To not believe that some people don't have an internal monologue?

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Even though I've just read this:

ryanandrewlangdon.wordpress.com/2020/01/28/today-i-learned-that-not-everyone-has-an-internal-monologue-and-it-has-ruined-my-day/

I can't quite understand if. Hoping some MNs of the non-monologue type can help me out.

Especially with the reading part.

When I'm reading descriptions fast I don't properly say the words in my head, more of a picture forms I guess. But I'm hearing any dialogue words.

And chattering away to myself in my head all day long. Must be nice not to!

I'm wondering how this can be true...and whether the people who say that they don't have an internal voice, are simply misunderstanding? I mean...'thinking' requires an internal voice. Dreaming requires an internal voice. They must have it...just don't actually recognise or acknowledge what it is.

If this is true then my mind is slightly blown although does this explain people who don’t think before they speak or people who don’t have a thought that they don’t verbalise?

People who are born deaf probably don't hear a voice as well and they also think without it somehow, so it must be possible.

There are degrees of interval monologue though, aren't there?

Eg, some days mines so full on I could walk for three hours, just letting the voice chatter on. When people talk about walking being boring, I'm a bit because for me it's a relief to let the voice run free.

On the other hand, if I've done really hard cardio, it has shut my voice down for a few hours which is kind of bliss. But also disconcerting. And a bit boring

Dreaming requires an internal voice.

My dreams rarely have dialogue

I can hear words in my head when I read silently.

Other than that I don’t hear any voices when I think. No negative voice. No ongoing internal monologue at all. Nothing. When I first read about it on here I found it amazing and slightly terrifying that people do tbh.

I think people who are able to think abstractly (e.g. mathematicians, artists) probably don't think as much in words as we lesser brings.

I thought I read somewhere a while back that some people think in images e.g pictures, colours and/or written words whereas others think in verbal form.

I find it interesting and do believe that these variations occur because people do retain and process information differently - I hear my voice in my head pretty much all day (the "normal" ones!) and I can "play" full songs to entertain myself but I can't build images if someone asks me too.

If I think in Urdu I have an internal monologue, if I’m thinking in English e.g trying to remember an English word then there’s no internal monologue, more feelings/sensations and visual memories.

I can (and do) play entire films in my head. No reruns of actual films more films of my thoughts - imagined other lives, How I'd respond in certain situations. That sort of thing. Other times it's just words/ a voice. My dreams are almost entirely silent. Though I rarely dream these days, used to have such vivid ones.

I'm not sure DH has one, he thinks I'm a bit strange when I blurt out something relating to a conversation I've been having in my head for some time. I'm very tangential (if that's a word) and he doesn't get it.

I don't. I used to see words in my head - I was exceptionally early & gifted at reading & spelling, but I've got neurological issues which have unfortunately impacted my ability to concentrate on many things, including reading large blocks of text, & I can't always remember how to spell fairly common words either. I don't read for pleasure any more. I can manage MN, mostly, but I need someone to help me with signing documents etc.

So no, I used to have a sort of internal monologue, but it's gone now. Kind of freeing, but also quite lonely. I do struggle to keep track of what I'm thinking a lot of the time, IYSWIM. My short term memory is appalling. I think people who say they don't have one, must naturally function differently somehow, as I now struggle to cope without this.

Very occasionally I’ll get a voice in my head - which I just thought was a strong thought. It happens when I’m in a conversation with someone who’s unnecessarily aggressive and it’s best to not provoke them further. The voice always says ‘shut up and listen’ in that instance

Otherwise I do not have a voice running in my head all day - I think more in ideas - bu no monologue of what I’m doing or should do. It sounds both useful and distracting to me

I am quite impulsive - so I do wonder if an internal voice would help me think things through better. I’ll try to cultivate an internal conversation when I’m buying things.

Apparently a high percentage of people with dyslexia have no internal monologue. I'm one of them. Was amazed to realise other people are going round conversing with themselves!

I don’t actually hear words but I think they constantly. It gets very intrusive, especially when it randomly wakes me up at 3am or when I’m supposed to be concentrating on work.

I “hear” words the same way I “see” things with my mind’s eye. I think. But sometimes I also picture the words too, in large shouty cartoon letters or whatever.

At the same time as thinking/seeing/hearing whatever my internal monologue is going on about, my brain is also imagining random shit like a horse made of bananas or god knows what else.

It’s very loud, very colourful and it’s a miracle I get anything done. I do have concentration issues, have done since I was a kid, maybe this is why...

I can’t imagine it not being there.

*”i think them constantly” that was meant to say in the first line...

I should add that whilst I have no internal voice other than a reading one, I often have song lyrics on a loop on my head.

But in the sense of being able to have an internal conversation. Nothing.

I constantly have chatter. Worse when my anxiety and depression are bad tho.

turkeyboots that's interesting. I dont have an interaction monologue running all day and I am dyslexic.

My brain create images. Unless I am trying to sound a word out in my head, to write it. Everything else is images. When I read, its images in my head.

Its why always hate films made from books. It's never anywhere near my image of it.

If I remember to do something I dont get a thought 'oh I need to do x'. I get an image of x in my head.

But no, no running monologue.

Unless people who do, have the same and call it a monologue. Maybe we all have the same but interpret it differently.

Helen Keller, who was blind and deaf from birth, describes her nightmares in which there no sound or vision but are still terrifying.

I have many words in my head but no images. I can’t visualise images at all. I’m autistic though so I don’t know if it’s related to that.

Surely it's all mixed up for many of us, people's voices, images, random thoughts and feelings.

I have a constant dialogue in my head. I feel like it loves me and I would be so lonely without it, sometimes I'd love a day of silence.

@shadyshadow

"Unless people who do, have the same and call it a monologue. Maybe we all have the same but interpret it differently"

I also wondered this!!!

I have one and I have a very strong minds eye. I can close my eyes and think of somewhere and it’s like I’m there. It’s good for visualising how furniture will go in a room and stuff. I love it