AIBU to ask whether constant mental chatter is normal?

It’s just normal for everyone who’s got a brain and is conscious. (And unconscious come to that, brain never shuts up even when we sleep).

My brain never shuts up. I used to think it was anxiety, but my eldest has ADHD and he says he’s the same. I do have multiple traits of ADHD tbf. I usually have at least one song on the go. Sometimes two which get spliced together. Very often I get stuck on one small riff or phrase like a scratched record. Also , if a song is very persistent (a week or more) I find myself changing the tempo or adding an orchestra🤣 Today I have DP’s text message alert on repeat. I also have an all day internal monologue, which I tune in and out of, but it’s ALWAYS there. I completely relate to pp’s who say they have to read the same page in a book multiple tyor find themselves reading a whole chapter without any memory of what they read. I do listen to audiobooks, but only ‘low brow’ type things so that it doesn’t matter if I tune out. I tried listening to more literary stuff and just felt very frustrated and got this horrible feeling of inadequacy because I simply couldn’t grasp or follow the language.

Mine is like this it can be completely exhausting and takes over eveything on a bad day

@Octavia64 that makes me feel a bit better lol.

To be fair twelfth night has a plot that is a bloody nightmare to follow.

I get this with books. I keep having to reread things because I'm convinced it just hasn't gone in as I haven't been sufficiently concentrating. As a result I barely read them. It'd take me three times as long as most people just from rereading so many sentences. I don't know what it's like for regular people as obviously no one is remembering every single sentence anyway.

Audible is even worse as I can't take that in AT ALL. I listened to Twelfth Night on audible and after it was over I realised I had zero clue what the story was about! Like nothing. I couldn't follow anything teachers said in school.

Mines not all over each other but one thought will almost finish and it goes to the next. it never ends. Even sleeping it’s constant dreams and soon as my eyes open a random song starts. I can’t remember when it wasn’t thinking. I’m dyslexic but one kid told she’s Probably adhd and one autism so I probably have something 🤣

Yep, me too

Constant earworm, constant images (hyperphantasic,) constant inner monologue - except it's more of a dialogue than a monologue. It's always there, but I can background or foreground particular tracks I need to focus on, most of the time - it's more difficult to manage when stressed. I also have very visual dreams, too.

I've never been diagnosed with autism, though I have considered asking for an assessment at one point in the past, so who knows?

I saw a reel about this and the Dr gave a tip for stopping the chatter.

I tried it and it works for me.

Just ask yourself "I wonder what my next thought will be"?

And . . . . . silence.

I always have a song in my head, constant conversations, either going over conversations I've had or preparing/rehearsing one in my head. Never shuts up. I haven't been assessed for anything. No real need to as I've never known any different. I can't read books as I can't concentrate and I do envy those that can as I know I am missing out to a whole world of joy there.

I have constant chatter and constant music

I also have spatial sequence synesthesia!

I don't have ADHD

Thank you for changing my song, there's been far too much Disney in my head lately!

Yes, my mind is full of conversations, images and thoughts, with occasional songs mixed in. I don't have ADHD. It can be distracting, fortunately I have gotten rid of the dark, self-accustory type of thoughts which were miserable.

I once read a book and years later I was adamant it was a film because I could see the film… nope, that was the images my imagination created. I love it. The committee meetings are annoying but do help me work through stuff.

Yeah same with my DH. Says he just sees the words, whereas I see everything in detail like a film and my mind fills in whatever details aren't specified. Sounds really boring tbh so I'm glad to have the imaginative brain I have, even if the chatter can be annoying sometimes!

I have ADHD and this is a thing. But it's not exclusively to ND people.

There was some articles in the last couple of years that discovered some people did not have an inner/ internal monologue. Google it, it's a thing but not necessarily an ND thing.

Mine is constantly on.

sil can’t visualise anything, gets no images when reading. I find that bizarre.

I only recently learned some people don’t have this (including dh) but it’s a normal way of processing and not unique to nd world. No autism or adhd here. It is more common in women.

I have constant mental chatter, my own voice rehearsing or repeating conversations, songs, memories, but my DH doesn't. He claims he only thinks about things when he wants to think about something, the rest of the time is quiet/blank. He also doesn't dream in images (mine are kind of like a film, I can remember sequences from them visually like I've seen them, whereas he claims he doesn't "see" anything). I think he's more unusual than me!

You know when you're told to picture something, I can't do that (for example, during a minor medical procedure they suggest picturing a nice beach, etc)

After saying I havent had a song in my head on waking for many months now, which is unusual for me, I wake up this morning and Ive got a bloody Michael Jackson song sitting there on replay.

V annoying. Its not even one of his best or that I like (thats quite common, I couldnt tell you hafl the time where the song comes from or who its by and I dont always like them or the artitst) but also I am no longer a fan after all the stuff about him has come to light.

I have a constant inner monologue which I think is normal, but not ‘chatter’. That short clip makes it look exhausting.

Oh God yeah I’m always talking to myself 🤦🏻‍♀️ I wear my headphones out and about so people think I’m on a call.

Yes, my head is normally like this, and when I’m depressed the noise gets nasty. But when I’m really depressed it gets quiet and that’s when I know I’m in trouble.

I am NT.