How can I tell if I have an internal monologue?

I have an internal monologue, I think. I don't actively hear it but I can feel the words in my being. Edited to add: I definitely think in words.

I don't have anxiety. I was a prolific reader as a child and am relatively prolific now.

Unless I'm detail reading I don't hear everything I read in my head though, because that slows me right down when I do that. I just sort of absorb it a paragraph or sentence at a time.

This is mind blowing!
I have a constant internal monologue going on. Only stops when I sleep.

That totally blows my mind! My internal voice never stops. I am an insomniac because of its constant chatter. Sometimes there is more than one voice alongside a soundtrack. Trying to meditate leads to great adventures going off in my head - you know, picturing the calm place, gentle rain music and then a t-Rex arrives ....

This describes me too!

Oh I've always wondered about this too. I've constantly got internal chatter going on as well as whatever song is my current earworm. One thing I do a lot is repearedly go over conversations or rehearse future conversations. I'm quite a worrier and something that I worry about is saying the wrong thing. I often wonder what a healthy inner monologue sounds like - mine definitely isn't!

Silly question to those who don’t have an internal voice: When you’re reading, do you not hear your own voice saying the words in your head? How can you think without words?

This is really fascinating! I thought that everyone heard their own voice in their head. I can’t imagine what ‘thoughts’ are without it.

When I take my ADHD stimulant medication it makes my mind quieter and I feel calmer, it's
reduced anxiety and moods more stable. I still have an internal monologue but not so much a box of bees with fewer negative thoughts.

I'm likely also autistic and often it feels like 2 people having a tug of war in my brain as want opposing things. I can't imagine not having one though, be too quiet.

God, there are multiple streams of chat running through my head constantly. I thought everyone had this?

No internal monologue and no anxiety here!

recently my brain has been completely empty, due to meditation and cutting out stressors. I have to think to think of things. It’s quite nice

I worked with a colleague who talked all day, he would sit at his desk and mutter and chat to himself.

We had this very same conversation and it appears as a creative he "thinks" in designs and colours and patterns, he can dream about situations but his words and music have to come out of his mouth to make sense.

Not sure about this. I don’t have an internal monologue but I do read an awful lot, for work and pleasure, and writing is a big part of my job. Language is central to my identity but it’s more of an expression of how I think rather than central to the construction of the thought itself if that makes sense.

I have an inner backing track too.

I constantly have a song going round and round in the background along with inner monologue. 😁

I agree with the reading thing. I've always been a prolific reader, and my inner monologue has been around since I was a young child, and it is literally like a book in my head, with both narration and dialogue.

My inner monologue is essentially a whole personality of her own. We have full blown conversations, such as advising each other on what to wear (usually the same outfit, funnily enough), what to eat, etc.

No, I don't have any mental health issues 😁

Me too and I have a riotous inner monologue

My friend doesn't have an internal monologue and I really can't wrap my head round it.

She also can't remember faces or what things look like, like she can't describe something with out looking at it, which I also find really hard to imagine

There are some people who are both aphantasic and have no internal monologue.

I asked a friend about this as she has no internal monologue.
She says she sees things as pictures as opposed to words, I asked what happens when she reads and she says she sees the words in her head rather than hearing them.
As someone with an internal monologue that is always chattering away it was fascinating as she couldn’t imagine having an internal monologue and had no idea that there was such a thing.
I asked her about how she solved a problem as I talk ( and argue ) with myself in my head.
She writes it down 🤷‍♀️

I have also wondered this. And wondered if there was a correlation to people who read a lot (I often feel like I'm narrating a novel about myself).

I think the writing point that OP mentioned is interesting too. We have several people at work who are pretty awful writers and the thing that links them is that they don't 'hear' what's written in their heads so it's full of long sentences that don't sound natural and using overly complex language. Whereas I write as if I'm talking and my academic writing is pretty good (not my writing on MN!!)

If I’m reading, writing or going over/rehearsing conversations in my head I’ll ‘hear’ the words in my head but apart from that I don’t really think in words or sentences as such. Sometimes I’ll ‘narrate’ what’s going on on purpose as a way of creating a bit of distance, but that’s more of a mindfulness strategy than a natural way of thinking, and quite different to having an internal monologue I’d think.

Not sure if that helps at all!

I wonder if there is a correlation between internal monologues and mental illness or anxiety. I have a constant inner monologue and often worry or feel anxious or paranoid. My partner doesn't have one and doesn't suffer with any of those and is a lot more chilled than me.

So if you don’t think in words how do you think?

It's one of those things that's almost impossible to understand the reverse of it! But yes, I have a constant monologue. Often a number going at the same time; as a PP said, it's often like there's a conversation going on in my head.

I have an inner monologue. I don't actually hear my voice but it's kind of an ongoing conversation between me and me