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Do you have an inner monologue?

113 replies

autienotnaughty · 23/07/2025 06:51

And if you do, do you talk to it or is it more like a voice over in your head?

OP posts:
Azuresky68 · 23/07/2025 07:40

Yes i do too and partner doesn't. Is it a female thing I wonder?

Eyesopenwideawake · 23/07/2025 07:40

@Lunaballoon You are the expert on you, no one else is.

For example if someone says something that I interpret as critical of me, I’ll ruminate and repeat it in my head over and over.

You wouldn't take the advice of an amateur over that of a professional so don't pay any heed to someone who hasn't lived a minute of your life.

PistachioTiramisuLimoncello · 23/07/2025 07:41

Most of the time.

Disturbia81 · 23/07/2025 07:42

yes to both, it’s constant. It’s why I never feel lonely!

StormsAreDue · 23/07/2025 07:43

Mine is constant. I think Id be lonely without it!

Ddakji · 23/07/2025 07:44

I have recently discovered that I have been a maladaptive daydreamer for decades, probably since puberty at 11 (I’m now 53). Didn’t know it had a name! DD is the same.

But I talk to myself constantly to the extent of having ranting arguments against people in my head, which isn’t great.

DelphiniumDoreen · 23/07/2025 07:47

I do. ASD here and chronic over thinker.

I’ve recently started meditating every day in a bid to bloody stop it because it’s not helpful. I’ve started to remind myself that I can just be in the moment and not think about that interaction with a colleague three weeks ago and whether she was being a bit funny with me!

Pixiedust49 · 23/07/2025 07:47

I can’t imagine having silence in my head. Surely that must be very rare?

Eyesopenwideawake · 23/07/2025 07:48

Azuresky68 · 23/07/2025 07:40

Yes i do too and partner doesn't. Is it a female thing I wonder?

Slightly off topic but your post reminded me of this;

Her Diary:

Tonight, I thought my husband was acting weird. We had made plans to meet at a nice restaurant for dinner. I was shopping with my friends all day long, so I thought he was upset at the fact that I was a bit late, but he made no comment on it. Conversation wasn't flowing, so I suggested that we go somewhere quiet so we could talk. He agreed, but he didn't say much. I asked him what was wrong; He said, 'Nothing.' I asked him if it was my fault that he was upset. He said he wasn't upset, that it had nothing to do with me, and not to worry about it. On the way home, I told him that I loved him. He smiled slightly, and kept driving. I can't explain his behavior I don't know why he didn't say, 'I love you, too.' When we got home, I felt as if I had lost him completely, as if he wanted nothing to do with me anymore. He just sat there quietly, and watched TV. He continued to seem distant and absent. Finally, with silence all around us, I decided to go to bed. About 15 minutes later, he came to bed. But I still felt that he was distracted, and his thoughts were somewhere else. He fell asleep - I cried. I don't know what to do. I'm almost sure that his thoughts are with someone else. My life is a disaster.

His Diary:

Motorcycle won’t start…can't figure out why.

Wigtopia · 23/07/2025 07:48

Yup! Inner monologue narration, sometimes with different accents, sometimes songs. When I was a teen I would actually ‘write song’ (music only, no lyrics) which would be properly (to me at least) layered with different instruments and parts, harmonies etc. but sadly didn’t have the musical ability to get it from my head onto paper/ to instruments!

i noticed lots of people have mentioned being ND but I am not and not suspected of having this

DelphiniumDoreen · 23/07/2025 07:53

Eyesopenwideawake · 23/07/2025 07:48

Slightly off topic but your post reminded me of this;

Her Diary:

Tonight, I thought my husband was acting weird. We had made plans to meet at a nice restaurant for dinner. I was shopping with my friends all day long, so I thought he was upset at the fact that I was a bit late, but he made no comment on it. Conversation wasn't flowing, so I suggested that we go somewhere quiet so we could talk. He agreed, but he didn't say much. I asked him what was wrong; He said, 'Nothing.' I asked him if it was my fault that he was upset. He said he wasn't upset, that it had nothing to do with me, and not to worry about it. On the way home, I told him that I loved him. He smiled slightly, and kept driving. I can't explain his behavior I don't know why he didn't say, 'I love you, too.' When we got home, I felt as if I had lost him completely, as if he wanted nothing to do with me anymore. He just sat there quietly, and watched TV. He continued to seem distant and absent. Finally, with silence all around us, I decided to go to bed. About 15 minutes later, he came to bed. But I still felt that he was distracted, and his thoughts were somewhere else. He fell asleep - I cried. I don't know what to do. I'm almost sure that his thoughts are with someone else. My life is a disaster.

His Diary:

Motorcycle won’t start…can't figure out why.

Ha! Love this!

MoreDangerousThanAWomanScorned · 23/07/2025 07:55

Pixiedust49 · 23/07/2025 07:47

I can’t imagine having silence in my head. Surely that must be very rare?

I can't imagine having the constant chatter that people in the thread are describing! For me it sounds like you'd never be able to actually think... But I appreciate that for people who have this it is part of their thought process. For me it isn't, thoughts are spoken or articulated in words - taking a thought and putting it into words is a different step that I don't do unless I'm going to express it to someone else. It's very hard to describe and I suspect we can never really understand how someone else is experiencing thought and whether we're all doing the same thing and describing it very differently or whether it is really totally different.

KPPlumbing · 23/07/2025 07:56

I have a severe inner monologue and it torments me. It never shuts up. It narrates everything I do. I have anxiety, and have intrusive thoughts - my inner monologue suggests saying terrible things in social situations that must never be said!

mycatismyworld · 23/07/2025 08:03

Mine never stops. A friend recently told me she has an inner monologue and apparently most people don't. I thought everyone had one.
I have very high scoring ADHD which I was diagnosed with aged 50s, never knew it was something adults could have.
It's bloody exhausting having a brain that won't switch off.

R0ckandHardPlace · 23/07/2025 08:10

It’s similar to people who read out loud in their heads when reading. My DH claims that he doesn’t do this, he just sees the words and they go into his brain without him repeating them in his head as he reads. He also has no inner monologue.

DogPaulAnka · 23/07/2025 08:17

I don’t have an inner monologue. I used to watch scrubs and think JD talking to himself all the time was weird. I didn’t realise this was something people actually do.

jimmyeatworld · 23/07/2025 08:19

Always waffling on inside my head, thought it was normal so. How quiet it would be otherwise !

BettyBettyBoop · 23/07/2025 08:24

I do, but my OH doesn't, and he has ADHD. He is does talk to himself though and I think that's his version of an inner monologue, although I guess in his case its an outer monologue 😅

Ayeayeaye25 · 23/07/2025 08:36

DelphiniumDoreen · 23/07/2025 07:47

I do. ASD here and chronic over thinker.

I’ve recently started meditating every day in a bid to bloody stop it because it’s not helpful. I’ve started to remind myself that I can just be in the moment and not think about that interaction with a colleague three weeks ago and whether she was being a bit funny with me!

I struggle with this and spend way to long thinking that X person is ignoring me, or doesn’t like me or why they behaved like that etc.

I thought that was normal.

Nannyfannybanny · 23/07/2025 09:14

I see a poster said how can you actually "think," this IS thinking! It's the thought process,most things we do are auto pilot or muscle memory.

MrsCarson · 23/07/2025 09:21

I run scenarios, sometimes a full on hypothetical argument and ask questions and answer them. I have the constant running chatter about what I'm doing, where I'm going etc.
I assumed everyone had this going on.
I dread to ask anyone in real life, they might think I am mad

IzzyHandsIsMySpiritAnimal · 23/07/2025 09:29

A constant stream of stuff.
Ther may be music, or a random phrase or sentence from a book, or something I've seen/read/heard recently.
There's a sort of background chatter of what I need to do, and if I'm reading anything (from Cereal packets to assembly instructions) I hear those words in my head.
There might also be some visual recollection; if I'm trying to remember where my t-shirt is, I can picture what the t-shirt looks like.

It's only recently that I discovered not everyone experiences this.

Right now I'm recalling a sentence from a book I'm reading (or rather I was reading earlier this morning), I have "Mr. Blue Sky" by ELO playing in my head, I'm trying to work out what the builders next door are doing from the noise I can hear, I'm conting the ticks the clock in the room is making and I'm thinking about what to pack for the weekend, as we're going away. I'm also hearing the words I'm typing, as though I was reading them.

thistimelastweek · 23/07/2025 09:30

I constantly sing nonsense songs to shut mine up.

Lurkingandlearning · 23/07/2025 09:32

This has always puzzled me . Isn’t it just thinking?

HoneyHoneyHowYouThrillMe · 23/07/2025 09:32

Apparently many people don't! So your husband isn't abnormal.

I have many lines of dialogue going on at once, but I have ADHD.