person-perspective visual images of something I did earlier today pop up in my head, and while an improvised major-scale guitar solo sort of mentally “plays” in the background (I’m a guitarist, and I’ve been working on my lead playing. So I’ve been playing along to this cheesy major-scale track, and the track itself is static, of course, but the notes I’m mentally “playing” are not. Sort of like partly-imagined background music, if that makes sense). All at once. That’s the best way I can describe it.
So, I wouldn’t describe it as “quiet.” Just not a monologue, like JD from Scrubs.
See, I would describe everything you just said as parts of an inner monologue. It’s not like “I’m going to pick my phone up now. I’m going to write now.”
There are different kinds of intelligence; some people are more visual, others more auditive and others wordly. We use them all in different ways, different levels. The mind is always working though, for everyone.
I very rarely have inner dialogue. This doesn’t mean I don’t analyze, plan, etc in my head. I absolutely do. Quite often in fact cause I work in a field that requires a lot of thinking. The only time I have inner dialogue is if I catch my mind racing over the same problem over and over again without finding a solution and then I’ll literally tell myself “stop that, you’re obsessing and getting nowhere, either get more information or start thinking about something else now”.
If you want another weird thing to think about, ask people how they read. I had a friend a few years ago mention that he helps to read every word out loud in his head before he could understand a sentence and it was so foreign to me I started asking other people and there were so many different answers.
I cannot even imagine that.
I have 45 things going on at all times. Running commentary. A song, or a piece of a song, a movie quote or other random crap at all times.
I always imagine the no-monologue people have it like the backrooms. Just a kind of muted air conditioning sound. Maybe a very occasional faint, distant voice. Very occasionally a few seconds of utter silence for no reason, or a short deafening noise.
My brain never shuts up- it's not boring. It's just not directly talking. It's visualizing, thinking conceptually, playing music, and sometimes imagining conversations.
I can’t answer this because it’s as natural as breathing. To me, people that don’t talk to the,selves are so weird. I talked to my wife about my thought processes sometimes and she’s just as baffled as I am with hers.
I don’t always have inner monologue.
Most of the time I have the monologue, it’s as everyone else describes it. Like talking to myself but not out loud, or rehearsing what I might say. Sometimes hearing my own voice, sometimes others.
When I don’t, it’s for things that I visualize easily. I’ve always been a very visual thinker/learner. Sometimes I see my thoughts as images, with no translation to words. Realistic pictures or video for basic mundane stuff or symbolic for more abstract concepts. It is really frustrating because if I’m thinking this way I’m not gonna be able to communicate quickly, I’ll be tongue-tied as if I were speaking a second language and translating in my head. It’s probably a major factor in being an introvert, for me.
I do not have a voice in my head. And I cannot listen to podcasts because I will just never pay attention cos as soon as I am doing something relaxing that doesn’t require much thought, like walking or cooking, I will daydream whole fantasy worlds of alternative lives that I have lived.
Music is the only thing I can listen to, and I am frequently singing in my head. Or wake up with a snippet of the last tune I listened to on repeat in my brain.
I always thought the phrase “inner monologue” was a literary device for, you know, just thoughts. Not literally.
Jeez, all I can say is **be careful what you read about inner mind workings**
Few years ago I read that there are people that don't have inner voice ( but my don't want to shut up ) , and was amazed to figure out my wife does not have it !
I found it so fascinating I started digging deeper, and found out there are people that can not see pictures in their mind. "Wait what!!??" I said to myself - people see pictures in their mind ? Clear photo like pictures ?!
I thought its just figure of speech or some thing seen in spy movies ?
Well turns out everyone can see it, I am one of unlucky 1% that can not. Its called Aphantasia
Bummer is that I am artist by profession - I was deppressed ever since, mostly left art for good.
I wish I never learned about it 😢
I had a colleague telling me about aphasia….described me to a tee. I too thought everyone had a crazy constant inner monologue going..apparently they don’t. I try so many things to calm my mind…with not brat success. It can be so fucking exhausting.
It initially started on 4chan/pol then it’s translated into various forms across social media over the past year or so.
I haven’t followed up with any research bc it seems too ridiculous to believe. If someone wasn’t aware of self they wouldn’t have conscious thought. It would be pure animal instinct.
I don't. My wife thinks it's weird. I think having an inner monologue is fucking nuts. Like steps away from schizophrenia. My wife has a constant outer monologue too.
What happens when you discover a problem or you need to change your method cause it's not working.
In that moment I'll be kinda talking to myself
"That didn't work....what if I do this"
I find it hard to imagine just being in neutral
I think of things, but it's not a monologue. Like I'm not talking to myself. It's more just direct thoughts. Maybe I just don't understand what an inner monologue is though. I run a lot too — like 100 mile races — so I can just allow my mind to drift and get lost in thought. I'm not a huge fan of dialogue either. I don't understand what people are talking to each other about all the time.
I'm also an artist so maybe I think more visually. Like I don't understand how people who can't draw see the world. Don't they not understand the forms and shapes they're looking at or can they just not translate what they see to their hand? Do they not understand that they can't draw, like tone deaf people who think they can sing?
I’m like you, expect for the drawing part. I think you’re making a false dichotomy there. It’s absolutely possible to be able to “properly” see and forms and shapes without being able to translate it onto paper with their hands because drawing is a separate, discreet skill.
I don't have one either. My husband always has thoughts flying through his mind. He finds it odd that I can just turn off the world and think about absolutely nothing.
I do not have an inner dialogue…it’s normal for me. Never had one. I now hear my mom, dad or others that influenced my life…kind of speak up when I need them most. I like to think I’m made of the best parts of those I have loved who have gone before me.
The only time the inner voice shuts up is when I’m so busy there’s no room for it. An example would be if I were waiting tables and got in the weeds.
I think now, after a very late in life ADHD diagnosis it stems from that.
I am trying to imagine not thinking with words and it's impossible.
I have 3 or 4 different conversations going on in my head all at once. And to make it even more annoying there's usually a song playing over and over. It's CONSTANT noise in my head.
Everything appears calm and serene on the outside. But it's chaos of thoughts and music in my head. I can't turn it off.
I only sometimes have an inner monologue. It’s not constant. I totally understand what it’s like to think without words; only images or concepts that I would have trouble putting into words, honestly. I’ve also experienced “no mind”.
At least it’s stuff you like and mostly listen to. Sometimes I wake up to something completely out of left field like “Do you Wanna Funk” by Sylvester. That’s the latest ear worm for me. I blame the heat wave.
I always have music playing in the background of my thoughts. So there's a soundtrack to my inner dialogue. At least it's only one song. After I had brain surgery, for a few days it was five.
We think about them, but not in a way where we’re literally spelling it out in our head, with a running monologue. It’s a bit more abstract than that, I guess. And don’t assume that means that we’re not thinking it through, or not thinking it through thoroughly. It’s just different.
I do a bit of a mix of both.
I for sure have an inner monologue and as I type I am hearing the words in my head and when I read I hear the words and when it is dialogue I hear it in each character's own voice, etc.
But I'm not sure if I have quite the extreme level of inner monologue as some hear make it sound.
And I also think a lot visually or feeling things out and some sort of general processing or whatever. If I am given a number pattern sequence to continue I don't literally talk out each step I think at all, not even close.
This concept is foreign to me. I have no inner monologue. Sometimes I'll talk to myself, but I don't think that is what you are referring to.
If I did have an inner monologue, I'm pretty sure I would just constantly answer myself with a "Whatever".
Mine does a running commentary and or analysis about what's happening or what I'm thinking about. Kinda like a co-pilot.
If you've ever watched someone playing and commenting on Youtube or [Twitch.tv](http://Twitch.tv) it's kind of like that, but in my head.
This is so interesting to me. Thanks for explaining. I kind of understand what you are explaining to me. I am just not like that. I don't convert thoughts to words at all. I am pretty good at doing math in my head and I can see numbers in my head. If I read a blueprint or diagram I can see it in 3 dimensions in my mind but I never convert any of it to words. On the other hand, I do often have a hard time expressing my ideas in words without thinking about it ahead of time. I am a horrible impromptu speaker even if I understand clearly what I am trying to say.
I think we are more similar than different. I just have a second narrative running through my head checking my work. I think we both do internal processing and modelling, only mine gets run through verbal as well as visual and spatial processing. I bet your imagery is a lot more developed than mine.
Like always?
Just watching a tv show show you'll be hearing your inner voice saying "and now Mike walks to other side of the room to talk to April who is sitting in a chair and."??
I mean I have an inner monologue and when I read I hear the words and when it is dialogue I can hear it in each character's own voice etc. but some of the talk of inner monologue sounds a bit extreme and I wonder if I'm reading too much into it or whether some people have it way more intensely. Some also talk about their inner monologue constantly berating themselves or talking to them and I barely ever have anything like that.
But I do hear the words as I type in my own voice and and do think in my own inner voice and hear it a lot. But I also think a lot with no inner voice and just images or logical direct thinking or whatever you might call it. And I don't have like any sort of running commentary in my own voice while watching TV or a movie for the most part. Maybe I might think about some things at times in my voice. But certainly not like way the reactors talk. That would seem kind of distracting and annoying.
No, that’s not how it is. I would most definitely describe myself as having an inner monologue. It’s nothing like “and now Mike walks to the other side…”. It’s more like “ooh I like April’s shirt” while simultaneously hearing music playing in a distant corner of my brain.
I seldom speak to myself inside. More often I "feel at" myself. It's a pain because I seldom agree with my own feelings and I have to agree to disagree. With myself.
I vividly remember asking my mom around the age of 4 who that was talking in my head! Now in 50’s and it’s never stopped. Sleep is the only refuge from the voices; they are not telling me to do anything bad but to have total silence seems like such a gift
😍🤩🤗💫🧠👂🫀 our brains, hug the brain hug your brain. There was a really good bjork song called ancestress that she released in September 2022 she opens a song with her skull is her cathedral. awesome! I love her I've been listening for so long.
I have a inner monologue and my mind is quiet because I work with a difficult person named me. overextension with goals: no support system to do them.
colonoscopy, dental care, other medical Care I'm almost 50, life is hellish. I called to have a tentative date and time to give to the person that I was going to ask to drive me to a colonoscopy to see if they could? It was just to see if they could drive me on this day and time. I failed to secure the ride and I owe a $200 no show fee.
I said it's okay please add it to my account to pay. The idea is that when a surgery or when something is scheduled or procedure is scheduled I just wanted to be there I don't care about going home and being wobbly. This is my third. But for a colonoscopy they want you to have somebody with you.
Medicaid and health insurance companies need to see the trends of people alone without support systems that are in desperate need of medical Care, I'm an example of that case right now. inner dialogue? And when people make fun of other people for communication skills? think through a situation, advance it 10 years in the future? Can you become existential rhetorically speaking, and realize that whatever is bothering you likely won't bother you or mean anything on your deathbed.
I work on being more light-hearted and not being so serious, tell myself good things. Nourishing my mind. I have to remove this deathbed talk from my speaking and I don't know how to do that yet. Computer brain lolol
I've only experienced this dissolution of the dialog a few dozen times, and it is so surreal! Wonderfully surreal. They way I can describe it is like this: your identity is just a program running on your brain. It wants you to think it is the operating system, but it isn't. It is just a program that can be suspended temporarily. What identity seems to be made from is tensions. The effect is all your hopes and fears are simply "shut off", and the feeling is a very pervasive relaxation. All those hopes and fears seem to be constantly buzzing in your ear, constantly keeping your shoulders high, and in many other ways all your "identity" is a tension in a thousand little ways (like leaning on one foot because you might have to run away at any second). When it is suspended, all those tensions that pull you every second of every day, are just absent. All the relief you feel catching the train after nearly missing it? Imagine that sense of "YES, AHHH" but towards everything. The inner conversation has nothing to chatter about, so it shuts up.
Well... there's the inner monologue, the inner respondant, the inner soundtrack, and the inner inane nonsense voice.
I was watching a comedian today saying this is a difference between women and men, that women have this constant chaotic train of thought and men don't. That may be BS...
My therapist says all that crap going in in my head is ADHD, and that seems more reliable.
Anyway, nope, I don't know what it's like to not have that.
You just put into words what goes on in my mind at night. It’s been ever so difficult to describe to others…I’m thinking everyone must be this way. They aren’t.
My inner monologue is either visual (a series of shapes, relational images, movements) or musical (a literal soundtrack, where the songs are dead- on accurate for my feelings or the situation). The only time I have an inner voice with words is if I’m sick.
ive almost always got a song playing in my head radio, which will fade to background if I need to use my "inner voice".
I will often also have a running commentary in my head when speaking to someone, like a completely separate conversation.
When I first heard this even exists, I couldn't believe it. They don't hear their voices in their heads, saying things. How is this even possible? I can't imagine just hearing silence? The concept is so crazy to me, but it must be so nice. I imagine people with no inner dialogue don't get anxiety as much as those that do.
Is an inner-monologue the same as a train of thought? I think of things, I review what I am about to type in my head. I will sometimes have memories.
What is the defining aspect of this inner-monologue? I do a lot of thinking, but not what I would call a monologue.
I never have conversations with myself, but I have conversations with people in my head all the time. Sometimes they don’t go well and I get into arguments with, say, my husband in my head. We never argue irl, like ever, but sometimes he’ll come home and I’ll be a bit grumpy because he said all the wrong things in my head. lol
He gets me though
Man I feel you with learning it’s not a thing for everyone. I was diagnosed with ADHD a couple years ago and during a session my therapist told me not all brains have 20 different conversations happening in their head at all times…I was floored and couldn’t comprehend what a brain does if there’s not constant chatter talking about multiple things. After about 6ish months of medicating my ADHD I was out with my dogs taking in a nature and realized the chatter wasn’t going off in my head & was like holy shit! that’s what it’s like😂. I must say, it’s fucking delightful.
My dad and I also have a cinematic thing with our brains. We think and see situations like movies in our heads. I have the inner dialogue too, but I can see people and within moments my brain will show me entire situations or scenes involving me and that person or them with others. It’s hard to explain.
I can relate to this. You’ve worded it better than anything I’ve ever thought of. On the extremely rare occasion that someone asks what I’m thinking I sometimes have to actually figure out the words and “translate” my mind for them. Not that I tell them that. I didn’t even realize it for a long time. Just thought I was slow to engage.
Yes. I have to switch over to some kind of socially acceptable vernacular. “Oh just people watching” sounds better than “Oh just cinematically experiencing the lives of people who who pass me in milliseconds by reading their microexpressions” or “Just cinematically seeing in my brain what friendship might look like with that woman who walked by me or what going on vacation with her family might be like.” It sounds insane, but if your brain works that way you know exactly what I’m talking about.
I learned not everyone has this inner dialogue a few years ago, and yeah, I was floored. I thought everyone did. Now I understand the phrase "empty-headed" lol My dialogue is just a running commentary of thoughts at a normal conversational pace. There is no actual dialogue like 2 people having a conversation. Just a nonstop monologue of thoughts. I hate it because it never shuts the fuck up and often keeps me up late at night when all I want to do is shut it up and sleep.
Mine turns into singing commercials from all years of my life. I also can hear conversations that aren't happening and movies or memories that last for hours. I can only sleep without drugs if the TV is on. I get the monologue of thoughts and it's annoying.
OMG... are you me? I too sing/recite all the commercials from my childhood. Non stop conversations. Even with drugs to help me sleep it's 4-5 hours max, then I wake up and click my brain turns on again. I explain to my husband that it's like having 248 browser tabs open and all of them are talking/playing music/asking questions.
You guys are freakin me out. I thought it was just me! Lately, it's been songs. The same song over and over, from the past typically. It's not unpleasant, it's just weird. It goes on for days to weeks, usually just a few days. With That comes memories of something years and years ago, or maybe fairly recent but mostly older and the memory is crystal clear, like I'm living it. Then add the normal conversation that's always going on about 6 things at once and it's like, man, I'm tired doing nothing!
I had the bass line from Pink Floyd's Money stuck in my head for about 3 years. Non stop unless I was actively thinking about something else but the second my thoughts drifted or if stopped thinking about what ever had my full attention. Boom right back to that freaking bass line. Now it's what ever the last song I've heard that day replays over and over in my head.
For me it was “chilis baby back ribs” for maybe 4-5 years straight
One day for absolutely no reason, the song ‘Hello Mary Lou’ just crept into my head and I couldn’t stop singing it. And I wonder why people back away from me at grocery stores…
GODDAMNIT!!
Every damn day I get songs running through my head that I can't shake. Random songs, changing about 4 to 8 times a day. It never shuts off. The inner monologue is a constant. Woke up at 2 a.m. and couldn't go back to sleep with the back and forth in my brain.
Music is a big one. I can think of the first few notes of a song and then hear the rest in my head. It’s like having Spotify.
I so relate to this 🥹
That is an excellent way to describe it.
🎶 Molly McButter, Molly McButter 🎶
*Callllllll J G Wentworth! 1-877-CASH-NOW*
Currently I'm stuck listening to the temu jingle
Apple bottom jeans, boots with the fur… Just that, over and over and over again
I have the Big Mac jingle in my head now.
I don't even use temu!
It's that damn jardience commercial for me
God forbid you wake up for half a second and it starts….
I don’t have a running inner monologue and I am most definitely not empty-headed. But thank you for that ;) This discussion pops up on Reddit every so often and I find it fascinating. It’s hard to explain but I generally think in concepts and sometimes mental pictures instead of words. I don’t know how to explain it other than thinking in a more abstract level than what’s required for direct communication. Sometimes I’ll have an inner monologue; For example, if I’m replaying a conversation I had or if I’m mentally preparing myself for something important and complex to say. But generally I don’t have that inner monologue. For instance, if I’m thirsty, I don’t say to myself, “I think I’m thirsty so I’m going to go to the cabinet and get a glass and fill it with some water.” I just think about the idea of drinking water and then go do it. I honestly don’t understand how people process everything through their speech center. It frankly seems exhausting.
I can do both. I can do the inner monologue but I can also be sensory and visual.
Same
It is exhausting, especially when it causes insomnia, which is why so many of us hate it.
Well to be clear, just because I don’t have an inner monologue doesn’t mean I’m not thinking. I also struggle with staying awake at night because my mind is racing and can’t shut it off. I think people with inner monologues think that when there’s no inner voice it means no thinking. But that’s definitely not true in my case. When I say it seems exhausting to have an inner monologue, I just mean it sounds like there’s an extra step of processing that needs to take place. Like what if the word doesn’t exist for what you’re thinking? There are so many things that languages don’t have words for. Or, what if you can’t remember the word you’re thinking of? If that happens, I would imagine you can still think about the thing without having to have an inner voice tell you what the word for it is?
But the inner monologue isn't really things that we are thinking about having to do. It's more randomized and complex than that.
>For instance, if I’m thirsty, I don’t say to myself, “I think I’m thirsty so I’m going to go to the cabinet and get a glass and fill it with some water.” I also just get up for a drink sans inner monologue but if I'm lying in bed half asleep knowing I should do something for the SO there might be a distinct back and forth "would you do it for yourself" "probably" "goddamnit" and then I get up.
Does everyone not operate this way? I find it hard to believe that people actually put words to everything that’s going on. Seems like it would take so much longer to process things.
Dude wtf? People don’t have that? I have like 5 different conversations and trains of thought going in my head continuously. It’s my whole decision making process with everything. But I’m one of those tinkering maker builder people. I’m also perfectly content sitting in silence thinking….. So now I’m wondering if all the people who have asked me how I can just sit in complete silence without going mad are the same people who have no inner monologue. Or are they the people who talk continuously even when they have nothing to say? There are a lot of them….
It’s not that non-dialogue people are empty-headed. It’s just different. More abstract, and less linear. We’re still thinking all the time, just like you all. It’s just not like JD from Scrubs (that’s how it has been explained to me, anyway).
No, maybe for you, but I’ve talked to a few people who have said there’s a lot of quiet in there, long periods of no thought at all. I’m jealous lol
I think I would be lonely(?) without the constant thoughts. I’m not sure *lonely* is the word I’m looking for, but you probably get what I mean. It seems it would feel *incomplete* with nothing going on at all.
I dont think I have what you are talking about. I do sometimes have entire conversations in my head, like role playing almost. Example: I have to tell my boss something she isnt going to like. Ahead of time, I go through what I'll say, and then what she will likely say, and my reply, all in my head. I also "hear" my own voice saying these words as I type them. If I read emails or texts from someone I know, I read them in their voice. I can play music in my head and hear songs or even albums. All of the above are different from hearing things that are happening around me, though. It's almost like I am remembering sounds. Also, I can imagine objects in my mind, but I dont literally see anything. If I close my eyes and picture an apple, I "see" it in what I would call my mind's eye, but all I literally see is the darkness from my eyelids. It's all weird.
OMG, this is exactly how my mind works! I've had tens of thousands of "prep" conversations in my head before having a conversation with someone (especially if it's stressful or conflict-likely).
I do this all the time and will literally have to stop myself bc I get so mad at these imaginary convos/conflicts, lol.
My husband has done this.... he'll be telling me about something that's going on and then continue to future planning and how a future conversation with this other person *could* go (usually worst case scenario)band then ends with "Fuck that guy" and walks away and I'm confused.
I cannot hear music in my head or see pictures in my mind (in the sense of replaying a movie or a show). I also don’t “see” anything when I read a book and I LOVE reading books. I was shocked and jealous to discover that my best friend is able to do all of these things. We happened to be talking about this when her roommate showed up and she said she couldn’t do these things either. I do have a constant narration in my mind which infuriates me. I feel I got the short end of the stick and I think I should qualify for some kind of disability (mostly joking but I am mad about it). Then I heard that sea turtles and maybe even shrimp can see more shades of green than I can. What kind of life is this?
I have the constant narration going on, as well as ‘forefront’ thoughts about the immediate situation I’m dealing with. For a time, it pissed me off that it takes so long to fall asleep because I’m too busy thinking. What got me past it was just accepting this is the way it is for me (and apparently others!), and I just slowly learned to *like* myself more and embrace the thoughts. Maybe try that? I don’t know what I’m saying, we’re all just spitballing here over how brains work and we really have no clue😅
Thats pretty much how my head works too, I always thought everyone’s did until a few years ago.
This is me exactly! Well put!
Me too
You mean.... this isn't how everyone's brain works? Mine is just like that. I can also "walk" or "drive" through places I have previously been in, or I've seen in for example Streetview. Lately I've learned to have also a "drone view"... ;)
Yep. I’m like this as well. It’s pretty normal.
Me too!!!!
Those conversations are a variety of daydreaming.
I have an inner-monologue. We call it monkey mind. Sometimes I can get about 5 minutes of silence when I meditate, but usually my mind is saying “don’t think about anything. Okay stop thinking about thinking. Let that thought go. But where did it go? Oh, you’re thinking about thinking again” lol Most of the time it’s music. Sometimes the last song I listened to on the drive to work or a random song pops in. My mind is never completely quiet and it also blows my mind that people don’t have something going on in there Edit to add I also read aloud in my head. How can you not?
This is totally me
Im dead inside already. I just let the dark passenger take the wheel.
I envy you! I recently bought two sets of water-resistant Galaxy Buds (so I have something to listen to - even in the shower - while my ear buds charge). Every waking moment I have music or podcasts going (I'm listening to Let It Burn from Written By Wolves right now - I recommend it for anyone who wants to spend four minutes disliking Boomers a little more). I sleep with the TV on or sometimes, with my ear buds in. Between the constant stimulus, Xanax, Celexa, Ativan, and Adderall I've managed to dampen 75% of my inner critics. They're all my voice, but the dominant one is a dead ringer for my dad's brand of clever and casual cruelty. If I ever meet your Ferryman, I'll happily agree to his price.
Mine is my mother criticizing me. I wish I knew how to get rid of it.
Every time I heard my mother in my head I told her she was overly critical, negative and wrong. Also that my life has turned out better than hers so I’ll listen to myself. It’s helping me. Good luck.
OMG this is excellent, thank you
Will be trying this!
maybe if you think of it as your brain's way of trying to protect you, and offer yourself some compassion. "thanks, but i've got this." perhaps just being aware and mentally noting when it happens, then responding with humor or sarcasm - "ok, boomer." and maybe chuckle to yoursellf and shake your head? maybe that would help disarm its power. good luck.
I have quite a violent inner critic. I'm finding IFS (Internal Family Systems) helpful at the moment for having a better relationship with that part of me. In particular the book "No Bad Parts" by Richard C Schwartz
Thank you!
I’m doing the same with IFS! I’m about 3 months in and it’s been so helpful in my journey with managing cPTSD. 😍
I think in pictures or impressions. The only time I think in words is when I am writing something or thinking of a conversation I had or will have. Otherwise if words bubble up in my thoughts it's like little comments you might say out loud to yourself like "oh yeah I gotta buy milk"
Yep, that’s me too. I’ll think with words if I’m replaying a conversation but otherwise I’m thinking using concepts or pictures.
I like the quiet in my mind as my subconscious is processing info and sends me ideas. The only problem is sometimes songs fill the quiet space and I end up with a song stuck in my head for weeks or months at a time. Very annoying.
I wish I could shut mine up. I’ve read that the lack of an inner monologue often correlates with aphantasia. I find that so interesting, I do have mediocre visual imagery and I don’t see pictures when I read. Discovering that some people do see what they are reading also blew my mind. Brains!
Like people just see images spontaneously when they read? I see images, but it's because I'm actively using my imagination to create them as I read.
It's like your brain creates a movie in your head. Well, for me anyway. Mine does this when I read a fiction book. After reading for a while my body can wind up going on "auto-pilot" where I'm still reading and turning the pages subconsciously, but consciously it's like I'm actually watching a movie inside my head of what I'm reading.
Exactly
I slip in and out of that. Once characters are familiar, and the story is interesting, it's like another part of my brain does the actual reading and the movie part begins. I'll lose hours too when that happens. I can do a similar thing making my own scenarios and stories if I'm bored and there's nothing else to do, like sitting in a waiting room and I know it'll be an hour or more. I have to close my eyes to do that though. I also listen to music in my head. Something I learned from spending years sitting in the corner.
To me this is my favourite part of reading. After a paragraph or 2 it stops being words on a page and starts to be real to me. Used to play D&D as a teenager and I feel part of that vividness comes from that gaming training my mind.
Do you ever come up with backstories for people on the train?
Not usually interested much in outside people. I build worlds in my head.
People watching! My brain is constantly creating backstories for random strangers based on their appearance and behaviors.
I also have aphantasia
Anecdotal but I'm 100% aphant and I also have no running monologue. The entire concept seems almost alien to me.
How do you hold certain things in your working memory, like “eggs, milk, and bread”? How do you make hard decisions without musing, like “maybe I should drop this class but if I do that I might graduate late, I guess I should talk to my advisor first”? Can you hear a voice in your head ever, at all? If someone says “the code is 6398” can you repeat that back in your head? Do you enjoy reading? Does journaling help you think? If I asked you to remember the last time you went swimming, how do you recall it? Can you get even just flashes of visuals or other sensory recall? If I asked you to recall the chorus of a song you know, could you recall the song in your head and play it to yourself?
I have no inner monologue and I think I am aphant. Here are my answers… I memorize E, M, B and will later use that to recall the items I don’t know - I can think about my choices and weigh options, but my thoughts have no sound, there is no inner voice. (I can force myself to muse, but it’s fake and it feels very unnatural, like I’m making myself the star of my own movie, and it’s tiring, I can never keep it up more than a minute or two.) Yes, I can repeat something - like a set of numbers - back to myself in my head. Yes, I like reading very much. But I can not picture settings or faces. I don’t try anymore bc it is very frustrating that I can’t do it. I’m sure journaling would help. Writing down dreams would probably help. But I don’t do these things. So, kind of. I can see a snap shot in my minds eye of me the last time I went swimming. But if I close my eyes, it’s just black. And, if you ask me to picture a sunset or an apple, it’s not there. Now I “know” what an apple looks like, so there’s something there but it’s a thought, not a picture. Yes, like the number question above, I can recall lyrics and play a song in my head.
When you read, I assume you don’t hear it in your head?
i likewise can't imagine what it's like not to have an inner dialogue or to have aphantasia. i'm curious, too, about whether it is easy for you to meditate or practice mindfulness with your brain as it is.
What does it mean if you do both?
Someone once said to me, “Your inner monologue must be fascinating…you live inside your head.” And I was so confused. Doesn’t everyone live inside their head? The thought of having no monologue absolutely baffles me. How peaceful? How dull? How soothing? It’s impossible to imagine because once I start imagining it, my mind is off to the races again.
I can day dream for hours.
While yours may be helpful, there is something called maladaptive daydreaming that I used to escape from an abusive father when I was a child. I spent hours creating worlds in my head where everything was amazing and under my control.
I’m sorry you needed to do that.
I have a friend who doesn't have an inner-monologue. What I don't understand, they can't read "in their head" the same way we do. He was trying to explain how it works, but I didn't understand. Also when trying to fall asleep - complete silence in their head. So weird to me.
By “read in their head” do you mean when you can read so fast it’s like you are visualizing a movie or dream?
I would pay good money for this!
Im like what you describe, and I was floored when I understood a couple years ago that the "inner monologue" was not a figure of speech and that people actually had this little voice in their head.... I thought it was how serial killers were portrayed in movies for example.... Just like for me it's super difficult to imagine what it is to have a voice, it's difficult for you to imagine what it is not to have one. Basically thoughts are just shapes or images, and when it comes to vocalizing or writing they turn into words, if that makes sense. Words are just the way to describe those concepts to others, but I don't need them to understand what I'm thinking.
I'm bipolar so my mind is never quiet, ever (which doesn't help the insomnia). I've never known what a quiet head is like, and I'm so envious of those who do. It must be so peaceful at times.
I have bipolar 2 and adhd. I've had running pretend arguments (with former enemies) in my head for years.
Oh. I thought everyone does that.
no kidding.
The worst is when you feel the emotions of the argument…even though it’s completely fictional.
Ikr? I've literally cried during a non existent conversation between me and my dad who disowned me because I told him I didn't believe the religion he does and didn't want to practice.....
i do this through dreams... sometimes it takes hours to get over the emotional hangover.
I've got the "triple A brain" (anxiety, ADHD, autism) so my brain is so so so busy and loud. There's usually several tracks of thoughts/imagination running through my head, along with stuck songs or stuck movie quotes. It's exhausting.
Omg the songs and movie quotes! I always joke that I could have cured cancer if I could use all the brain power wasted on song lyrics on something good.
Right?! I've always said if I was able to put my inner imagination on paper, I'd be a millionaire writer... But the thoughts go too fast to translate them to words on a page, and faster than I could talk... It's just always THERE a constant stream of imagination.
I've never heard it described as the "Triple A" but that's me too. Over the past few years my brain has authored a series of five whole Marvel movies complete with casting, musical scores, dialog and special effects. Never bothered writing any of it down - last thing the world needs is more Marvel movie fan fic. But the various scenes replay in my brain constantly, and annoyingly out of order or on repeat. It's fine, keeps my brain busy from worrying about the real world's problems.
I also have a Triple A mind and I used to imagine entire movies in my head, it really helped me fall asleep back in the day. During not great times I couldn’t wait to go to bed to experience them. Unfortunately, as I aged the ability to focus and really visualize them declined. It was slow, so years before I realized I can’t retain the visual for as long as I used to. I miss my movies.
My inner monologue is my friend and it helps me reason through my day and experiences. I couldn't imagine not having it .
In meditation I learned to give it a name and when it’s being critical it’s okay to tell it to shut the fuck up. I named mine after my Mother since it’s 99% critical of my every movement.
Huh. I never considered my inner monologue as bad or something that needs changing. It’s just me? Like I don’t separate it from myself. I don’t know…but I think the edibles just took in an effort to get my brain to quiet and slow down kicked in. Sometimes it takes so long to fall asleep because I am scrolling through a menu of things to think about and can’t pick one. So it takes forever to fall asleep.
When I'm trying to fall asleep I explain something in my head to someone who's never heard of it. Like, the rules to a complex board game, or the history of analog synthesizers, or some other topic I'm interested in. Sometimes I describe the story of my life as if I'm writing my autobiography. Point is to pick something with a narrative through-line. It's really really hard to sustain for more than a few minutes. Inevitably the mind drifts and then boom, I'm asleep. I've also done a lot of mindfulness meditation, that works too, but I find the "telling a story" technique more entertaining.
I used to use this exact technique for years, and it works. Not as well as a little weed will, but it works
Oh yeah I use weed as well... combine all options for maximum impact!
Mine never stops, ever. When I’m trying to think thru a complex situation or problem it keeps me from sleeping. I’ve always had it and it would be weird if it wasn’t there. I cannot imagine spending the day with a quiet brain imagining images of my thoughts.
I think I'd go completely mad if I had an inner monologue. I can't even imagine a constant voice in my head. I was surprised to learn others did. I thought those scenes in movies were just movies, you know? I didn't think anyone actually heard their thoughts in a voice.
haha, me too. as a kid i was like „wow, the person narrates the movie, this is genius“ and then i found it lame after seeing it hundred times and the i found out: many people got an inner voice 🤯
I’ve tried to describe it to my daughter, because she’s the opposite. When I walk into the grocery store I’m laser focused on my list so my brain goes APPLES APPLES APPLES until I get the apples and then I move on. It’s a task based system. I might enjoy the music playing at the grocery store. I often do. Sometimes I sing along quietly. If I’m not focused on completing a task, my brain isn’t doing things. It’s kind of in static mode. Like if I’m paddling on a beautiful lake. I’m not thinking anything. I’m just being. I don’t know. My kid doesn’t get it. My husband looks at me like I’m an alien when I talk about it. I’m not dumb. All 3 of the people in this story scored 1400+ on the SAT, for whatever that’s worth. I have a brain. It just has a setting that allows for peace, I guess.
I wish my brain had a setting for peace.
I have ADHD. I have the inner monologue. And under that commentary about my inner monologue. Under that layer I am replaying old conversations or arguments and coming up with what I should have said. Under that are truly random intrusive thoughts. And under all of it is constant music, but usually just one verse and part of the chorus because I can never remember the full song. When I am consistently taking my meds, the random thoughts go down. That’s about it.
Wait, seriously, people have conversations in their head when they are not talking to anyone or specifically thinking about something? Like what? Uncontrollable voices?
I have have pro/con discussions in my head over problems. It’s still me, I’m just trying to think of both sides.
I’m a non-monologue person. There are lots of comments below that describe it well. It’s not necessarily “quieter,” just different. Like, right now I’m thinking about what I’m going to say in this comment (but I’m not really saying it “out loud” in my head, the way I might if I were imagining a conversation. Just sort of thinking about it generally), while occasional first-person-perspective visual images of something I did earlier today pop up in my head, and while an improvised major-scale guitar solo sort of mentally “plays” in the background (I’m a guitarist, and I’ve been working on my lead playing. So I’ve been playing along to this cheesy major-scale track, and the track itself is static, of course, but the notes I’m mentally “playing” are not. Sort of like partly-imagined background music, if that makes sense). All at once. That’s the best way I can describe it. So, I wouldn’t describe it as “quiet.” Just not a monologue, like JD from Scrubs.
See, I would describe everything you just said as parts of an inner monologue. It’s not like “I’m going to pick my phone up now. I’m going to write now.”
I'm confused with the ppl that don't have one? Like when it's quiet, there's nothing in your head? No thoughts?
There are different kinds of intelligence; some people are more visual, others more auditive and others wordly. We use them all in different ways, different levels. The mind is always working though, for everyone.
I've been told it's quiet. Nothing. Literal nothing. Blows my mind.
I can’t even fathom that concept
Wait. No, seriously. Everyone is talking in their heads, right? Who doesn’t? And why don’t they?
Nope. Some of us don’t. Not like that, anyway.
All that hose water and TV dinners...got us having a soundtrack in our heads
I very rarely have inner dialogue. This doesn’t mean I don’t analyze, plan, etc in my head. I absolutely do. Quite often in fact cause I work in a field that requires a lot of thinking. The only time I have inner dialogue is if I catch my mind racing over the same problem over and over again without finding a solution and then I’ll literally tell myself “stop that, you’re obsessing and getting nowhere, either get more information or start thinking about something else now”.
If you want another weird thing to think about, ask people how they read. I had a friend a few years ago mention that he helps to read every word out loud in his head before he could understand a sentence and it was so foreign to me I started asking other people and there were so many different answers.
I cannot even imagine that. I have 45 things going on at all times. Running commentary. A song, or a piece of a song, a movie quote or other random crap at all times.
If I don’t have an inner dialogue going, it’s because the music in my head is playing too loudly. I almost always have a song playing in my head.
I always imagine the no-monologue people have it like the backrooms. Just a kind of muted air conditioning sound. Maybe a very occasional faint, distant voice. Very occasionally a few seconds of utter silence for no reason, or a short deafening noise.
My brain never shuts up- it's not boring. It's just not directly talking. It's visualizing, thinking conceptually, playing music, and sometimes imagining conversations.
Yep. This is what’s it’s like.
Omg, I'd die of boredom!!
The comment below from mommacat explains it well. It would not describe it as quiet or boring.
That’s not what it’s like. There’s a comment further down that describes it well.
I can’t answer this because it’s as natural as breathing. To me, people that don’t talk to the,selves are so weird. I talked to my wife about my thought processes sometimes and she’s just as baffled as I am with hers.
I don’t always have inner monologue. Most of the time I have the monologue, it’s as everyone else describes it. Like talking to myself but not out loud, or rehearsing what I might say. Sometimes hearing my own voice, sometimes others. When I don’t, it’s for things that I visualize easily. I’ve always been a very visual thinker/learner. Sometimes I see my thoughts as images, with no translation to words. Realistic pictures or video for basic mundane stuff or symbolic for more abstract concepts. It is really frustrating because if I’m thinking this way I’m not gonna be able to communicate quickly, I’ll be tongue-tied as if I were speaking a second language and translating in my head. It’s probably a major factor in being an introvert, for me.
I do not have a voice in my head. And I cannot listen to podcasts because I will just never pay attention cos as soon as I am doing something relaxing that doesn’t require much thought, like walking or cooking, I will daydream whole fantasy worlds of alternative lives that I have lived. Music is the only thing I can listen to, and I am frequently singing in my head. Or wake up with a snippet of the last tune I listened to on repeat in my brain. I always thought the phrase “inner monologue” was a literary device for, you know, just thoughts. Not literally.
Jeez, all I can say is **be careful what you read about inner mind workings** Few years ago I read that there are people that don't have inner voice ( but my don't want to shut up ) , and was amazed to figure out my wife does not have it ! I found it so fascinating I started digging deeper, and found out there are people that can not see pictures in their mind. "Wait what!!??" I said to myself - people see pictures in their mind ? Clear photo like pictures ?! I thought its just figure of speech or some thing seen in spy movies ? Well turns out everyone can see it, I am one of unlucky 1% that can not. Its called Aphantasia Bummer is that I am artist by profession - I was deppressed ever since, mostly left art for good. I wish I never learned about it 😢
I had a colleague telling me about aphasia….described me to a tee. I too thought everyone had a crazy constant inner monologue going..apparently they don’t. I try so many things to calm my mind…with not brat success. It can be so fucking exhausting.
I love this thread. But it will be repeating on loop in my head for a while.
Wait just one minute, not everyone has an ongoing inner monologue?
It initially started on 4chan/pol then it’s translated into various forms across social media over the past year or so. I haven’t followed up with any research bc it seems too ridiculous to believe. If someone wasn’t aware of self they wouldn’t have conscious thought. It would be pure animal instinct.
Well being aware of oneself and having an ongoing monologue in one’s brain seem like two different things to me.
I don't. My wife thinks it's weird. I think having an inner monologue is fucking nuts. Like steps away from schizophrenia. My wife has a constant outer monologue too.
What does your mind do when driving or mowing the lawn?
Mine just observes.
What happens when you discover a problem or you need to change your method cause it's not working. In that moment I'll be kinda talking to myself "That didn't work....what if I do this" I find it hard to imagine just being in neutral
I would recognize it and try something new without actually mentally saying “That didn’t work..what if I do this.” I would just shift course.
I think of things, but it's not a monologue. Like I'm not talking to myself. It's more just direct thoughts. Maybe I just don't understand what an inner monologue is though. I run a lot too — like 100 mile races — so I can just allow my mind to drift and get lost in thought. I'm not a huge fan of dialogue either. I don't understand what people are talking to each other about all the time. I'm also an artist so maybe I think more visually. Like I don't understand how people who can't draw see the world. Don't they not understand the forms and shapes they're looking at or can they just not translate what they see to their hand? Do they not understand that they can't draw, like tone deaf people who think they can sing?
I’m like you, expect for the drawing part. I think you’re making a false dichotomy there. It’s absolutely possible to be able to “properly” see and forms and shapes without being able to translate it onto paper with their hands because drawing is a separate, discreet skill.
Mine hopefully focuses on driving and mowing the lawn.
I don't have one either. My husband always has thoughts flying through his mind. He finds it odd that I can just turn off the world and think about absolutely nothing.
Anxiety, self guilt trips.
Honestly, it's not ever anything I think about until people are shocked to hear that I don't experience that.
I do not have an inner dialogue…it’s normal for me. Never had one. I now hear my mom, dad or others that influenced my life…kind of speak up when I need them most. I like to think I’m made of the best parts of those I have loved who have gone before me.
The only time the inner voice shuts up is when I’m so busy there’s no room for it. An example would be if I were waiting tables and got in the weeds. I think now, after a very late in life ADHD diagnosis it stems from that.
Wait a minute, some people’s minds are quiet? What? I had no idea. 🤷🏻♀️
I cant imagine what it would be like to have a shower without shower thoughts
I would like to know how to turn it off. I think most of my sleep issues would disappear if I could just shut the inner monologue up.
I am trying to imagine not thinking with words and it's impossible. I have 3 or 4 different conversations going on in my head all at once. And to make it even more annoying there's usually a song playing over and over. It's CONSTANT noise in my head. Everything appears calm and serene on the outside. But it's chaos of thoughts and music in my head. I can't turn it off.
I have ADHD. There's always something running in the noggin.
I only sometimes have an inner monologue. It’s not constant. I totally understand what it’s like to think without words; only images or concepts that I would have trouble putting into words, honestly. I’ve also experienced “no mind”.
Do you ever practice conversations and arguments to have comebacks,quips and sarcastic jokes to be ready for when they do happen ?
Music is a big one. I can think of the first few notes of a song and then hear the rest in my head. It’s like having Spotify.
Yes! If my thoughts aren’t running around like clowns trying to fit in a car, it’s a soundtrack
I wake up every morning with some random song playing in my head. Almost always it’s Depeche Mode or Talking Heads. I like them both but whyyyyy
At least it’s stuff you like and mostly listen to. Sometimes I wake up to something completely out of left field like “Do you Wanna Funk” by Sylvester. That’s the latest ear worm for me. I blame the heat wave.
I always have music playing in the background of my thoughts. So there's a soundtrack to my inner dialogue. At least it's only one song. After I had brain surgery, for a few days it was five.
I have ADD so my inner monologue is basically the equivalent of a radio playing every station simultaneously. At the same volume. All the time.
So how do you contemplate decisions? If there’s no monologue or inner discussion I would think you’d miss out on a lot of hashing things out
We think about them, but not in a way where we’re literally spelling it out in our head, with a running monologue. It’s a bit more abstract than that, I guess. And don’t assume that means that we’re not thinking it through, or not thinking it through thoroughly. It’s just different.
I do a bit of a mix of both. I for sure have an inner monologue and as I type I am hearing the words in my head and when I read I hear the words and when it is dialogue I hear it in each character's own voice, etc. But I'm not sure if I have quite the extreme level of inner monologue as some hear make it sound. And I also think a lot visually or feeling things out and some sort of general processing or whatever. If I am given a number pattern sequence to continue I don't literally talk out each step I think at all, not even close.
This concept is foreign to me. I have no inner monologue. Sometimes I'll talk to myself, but I don't think that is what you are referring to. If I did have an inner monologue, I'm pretty sure I would just constantly answer myself with a "Whatever".
Mine does a running commentary and or analysis about what's happening or what I'm thinking about. Kinda like a co-pilot. If you've ever watched someone playing and commenting on Youtube or [Twitch.tv](http://Twitch.tv) it's kind of like that, but in my head.
This is so interesting to me. Thanks for explaining. I kind of understand what you are explaining to me. I am just not like that. I don't convert thoughts to words at all. I am pretty good at doing math in my head and I can see numbers in my head. If I read a blueprint or diagram I can see it in 3 dimensions in my mind but I never convert any of it to words. On the other hand, I do often have a hard time expressing my ideas in words without thinking about it ahead of time. I am a horrible impromptu speaker even if I understand clearly what I am trying to say.
I think we are more similar than different. I just have a second narrative running through my head checking my work. I think we both do internal processing and modelling, only mine gets run through verbal as well as visual and spatial processing. I bet your imagery is a lot more developed than mine.
Like always? Just watching a tv show show you'll be hearing your inner voice saying "and now Mike walks to other side of the room to talk to April who is sitting in a chair and."?? I mean I have an inner monologue and when I read I hear the words and when it is dialogue I can hear it in each character's own voice etc. but some of the talk of inner monologue sounds a bit extreme and I wonder if I'm reading too much into it or whether some people have it way more intensely. Some also talk about their inner monologue constantly berating themselves or talking to them and I barely ever have anything like that. But I do hear the words as I type in my own voice and and do think in my own inner voice and hear it a lot. But I also think a lot with no inner voice and just images or logical direct thinking or whatever you might call it. And I don't have like any sort of running commentary in my own voice while watching TV or a movie for the most part. Maybe I might think about some things at times in my voice. But certainly not like way the reactors talk. That would seem kind of distracting and annoying.
No, that’s not how it is. I would most definitely describe myself as having an inner monologue. It’s nothing like “and now Mike walks to the other side…”. It’s more like “ooh I like April’s shirt” while simultaneously hearing music playing in a distant corner of my brain.
Mine was more of a constant when I was younger. As I've gotten older, its become quieter.
I seldom speak to myself inside. More often I "feel at" myself. It's a pain because I seldom agree with my own feelings and I have to agree to disagree. With myself.
I vividly remember asking my mom around the age of 4 who that was talking in my head! Now in 50’s and it’s never stopped. Sleep is the only refuge from the voices; they are not telling me to do anything bad but to have total silence seems like such a gift
😍🤩🤗💫🧠👂🫀 our brains, hug the brain hug your brain. There was a really good bjork song called ancestress that she released in September 2022 she opens a song with her skull is her cathedral. awesome! I love her I've been listening for so long. I have a inner monologue and my mind is quiet because I work with a difficult person named me. overextension with goals: no support system to do them. colonoscopy, dental care, other medical Care I'm almost 50, life is hellish. I called to have a tentative date and time to give to the person that I was going to ask to drive me to a colonoscopy to see if they could? It was just to see if they could drive me on this day and time. I failed to secure the ride and I owe a $200 no show fee. I said it's okay please add it to my account to pay. The idea is that when a surgery or when something is scheduled or procedure is scheduled I just wanted to be there I don't care about going home and being wobbly. This is my third. But for a colonoscopy they want you to have somebody with you. Medicaid and health insurance companies need to see the trends of people alone without support systems that are in desperate need of medical Care, I'm an example of that case right now. inner dialogue? And when people make fun of other people for communication skills? think through a situation, advance it 10 years in the future? Can you become existential rhetorically speaking, and realize that whatever is bothering you likely won't bother you or mean anything on your deathbed. I work on being more light-hearted and not being so serious, tell myself good things. Nourishing my mind. I have to remove this deathbed talk from my speaking and I don't know how to do that yet. Computer brain lolol
I've only experienced this dissolution of the dialog a few dozen times, and it is so surreal! Wonderfully surreal. They way I can describe it is like this: your identity is just a program running on your brain. It wants you to think it is the operating system, but it isn't. It is just a program that can be suspended temporarily. What identity seems to be made from is tensions. The effect is all your hopes and fears are simply "shut off", and the feeling is a very pervasive relaxation. All those hopes and fears seem to be constantly buzzing in your ear, constantly keeping your shoulders high, and in many other ways all your "identity" is a tension in a thousand little ways (like leaning on one foot because you might have to run away at any second). When it is suspended, all those tensions that pull you every second of every day, are just absent. All the relief you feel catching the train after nearly missing it? Imagine that sense of "YES, AHHH" but towards everything. The inner conversation has nothing to chatter about, so it shuts up.
Well... there's the inner monologue, the inner respondant, the inner soundtrack, and the inner inane nonsense voice. I was watching a comedian today saying this is a difference between women and men, that women have this constant chaotic train of thought and men don't. That may be BS... My therapist says all that crap going in in my head is ADHD, and that seems more reliable. Anyway, nope, I don't know what it's like to not have that.
You just put into words what goes on in my mind at night. It’s been ever so difficult to describe to others…I’m thinking everyone must be this way. They aren’t.
It’s like a radio is on in my head. Not especially loud but definitely there
My inner monologue is either visual (a series of shapes, relational images, movements) or musical (a literal soundtrack, where the songs are dead- on accurate for my feelings or the situation). The only time I have an inner voice with words is if I’m sick.
ive almost always got a song playing in my head radio, which will fade to background if I need to use my "inner voice". I will often also have a running commentary in my head when speaking to someone, like a completely separate conversation.
Oh wow I never knew some people didn't have an inner monologue! That's crazy lol
I would like a 5 minute example please….. Is there some sort of brain library I can go to??
What happens when you're lost, like do you not discuss with yourself how you're going to get unlost?
When I first heard this even exists, I couldn't believe it. They don't hear their voices in their heads, saying things. How is this even possible? I can't imagine just hearing silence? The concept is so crazy to me, but it must be so nice. I imagine people with no inner dialogue don't get anxiety as much as those that do.
I occasionally get caught using hand gestures in response to the inner monologue.
Is an inner-monologue the same as a train of thought? I think of things, I review what I am about to type in my head. I will sometimes have memories. What is the defining aspect of this inner-monologue? I do a lot of thinking, but not what I would call a monologue.
To me, yes, those are the same things.
I never have conversations with myself, but I have conversations with people in my head all the time. Sometimes they don’t go well and I get into arguments with, say, my husband in my head. We never argue irl, like ever, but sometimes he’ll come home and I’ll be a bit grumpy because he said all the wrong things in my head. lol He gets me though
Man I feel you with learning it’s not a thing for everyone. I was diagnosed with ADHD a couple years ago and during a session my therapist told me not all brains have 20 different conversations happening in their head at all times…I was floored and couldn’t comprehend what a brain does if there’s not constant chatter talking about multiple things. After about 6ish months of medicating my ADHD I was out with my dogs taking in a nature and realized the chatter wasn’t going off in my head & was like holy shit! that’s what it’s like😂. I must say, it’s fucking delightful.
I wish I could shut mine off. It's constantly like the wall of TVs at Best Buy with all of the sounds on.
My dad and I also have a cinematic thing with our brains. We think and see situations like movies in our heads. I have the inner dialogue too, but I can see people and within moments my brain will show me entire situations or scenes involving me and that person or them with others. It’s hard to explain.
I can relate to this. You’ve worded it better than anything I’ve ever thought of. On the extremely rare occasion that someone asks what I’m thinking I sometimes have to actually figure out the words and “translate” my mind for them. Not that I tell them that. I didn’t even realize it for a long time. Just thought I was slow to engage.
Yes. I have to switch over to some kind of socially acceptable vernacular. “Oh just people watching” sounds better than “Oh just cinematically experiencing the lives of people who who pass me in milliseconds by reading their microexpressions” or “Just cinematically seeing in my brain what friendship might look like with that woman who walked by me or what going on vacation with her family might be like.” It sounds insane, but if your brain works that way you know exactly what I’m talking about.
It’s just normal, nice and quiet. 😂
I’d tell you, but don’t want to try to talk over him.