Does everyone have an internal dialogue?

Shai Gar said:
I'd not mind destroying my emotions, Where do I get lithium?
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Trust me you don't want to use any anti-depressents. But if you do just go to a doctor depressed in the states. They love to throw pills at you because you're not what society deems as normal.
 
The Great Debate...

palettesirens said:
It's absurd because I'm mute yet giving myself a headache most of the time, conspiring that no one wants to talk to me!
:lock1:

I've never been the one to do most of the talking in real life conversations so the internal dialogue compensates. The more I am divorced from reality, the less lonely I delude myself into being. Being my own best friend both escapes and reinforces social anxiety.

If I'm talking out loud to myself that'd be a monologue, which takes quite a bit of effort. Sometimes I practice when I'm alone. (: I'm thinking of making youtubes to practice but I can't be bothered...
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Glad you put this out there. Sounds like many of us here. I don't know what I would do without internal dialogue, quite honestly. :violin:
 
Silently Honest said:
I always took that as a serious red flag not to take those pills. It seems that they're taking away a part of you that's supposed to be there.

Sacrificing a part of yourself for whatever reason it may be, one of the most important parts.
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That's how I've always felt about it. Some people honestly need antidepressants. Others? I really feel are being diagnosed too soon. ADHD may be real, to some degree, but often I think it's given more to control behavior you cannot change or refuse to accept (this is why I'm not in psych . . . never could respect the art)

SgtBlankee, we like you the way you are.

 
My mom was a nurse and she always told, me some mental disorders should be treated, but others can be overcome with a lot of work. That the Docters of our fine country just get paid to pump out these medications, and that in many cases it's completly unnecessary.

Whatever makes change.
 
I do have internal dialogue but it is rarely audible because i fear people thinking me as mental.
 
I have an almost constant internal dialogue, and it drives me nuts. I'm not talking about my intuition voice, I'm talking about the hyper-analytical, cataloging, chattering, list-making, sorting, examining dialogue that has made me a chronic insomniac and daydreamer all my life.

Even focused attempt at meditation over the years just focuses my internal dialogue on the meditation... "Is it working? is it the right one for me? should i perhaps try yoga? if I try yoga, do I need to buy a mat? wow, I haven't heard from Matt in awhile, hope he's ok. I'll call him later. Oh wait, I have to take the dog to the vet later and....

NUTS.

ETA: I meant to add that I have tried a few antidepressants/anti anxiety meds over the years. In only one case did I find them helpful: a short course of a tricyclic antidepressant after my mother died, to resume normal sleep and appetite patterns, and then I discontinued them (always, always under my doctor's supervision). I have tried two SSRIs, Prozac and Wellbutrin, and both eventually made me feel far worse than without them. The only thing that really works for me is trying to deliberately simplify my thoughts when they run amok, drink a LOT of chamomile tea (sometimes continuously through the day), focus on small consecutive tasks that give me a sense of accomplishment. Tactile creativity is also VERY effective in quieting my mind (photography, painting, decoupage, collage, etc.) moreso even than writing, which sometimes fires me up even more.
 
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ZenCat said:
I have an almost constant internal dialogue, and it drives me nuts. I'm not talking about my intuition voice, I'm talking about the hyper-analytical, cataloging, chattering, list-making, sorting, examining dialogue that has made me a chronic insomniac and daydreamer all my life.

Even focused attempt at meditation over the years just focuses my internal dialogue on the meditation... "Is it working? is it the right one for me? should i perhaps try yoga? if I try yoga, do I need to buy a mat? wow, I haven't heard from Matt in awhile, hope he's ok. I'll call him later. Oh wait, I have to take the dog to the vet later and....

NUTS.
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Same exact thing for me.
 
I tend to think in terms of mental images and symbols, not an internal dialogue in my head. The notion I see often that equates self-awareness with language and internal dialogue mystifies me, quite frankly.

The High-Functioning Autistic animal behaviorist Temple Grandin is a well known example, via her book Thinking in Pictures, of a person who doesn't have much of an internal dialogue at all.
 
Holycrap this thread is ancient (before I even joined!), but I am glad to see it revived up, tis a good topic.

I have a very constant internal dialouge, but at times it does become wordless. It isn't pictures, sounds, anything. It is simply a wordless feeling construct that has meaning that I get but am unable to explain.

I would very like to shut up my internal dialouge sometimes, it never corks it.
 
Quinlan said:
Imagine if your internal dialogue just stopped and you couldn't think anything through without engaging with another person, to get the necessary feed back to work out problems and thoughts.

Is that what extraverts feel like?
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that sounds scary as hell
 
I have a dialog with two position pessimist and optimist that end up siding with the pessimist most of the time. But from time to time he gets bound and tossed into the corner and the optimist gets to run around for a while.
 
Aww the old threads are the best.
 
Yes, I have a constant inner dialogue and it needs annoying . . . it needs to stop - please and thank you :D
 
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It's normal to have internal dialogue. That's how most people think.


My internal dialogue seems poorly developed. Very non-verbal thinking, pattern-oriented. That gives me speed in tests. I don't go through all the formal steps in my head, consciously.


I find it funny that madness is defined by hearing voices that speak to you. It seems that won't be possible to happen to me, just because I don't reason this way. Which doesn't mean I don't often assume I know what others are thinking etc, patterns which if internally verbalized could be considered flaws.

So I think the whole schizo-school is very superficial stuff. Language is a tool. One of the human tools. Suppose we take language away - all schizophrenics as we know them today are magically cured. Maybe it should be called addiction to language. Maybe this tool could be dangerous for some people who have inclination to abuse it. Language is very ambiguous and schizoid in itself, especially analytic(isolating) ones like modern contemporary Chinese and English. Maybe they didn't have schizoid human behavior back in the 'ancient' days (not so long ago actually, a few millennia), when languages were very polysynthetic.
 
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I have always been really confused by books and movies that depict characters with an internal dialogue. I don't really have much of one. I do occasionally think of things that I would say out loud but choose not to for whatever reason, and I have a bit of one when I'm writing, but I don't have a constant stream of words, like there's a narrator in my head or anything.

It's difficult to explain how I think. I don't know. I usually think in whole concepts, I guess. I'll feel an emotion, have a mental image, hear sounds, come to some sort of realization, but I don't always verbalize the thought or my reaction. I just have ... ideas.

...I don't even know if that makes sense. Putting it into words, it makes me sound a bit dull.
 
under skies said:
It's difficult to explain how I think. I don't know. I usually think in whole concepts, I guess. I'll feel an emotion, have a mental image, hear sounds, come to some sort of realization, but I don't always verbalize the thought or my reaction. I just have ... ideas.

...I don't even know if that makes sense. Putting it into words, it makes me sound a bit dull.
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I am similar. It is difficult to explain, but I also think in whole concepts. However, I have become so frusterated with myself over the years with not being able to explain things to an adequet level. Because of this I have forced myself be able to do it. A product is a stronger internal dialouge. While yes I do think in whole wordless concepts. I can extract words from it with some process. Another side product of this is I am not a fast thinker.
 
enfp can be shy said:
So I think the whole schizo-school is very superficial stuff. Language is a tool. One of the human tools. Suppose we take language away - all schizophrenics as we know them today are magically cured. Maybe it should be called addiction to language. Maybe this tool could be dangerous for some people who have inclination to abuse it. Language is very ambiguous and schizoid in itself, especially analytic(isolating) ones like modern contemporary Chinese and English. Maybe they didn't have schizoid human behavior back in the 'ancient' days (not so long ago actually, a few millennia), when languages were very polysynthetic.
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Why would isolating languages cause a higher risk of schizophrenia than synthetic languages? There is many references to psychotic behavior in ancient sources, of course it was called demonic possession or communicating with gods back then.

Interestingly, there is a theory that Schizophrenia is neurologically the opposite of Autism. People with Schizophrenic tendencies tend to be hyper-verbal thinkers but are poor visual thinkers and learners, the opposite of autistics like myself, who tend to be highly visual thinkers and can have problems verbalizing our thoughts (which is why the severely autistic are often non-verbal and can't talk).
 
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I've got a thriving internal dialogue. I will occasionally talk to myself when I think I'm alone. This can lead to some potentially embarrassing moments when I mistakenly think that I'm alone. I'm most prone to this in the car and the kitchen. Things tend to be far more embarrassing in the kitchen as the dialogue will inevitably be mixed in with poorly executed karate moves.
 
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