How can I tell if I have an internal monologue?

@Bumply

It's why I find meditation boring as the "empty your mind" step is instant and then I'm wondering what's supposed to come next.

I think this is how I am; I've already said on here I don't think I have an 'internal monologue'; when people say 'empty your mind' I (mentally!) wonder 'empty it of what?' (but not, obviously, in a monologue-voice!). Doesn't that imply unconsciousness? Or death?

I am aware of certain internal 'mind things', and the nature of thought intrigues me. For example, I might say 'the red thick rope on the floor that belongs to my mother looks about twice as long as the thin blue one on the table that is mine' but the mental process created that state in my head took a tiny instant, much, much, much shorter than the time needed to say that in words. In fact there must be a pause while I 'put the thought into words'. Isn't that the same for everybody? I do know that discussing one's internal mental workings can be peculiarly difficult, and some people find it very hard (or impossible!) to believe that others think differently from them.

This thread has me so confused. I definitely think in words but they're not in my own voice. I cannot identify the voice because if I try and think about it in that way I can't hear it.

Maybe it's less of a voice and more of an echo of a voice. It's also much faster than a normal voice. It doesn't sound like a person speaking quickly though. Its like the words all at once come to me. Thinking "she's unreasonable" definitely doesn't take the time it would take to say it aloud.

I also read very quickly. Again I am thinking the words when I read but I also imagine the scene in my head and it's much quicker than saying the words aloud would be.

I also have anxiety and very critical thoughts that are constant. I don't at all identity with the quietness that a lot of people without an internal monologue feel. It's definitely chaotic.

If I realise the bins need putting out I'm thinking of words rather than an image of a bin.

At the same time I don't know if I'm experiencing the same as someone who says that they hear their own voice narrating things.

Very difficult to explain and imagine how it could be different.

I think there are a lot of people on this thread who are readily embracing a "finking??! oh no I'm waay too pretty for that" narrative. And a few others who are pretending to have cognitive abilities which are plainly fantasy.

Wow I managed to 'think' that inside my head, all on my own. I must be special too. 🙄

As an aside, I remember literally word for word conversations with people and can replay them at will, what makes it awkward is that I've noticed quite a few people tell lots of 'white lies' about mostly inconsequential things.

I find this deeply irritating and distracting but cannot really confront them as it would be socially unacceptable to say, 'oh really, that isn't what you said 3 years ago!' 😂 so I just nod along...

I'm pretty good at design and quite creative but have sometimes embarrassed myself by not recognising people who aren't in context, such as seeing a colleague in the supermarket!

It is apparently only a third of people who do have an internal monologue. I have a very active one and actually struggle to understand who someone can be conscious/self-aware without one. Perhaps they aren't!

But but... When you're reading this thread say, can you hear the words in your head and different voices / tones depending on how you read it? And then my brain kinda has an imaginary conversation with your before I decide what to actually write and then my brain goes off imagining your response (your laughing)

i have no internal monologue and when I read it’s kind of like watching a movie in my head.. except better than that, I’m
sort of there in it. I love reading, and it would actually drive me crazy if I could constantly ‘hear’ my own voice saying the words. I find this topic really interesting. I’m autistic and struggle with verbal communication (I’m a reluctant and clumsy talker - perhaps it’s lack of practice! - but a good writer), and even when I’m alone for hours I’m very content without an inner monologue - I was amazed to learn that others have one.

I think in a combination of language and visualization. So usually a monologue plus corresponding imagery. Sometimes I’m thinking about one subject using language and another subject using imagery at the same time. When I read I do both, so I see and hear the dialogue of the characters as I imagine them but the narrative is in my own monologue voice.

The only times they fall silent and I’m just living in the moment, as it were, are when I’m riding, surfing, or encountering a wild animal. But even then my mind is in absolute overdrive, just in a different way. I can remember every single detail and piece of sensory input from those moments, even years later.

Having read the thread, I don't know if I have one or not!

When I type or read I definitely hear a voice. If I've read a book (I don't do it that often as I get super into it and will read a whole book in a day so don't have time often!) I might find myself narrating my actions in the style of the writer for then next few hours, but not on a daily basis.

At night when I'm trying to sleep is probably when my brain is "noisiest" but this tends to be snippets of conversations that don't really form a narrative (when I was younger I thought it might be my brain processing any conversation I had heard but not listened to iyswim - like in a crowd...) or images - I have to focus to notice them though or they're in the background and I start thinking without realising.

I am a very visual thinker - so if I'm recalling a conversation I get an image of what I was looking at when it happened.

DH says I have an external monologue. I fill silences constantly, I also often hve to explain my train of thought and how one topic leads to another (usually based on images like above IE: "I saw Sally on wednesday" - image of sally wearing a blue jumper when I saw her, followed by "don't forget about my mums too" - because i left a blue t-shirt at hers and I need to collect it, but poor DH can't see my thoughts and has no idea I've left it there or that I need to get it because I want to wear it to an event so I'll then say "what time are we leaving at the weekend by the way". So mentioning seeing Sally has gone through 3 thought transitions by the time I finish a sentence. But I won't have necessarily thought about, and I definitely haven't had a voice making the connection in my head, I've just had images of sally; blue jumper; my mum's living room; a calendar and the destination we are going to (or the people we are going with).

I carry around a small toy cat and project one of me onto the cat and then disucss with the cat "Small cat, how many lengths shall we swim today? 20?". Small cat is such a taskmaster and wants 24.

This is something that I often ask myself

Seriously me too

Love this. Mine are just full blown conversations with myself

This is me

@Superlambaanana I think, but my narration is out loud. I don't think 'I'd better empty the dishwasher' I say it, even if no one else is there.

As a PP said my thoughts are abstract not word based. Not sure how else to describe it.

Oh that's interesting! Perhaps more linked with ADHD then.

Imagine if having an inner voice was all that was needed for ADHD assessment. It'd cut NHS waiting times dramatically!

I've always had multiple layers of thoughts running in my head, but only 1 or 2 strands at a time are in words - and that didn't start to develop until my mid to late teens. Before that they were just 'thinks' - can't really describe them. So arguably before that point I didn't have an inner monologue as such. But I certainly didn't have the 'not thinking' experience some people have described

Never had any level of anxiety, they aren't stressed thoughts most of the time. Just thoughts. Chatter about what I'm doing, pondering the origin of words or steps in evolution, counting, making observations about things around me, writing a poem or an email, remembering bit of history or books or past conversation, planning a DIY project. Can be anything at all. Often I'll get a word-based earworm as well.

The word layer is slower than the thinks, so I have to pause and loop the thinks sometimes while the words catch up if both are dealing with the same thought strand.

Occasionally the words do something a bit unusual. Recently I had Werner Herzog as guest narrator for a couple of days.

For me, I don't narrate or everything I'm doing but I might think and hear my own voice in my head saying "OK, I'll just stick the kettle on and I'll empty the dishwasher while that's going", but I don't hear things like "lift up the kettle, take off the lid, turn on the tap, fill the kettle, turn off the tap, put the kettle down, switch the kettle on" etc. Maybe it depends on how familiar a task is to me, I'd say it's more abstract most of the time but sometimes it helps me plan things.

I think some of my thoughts are subconscious, like I don't always know what I'm about to say, but if I've been trying to put my thoughts in order during a conversation, I might have an idea of what's coming. Planning what I'm going to say never works though, I stumble on actually saying it out loud, so I just let it come organically.

Mine is mainly just chatter, really, like having a friend you natter away to. I do hear that at my normal talking speed. Some thoughts, I'm conscious of but don't hear them.

It's so weird and fascinating isn't it, I love that everyone has their own experience!

Seriously folks are you saying you do not think? So if you sit in silence you don't think to yourself? You just switch off like some weird robot doll?

@PorkPieForStarters I'm autistic without one. Most other autistics I know are without internal monologues too.

That's interesting, I wondered if there was any correlation.

I have ADHD and my mind chatters away most of the time, I actually think it's why I'm good with my own company - I keep myself entertained😄

I've asked quite a few friends and the ones who are diagnosed/suspected neurodiverse all have internal monologues. Most can also visualise things in their mind too.

I can't imagine what it must be like to have a quiet brain, I'm not sure I'd like it!

I have no internal monologue. I tend to vocalise my actions.

'Right. Now I have to go and water the plants. Eugh, I hope the slugs haven't eaten them again.' Etc.

My husband always thinks I'm talking to him 😂

@thaegumathteth I know what you mean , I only found it out this year through Facebook , I went round asking people what they could see when their eyes were closed lol .

Doing not growing ffs

This has blown my mind. I honestly didn't think this is what people were growing.