How can I tell if I have an internal monologue?

[Barrol]

I learned recently from my teen that ~ 30 to 50% of people don't have an “inner voice.”

I’m sure I do. As I type I hear my voice in my head. But am I just assuming I can? I’m confused. So maybe I am in the minority of people who don’t have an inner monologue. When I read I say it a loud in my head I think.

Please can anyone familiar with this topic elaborate.

I don’t hear anything-the thought emerges as a sort of concept rather than a narrative? Another poster described ‘thought clouds’ which is the closest to what I experience! Similarly when i read I don’t hear the words or go word to word hearing the sentence. I would glance at the paragraph or sentence and then it’s sort of all absorbed in one go

I have an internal monologue that never, ever stops. In fact, I generally feel that there are several strands of dialogue going on. I form partial sentences in my mind, which then get interrupted or 'answered'. I can't decide to switch it off. Before I discovered audiobooks, I got to sleep by making up stories and narrating them in my head, or playing out potential future conversations with people (where I was always amazingly erudite of course🤣) or reading until I fell asleep with my head lolling over the book. It has always been a source of great anxiety to me that I can't stop the 'stuff' in my head.

Me too.

Question for those of you who have a constant internal narration - does that make you better at remembering people’s names?

I only have a strong inner voice when I’m planning something I’m going to write (or occasionally planning a conversation). It pops up occasionally at other times, but when I see someone I don’t automatically have a voice in my head saying “There’s Richard.” I think if I did I’d be better at remembering names without having to try so hard and forgetting them all the time!

I am hyperphantasic and I have a strong inner monologue. I think about different things in different ways - mathsy things are often more visual, some things need a monologue to think it through - which can take on a differentvoice, depending on the subject. Various friends, family. Language often has words written inside my head (different colours for different languages.)

There are usually concurrent different bands of thoughts running through my head - one of them is always music, often annoyingly so - currently it's Tease me but only about 3 repetitive lines of it. I can bring up different bands of thought to the forefront when I need it, though and the others mostly don't interfere. Mostly...

My head is like trying to follow a group conversation with some radios and podcasts in the background while trying to do some things on autopilot. Then some of it leaks out of my mouth- usually confirming/ directing myself or a bit of stray earworm.

I MN a lot because reading the words directs the dominant voice rather than it chuntering to myself.

I am visual too. When I'm immersed in a novel it's like being integrated into a film while my voice reads like an audiobook. Very annoying when book adaptations just get it wrong

My head doesn't like quiet, inside or out. It's deeply unsettling.

The Inspector Gadget theme can be very distracting sometimes!

That last one's bizarre. She can't describe say a pear without looking at it? How does she know it's a pear when she sees it?

I have a very active inner monologue but barely any ability to picture things. So I find it impossible for example, to tell if a cushion will go with my sofa because I can't picture it. I have to buy it and try it. My DH can get a perfect picture in his head and just knows what things will look like before he's seen them.

So although I can't picture things, I CAN tell you exactly what they look like, so I can describe what a pear looks like for example without being able to picture a pear. I could also describe to you what my sofa looks like without being able to picture it! Brains are weird!

I’m really confused I thought this was just thinking and everyone hears their voice in their head.

Do those of you who don't have an inner monologue not get ear worms then? That sounds like bliss.

DD1 says she doesn't have constant chatter from her inner monologue so she can shut it off which also sounds good, mine (and DD2's) never stops. Just thought though, does that mean some people can actually clear their mind when doing meditation practice? Because I just daydream.

I have a constant inner monologue and I am dreadful at remembering names 😂
I once walked up the office stairs behind a man I'd worked with for three years and went "morning erm - erm - erm..." He very gently told me his name. It was mortifying, but quite funny afterwards!

I have constant chatter and I’m great with faces, names etc

i could probably tell you everyone in my primary class’ name and date of birth

That'd be really useful to have @HollyBerri . I've had therapists say to me a couple of times 'what do you think a friend would say to you about this person?' or something like that.
If you can manage to do that for yourself, have a voice telling you a different view on the situation, that should be great for working out how to move forward in different circumstances.
Assuming that the other perspective isn't evil. 😀

Like @Funnywonder I can have a few strands going at a time, and it's not all complete sentences. I was watching TV & in different strands I'm following the story, guessing what might happen, thinking "that actor looks so familiar, oh I'm so bad at remembering names. What sharp cheekbones he has" and that might trigger a thought about something related to that. It all happens so swiftly though, possible simultaneously.
Also like @Funnywonder I tell myself stories to send myself to sleep.
I can't create silence in my head - if I wanted to clear my mind to meditate I'd actually be thinking "oh, look, I'm doing pretty well not thinking about too much" which would veer into "it's impossible to have an empty mind because I'm talking to myself about my empty mind so it's never actually silent" and then also imagining myself telling someone about this.
When reading I can understand whole paragraphs but that's more fiction, not MN. And I do vaguely imagine a shadowy film behind the story. But my visuals in my head aren't great and tend to be quite fleeting.
Though if someone says a word like cat to me, it's more likely it appears as a written word on a screen in my head, than an image of an actual cat.
Even while I was reading this thread I was simultaneously having a conversation about what it's like for me / maybe I'll reply / shall I quote a post... It's quite hectic in my head!

I can ponder lots of things without hearing any sort of words or voice in my head. I can muster up words in my head if I want to but that would be a conscious effort.

I have a constant internal monologue. I’m always having conversations with myself about what I need to do, my thoughts on things, and going over past conversations and rehearsing future ones. I struggle a bit in the present as it’s always happening, even when I’m having a conversation with someone. My mind will go off on a tangent so I don’t always fully focus on what people are saying, or I’m busy rehearsing what I should say in response. I also struggle to follow films and programmes because as well as face blindness my mind wanders off very easily. It only takes one word being mentioned to remind me of something else and I start having a conversation in my head instead of paying attention to the film. I can waste hours doing this instead of a task that I’m supposed to be doing.

i have not been diagnosed with anything and have never suffered with anxiety or depression. I’m terrible with faces and names but I do suffer with face blindness.

I'm not sure what an internal dialogue is isn't it just thoughts? I think things all the time but I don't hear a voice in my head

I can very much relate to most of your post! Although I wouldn’t say I specifically suffer with face blindness, I am generally very poor at remembering faces and particularly struggle when I see someone out of context, unless I know them extremely well.

Someone above asked if people who have an inner monologue do or don’t get ear worms. In my case, the answer is yes. Currently it’s Tom Jones telling me he’s never going to fall in love again. Sometimes the same one sticks for weeks and I’m so bored and fed up with it that I start slowing it down, speeding it up, adding an orchestra, turning it into rap or whatever😆 Occasionally a short riff of just a couple of notes plays on repeat for a few hours like a stuck needle on a record. Usually when I’m anxious about something.

I don't know, but assuming that women have more of an internal monologue than men. From talking to people, most men can only think or focus one one thing at a time. Whereas women have about 6 thought trains crossing over at once which would probably mean we need an internal monologue to keep it flowing.

My dh asked me last night what I was thinking about and I had about 6 things going at once. He said he's brain hurt just thinking I was thinking about all that.

I described it as having boxed in our brain we have a few open at a time. He reckons he only has 1 open at a time.

Following from my pp. I have 2 boys and 2 girls. I just asked them about multiple thoughts at once. My 2 boys both confirmed they can only think of one thing at a time. (This makes sense to me as if I gave them a list of things to do and I ask them about it they can only focus on one thing at a time)

The girls said their thoughts don't stop and they have a constant voice. Equally, if I gave them a list they could run through it quite quickly whilst also having a chat and discussing a few things and still work through the list of things to do

Could be just us though!

I do. I'm always telling people to Fuck off in my head with a big smile on my face 😂

This is such a fascinating thread.

I have a constant prattle going on internally, plus songs (sometimes two at the same time)

When I'd just had DD and was getting just a couple of hours of broken sleep a day, I had Livin on a Prayer (Jon effing Bon Jovi) playing in my head permanently. For months. I honestly thought I was going mad (and I didn't like it before this happened - I utterly loathed it during and after)

I have always suffered with insomnia, and I'm undiagnosed but have definitely got ADD - does anyone else think that these conditions go with the noisy monologuing?

Mine is literally like the film inside out, so I'll have one voice telling me I look awful in that, another saying don't be silly it's your favourite, one getting angry we are even discussing it as we need to concentrate on work, another running songs in the background, one chilling and dreaming of the beach, the planner keeping tabs on my calendar etc, they are all me and my 'inner voices' though and they've been there as long as I can remember, it is very busy in my head

I had a very critical internal monologue and since I've been on sertraline it's disappeared.

I just. . . think. Words are for conveying your thoughts to others, not for actually thinking. (And my thoughts mostly move a hell of a lot faster than anyone could speak, or I could go through the actual words in my head).

Was astonished to learn, well into adulthood, that some people DO "think in words".