To ask: do you have an inner-monologue?

[allthatgrace]

I don't have an inner-monologue and never realised that some people do. My thoughts are rapid, abstract and conceptual rather than verbal.

For example, if I am thinking that I'm hungry and want to start making dinner it takes the form of something like: concept of hunger+concept of dinner+concept of it being the evening/dinner time. After speaking to my family members they would have an inner-voice that actually says "I'm hungry, I think I'll go start dinner".

I have also always been confused about the idea of having an inner-critic that berates you. I've never heard an inner-voice say, for example, "nobody cares what you have to say, don't bother speaking, everything you say is stupid", instead I would just feel the sensation of shyness and wanting to stay quiet.

I can make myself have an inner-voice and I will use it occasionally, for example if I'm trying to remember a particular phrase or something but my default thinking is not an inner-monologue.

Which kind of thoughts do you have?

@SteveArnottsWaistcoat

All the time! I do my own head in, I can’t shut up! It’s like an eternal episode of peep show but a lot less funny.

Scrap my ridiculously waffley description.

This is much more succinct!

It's like a less funny version of Peep Show.

I have a whole world going on in my head, reaching decisions necessitates a full on debating chamber, I run through problems by acting them out in my head, when I don’t need my brain for anything else, I have a whole soap opera going on in there, I sort out all problems this way. I would find it quite lonely not to have this constant companionship

@SwanShaped

Woah I had no idea that not everyone has an inner monologue! For those who don’t, what is there between the random thoughts? And how often long are the gaps between thoughts? Do you get periods of silence?

@SwanShaped yes just silence. It’s very restful. Then a thought will float in eventually. During the day it doesn’t happen much as I’m rushing around doing stuff and constantly thinking about things. But if I have 5 minutes to myself my head will just empty out and it’s silent. Also when going to sleep. Thinking the whole time must be exhausting - you internal monologue people are amazing! If I am very stressed about something I will have lots of thoughts, constantly flowing one to another, but not a monologue.

Constant.
I narrate and debate everything.
While working from home, or driving home, I often do it out loud.

@HowToMurderYourLife

I don't have a monologue, it's more of a full cast dramatic production that never stops or quietens down. I also have quite severe ADHD which is probably something to do with that. The idea of a quiet mind is baffling, I wish I could just have some peace.

Meditation. Seriously. Not ""trying not to think of anything" which is doomed to fail but genuine sitting still for five minutes concentrating on breathing/someone elses voice talking while acknowledging any thoughts that pop up and allowing them to float away again. It isnt instantaneous - but eventually I was able to get (temporary) quiet and its bliss!

I absolutely do. It can be a problem when it spills out though...

@Sportsnight

I’m boggling that people don’t have an inner monologue. Mine is constant unless there’s something else that’s louder - music/ tv/ reading (Mumsnet). It does sound very peaceful to think you could not have one. I noticed reading the thread that every single reaction I had to posts was worded in my head. So, even if you’re thinking about something quite complex - like whether to quit your job, you’re not thinking “on the one hand, I’d have no money but on the other hand my boss is a monster and there was that one time (cue lengthy anecdote to self)”. How do you process anything?! I can’t process anything without words.

@Sportsnight in that sort of scenario I would just think it all at once. I’d think about the concept of no money and then pretty much at the same time think about the annoying boss, but I wouldn’t think it all out separately and spell out “on the one hand... but on the other hand” to myself.

I don’t have an inner dialogue but when I am just at the point of sleep I can hear random phrases, like tuning in a radio. Sometimes I can pick one out but mostly I just drift off to sleep.

I also can’t remember faces, but I can remember photos so eg if I want go think what my son looks like I bring to memory a particular photo of him. This of course does not mean I don’t recognise him but I really have few memories, and those that I do are mainly based on photographs I’ve taken or seen.

I cannot imagine that. Constant blah blah in my brain. A thought for everything I see and hear For every emotion or feeling there is a dissection in my brain trying to analyse it. Always turned on. Never silent.

I do but it's not constant. I'm saying this in my head as I type, but it is quiet when I'm listening and I can read without a voice in my head (I was a bit shocked when I had DS to realise I could read out loud and think about something entirely different at the same time.

I also find it pretty easy to get into the state of "flow" for example when cooking or doing maths (I have a maths degree). In some activities I think an inner voice would slow things down.

I narrate myself a lot. "She walked down the stairs and turned the light on. It was raining..."

It drives me bonkers at times!

Every thing I think seems to be in a form of monologue, a bit like full sentences. If I’m hungry, I literally think the words “I’m hungry. What shall I cook?” etc

Even reading this I have an inner monologue going. I didn’t realise there was a different way of your brain functioning until a few years ago.

I would love to understand the visual image or how it works more.

If you are annoyed at someone and think to yourself they are a twat, what happens in that sort of situation?

When you need to make a decision between two chocolate bars in the supermarket how does this work?

For the first I literally just think to my self they are a twat and try not let it show on my face
Second I would have an inner conversation about which I prefer / what did I have last / which one I fancy more etc

I have taken a while to reply to this. As all the time I was paying attention to my thoughts it was constant internal monologue - as I was thinking in my head what I'd type on here.

I think though that -

Generally I will have a monologue in my head if I'm replaying a conversation, imagining a conversation, or for example thinking about what I'm going to type on here. So if it'll involve words then I'll think in words. (But I think them much faster than my mouth could talk them)

Most of the other time my thoughts are just sort of happening. I can have various at once. And the chatter over the top.

Also find it very easy to visualise things, places, situations.

In case it's relevant I have ADHD.

@BananaPie

I definitely don’t have a constant voice talking in my head, but there are never no thoughts. I’m constantly thinking, just not always in words. I can think using words and my inner voice but it’s much quicker to think without words.

So to all the people who are asking if it’s quiet without constant voices in your head, it’s definitely not quiet. It’s not an absence of thought.

How do you work through options and solutions to problems quickly if you have to have all your thoughts by saying them in your head? Doesn’t that take ages?

Not everything is in words for me.

So if I'm (for example) putting together IKEA furniture I might crack on with it without any words.

Equally I might also be thinking "Ah okay, so that bit goes there....where does this bit go then?....God I'm bored of this already and there are about 50 pages to go...I wonder if it's nearly lunchtime yet...etc"

The voice inside my head is much quicker than talking out loud though I think because you're not actually having to sound anything out.

Yes haha, constantly!

My inner monologue Never.Shuts.Up. I think fine by day, and probably helps with multi tasking as I have running lists playing. I struggle to relax though and absolutely cannot meditate - "Empty your mind" HOW??

I am curious though, for those of you that do not have an inner monologue, have you ever suffered from anxiety?

With me its songs. There is always a song going round and round, it usually lasts a whole day and then it will be a different one the next! I do get the monologue too, its usually a dialogue of what I want to say to people rather than what I want to say to myself.
I am quite shy in real life and not good at putting a point across, but my inner monologue is so good at knowing what to say, I often wish I could be like her.

I have an inner monologue. If I’m on my own, maybe in the car, it becomes a monologue. I have to be careful that it doesn’t continue being a monologue when I get out of the car and wander off down the street.

Masks may or not be proven to help contain the spread of COVID. What they can definitely do is keep my monologues more private as no-one can see my mouth moving!

@Wafflewombat

I have adhd & apparently one of the reasons sleep is more difficult is my brain never shuts up.

I was always amazed when my DH said he had periods of not thinking.

Ditto re ADHD!

To people who don't have an inner monologue, do you literally have periods of time without a conscious inner monologue - so silence in your head? It makes me feel the same as when I think about going into space - all edgy and unsettled!

I don’t have this but every night I get up for a wee at 3am and always go straight back to sleep but always notice I have a song playing in my head. Anything from a pop song to cartoon jingle to advert music but it’s always there every night. Anyone else because I’ve never met anyone who has this.

I have a constant inner monologue and I was so surprised when I found out not everyone has it! I find it very annoying at times as I can't control it. I can't meditate properly because I can't clear my mind. Even when I try the voice is going "Come on, just empty your mind. How hard can it be?" Like another poster, I also daydream a lot and have a few vivid scenarios I've been adding to for years and years. I wouldn't call it maladaptive daydreaming as I don't feel it negatively impacts my life.

I also pretty much always have a song running in my head. It changes a lot but there always seems to be some song playing. I usually will wake up with a song in my head and when I dream I can hear songs and sing along with all the correct words. My DP has told me I sing in my sleep sometimes if I concentrate I can play full songs in my head and hear all the instrumentation. When I was at school our R.E teacher used to make us read really boring textbooks for entire periods and to pass the time I would choose an album I liked and play it in my head.

Wow, what an interesting read.

I have non-stop monologue!

@gah2teenagers how strange, we just posted about the song thing at the same time!